Praise be to Allaah.
Firstly:
We appreciate our
brother’s keenness to find out and
follow the evidence from the Qur’aan,
but there will not necessarily be
evidence specifically from the
Qur’aan for every issue. Rather the
evidence for many rulings is to be
found in the saheeh Sunnah of the
Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), not the Qur’aan. The
Muslim has to follow the evidence of
both the Qur’aan and Sunnah. Allaah
says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“O
you who believe! Obey Allaah and
obey the Messenger (Muhammad), and
those of you (Muslims) who are in
authority. (And) if you differ in
anything amongst yourselves, refer
it to Allaah and His Messenger, if
you believe in Allaah and in the
Last Day. That is better and more
suitable for final determination”
[al-Nisa’ 4:59]
Allaah has commanded
us to obey Him and to obey His
Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him), and He has commanded us
to refer matters of dispute to His
Book and the Sunnah of His Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him).
Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“And
whatsoever the Messenger (Muhammad)
gives you, take it; and whatsoever
he forbids you, abstain (from it).
And fear Allaah; verily, Allaah is
Severe in punishment”
[al-Hashr 59:7]
Ibn Maajah (12)
narrated from al-Miqdaam ibn Ma’di
Yakrib that the Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “Soon there will
come a time when a man will be
reclining on his pillow, and when
one of my hadeeth is narrated to
him, he will say, ‘The Book of
Allaah is (sufficient) between us
and you. Whatever it states is
permissible we will take as
permissible, and whatever it states
is forbidden, we will take as
forbidden.’ Verily, whatever the
Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) has forbidden is like that
which Allaah has forbidden.”
Classed as saheeh by
al-Albaani in Saheeh al-Jaami’,
8186
Secondly:
The evidence from the
Qur’aan and Sunnah indicates that it
is not permissible for a woman to
assume positions of senior public
authority, such as the caliph (khaleefah),
minister of state (wazeer or vizier)
or judge (qaadi) and so on.
1 – Evidence from the
Qur’aan:
Allaah says
(interpretation of the meaning):
“Men are the protectors and
maintainers of women, because Allaah
has made one of them to excel the
other, and because they spend (to
support them) from their means”
[al-Nisa 4:34]
Al-Qurtubi said:
The words
“Men are
the protectors and maintainers of
women” mean that they
spend on them and protect them, and
also that they (men) are the rulers
and governors, and the ones who go
on military campaigns, and none of
these are the role of women.
Tafseer al-Qurtubi,
5/168.
Ibn Katheer said:
It means the man is
in charge of the woman; he is her
leader, the ruler over her who
disciplines her if she goes astray.
“because
Allaah has made one of them to excel
the other” means, because men
are superior to woman, and a man is
better than a woman. Hence
Prophethood was given only to men,
as is the role of caliph, because
the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
said: “No people will ever prosper
who appoint a woman in charge of
them.”
Tafseer Ibn Katheer,
1/492.
2 –Evidence from the
Sunnah:
It was narrated that
Abu Bakrah said: When the Messenger
of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) heard that the people of
Persia had appointed the daughter of
Chosroes as their queen, he said,
“No people will ever prosper who
appoint a woman in charge of them.”
Narrated by al-Bukhaari,
4163.
Al-Shawkaani said in
Nayl al-Awtaar, 8/305:
This indicates that
women are not qualified to rule, and
it is not permissible for people to
appoint them as rulers, because they
must avoid that which will cause
them not to prosper.
Al-Maawirdi said, in
the context of his discussion of the
position of wazeer:
It is not permissible
for a woman to play this role,
because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said, “No people will
prosper if they delegate their
affairs to a woman.” And because
these positions require wisdom and
resolve, which women may be lacking
in, and requires appearing in public
to handle matters directly, which is
haraam for them to do.
Al-Ahkaam al-Sultaaniyyah,
p. 46.
Ibn Hazm (may Allaah
have mercy on him) said, in the
context of his discussion on the
role of caliph:
There is no dispute
that it is not permissible for a
woman (to be caliph).
Al-Fasl fi’l-Milal
wa’l-Nihal,
4/129.
In al-Mawsoo’ah
al-Fiqhiyyah (21/270) it says:
The fuqaha’ are
agreed that one of the conditions of
the position of caliph is that the
holder should be male. The
leadership of a woman is not valid,
because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “No people will ever
prosper who appoint a woman in
charge of them.” That is also so
that he will be able to mix with
men, to devote his time solely to
dealing with affairs of state, and
because this position involves
handling very serious matters. The
responsibility is great and this is
a man’s role.
Shaykh ‘Abd al-‘Azeez
ibn ‘Abd-Allaah ibn Baaz (may Allaah
have mercy on him) was asked the
following question:
What is the Islamic
view on a woman being nominated as a
candidate for the position of head
of state, or head of a government,
or a public ministry?
He replied:
It is not permissible
to appoint or elect a woman as head
of state. This is indicated by the
Qur’aan, Sunnah and scholarly
consensus. In the Qur’aan, Allaah
says (interpretation of the
meaning):
“Men
are the protectors and maintainers
of women, because Allaah has made
one of them to excel the other…”
[al-Nisa 4:34]
The ruling in the
verse is general and includes a
man’s position of leadership in his
family, and applies more so to his
position of public leadership. This
ruling is supported by the reason
given in the verse itself, which is
men’s intellectual superiority and
better understanding etc, which are
basic qualifications for
leadership.
In the Sunnah, the
Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said: “No people will ever
prosper who appoint a woman in
charge of them.” Narrated by al-Bukhaari.
Undoubtedly this
hadeeth indicates that it is haraam
for a woman to take a position of
public leadership, or to become the
governor of a province or city,
because all of that comes under the
general meaning of the hadeeth, and
the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) said that those who
appoint a woman as their leader will
never prosper. Prospering means
being successful and doing well.
The ummah unanimously
agreed in practical terms at the
time of the Rightly-Guided Caliphs
and the imams of the first three
generations, which the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) testified were the best of
generations, that women should not
be appointed as governors or judges.
There were women who were brilliant
in religious knowledge, to whom
scholars would refer concerning
knowledge of Qur’aan, hadeeth and
religious rulings, but no woman
aspired to positions of public
leadership during that time or any
other position of that nature. The
shar’i responsibilities of such
positions cannot be carried out by
women, because that involves
travelling to the provinces, and
mixing with the members of the ummah,
and meeting with them, and leading
the army sometimes in jihad, and
negotiating with the enemy, and
accepting oaths of allegiance from
members of the ummah, and meeting
with them, men and women, at times
of war and peace, and so on. This is
not appropriate for a woman, and it
goes against the rulings of
sharee’ah that are established to
protect her and keep her safe from
having to go out and mix in such a
manner.
Rationally speaking,
women should not be given positions
of public office, because what is
required of the one who is chosen
for such a position is that he
should a man of great resolve,
determination, smartness, will power
and good management skills. These
characteristics are lacking in women
because they have been created with
weakness in their intellect and
thinking, and with strong emotions,
so electing them to such positions
is not in the interests of the
Muslims and does not help them to
achieve greatness.
And Allaah is the
source of strength. May Allaah send
blessings and peace upon our Prophet
Muhammad and upon his family and
companions.
Majallat al-Mujtama’,
issue no. 890.
And Allaah knows
best.
