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I have read that it is not permissible, but I have also seen many good examples of Female Political Leaders. Is there a final word on this? Perhaps an explanation of the first article that removes all doubt from me?

Is there a difference between a muslim, and a non-muslim country?

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  • As-written, this really seems to be attracting nothing but argument rather than useful answers. – goldPseudo♦ Nov 20 '15 at 2:02
  • @goldPseudo thanks, I can see that now. I may try to rewrite this on the weekend. – Pureferret Nov 20 '15 at 8:28
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The article quotes the following verse:

Men are in charge of women by [right of] what Allah has given one over the other and what they spend [for maintenance] from their wealth. So righteous women are devoutly obedient, guarding in [the husband's] absence what Allah would have them guard. [4:34]

It is clear from the context that men means husbands and women means wives here.

A comprehensive text of the quoted hadith is:

During the days (of the battle) of Al-Jamal, Allah benefited me with a word I had heard from Allah's Apostle after I had been about to join the Companions of Al-Jamal (i.e. the camel) and fight along with them. When Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) was informed that the Persians had crowned the daughter of Khosrau as their ruler, he said, "Such people as ruled by a lady will never be successful."

The narrator Auf b. Bandweh is considered a shia by scholars of hadith like Abu Dawood, Muhammad b. Bishar al-Abdi and Muhammad b. Abdullah al-Makhrami etc. The hadiths that support a narrator's viewpoint are considered unreliable for obvious reasons.

It is also interesting to note that Qur'an does mention a woman ruler (the Queen of Sheba) but nowhere does it condemn her rule.

Due to these reasons I do not think that women cannot come into power.

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    Your final argument only holds true for those ahadith that are transmitted through Auf. The same hadith can still be found (eg: sunnah.com/nasai/49/10) via different chains. – goldPseudo♦ Apr 21 '15 at 21:05
  • It's also a genetic fallacy; simply claiming that it's "unreliable for obvious reasons" (while ignoring the fact that Imam Bukhari, whose criteria are highly regarded in the field of Islamic scholarship, "obviously" chose to include it in his own collection) isn't really an argument without significant elaboration. – goldPseudo♦ Apr 21 '15 at 22:51
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    Yes, you are right in your first comment. However, the hadith you have mentioned contains two Mudallis narrators. Hadiths that a madallis reports using the word 'un' (عن) are considered weak as well. (The word 'un' creates a possibility that he is dropping some weak narrator). That's how this hadith is reported. – a_fan Apr 22 '15 at 6:26
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    About the second, I didn't want to sound targeting some faction. A Shia narrator reporting a hadith supporting Shia viewpoint simply increases the chance that it may have been fabricated to support his point of view. The same goes for Qadriyya and Jahmiya sects. – a_fan Apr 22 '15 at 6:34
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If we accept the hadith quoted by afnrf (“people who are ruled by a woman will never be successful” - excuse me for recasting the translation in correct English - ) and if we accept Hamza’s claim that “nothing like democracy or any man made laws” can be applied in a Muslim country, then it should follow logically that voting a female leader into power would be the ideal method for subverting the non-Islamic system of democracy and overthrowing man-made laws. This would suggest that it is incumbent upon Muslim citizens of democratic countries to vote for female candidates. The answer to your question is thus yes, you are allowed to vote a woman into power. In fact, you are obliged to do so.

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