Can a woman be a leader or head of state in Islam?

Muslim girls who dream of public service, and Muslim voters weighing a woman candidate, often ask whether Islam allows a woman to lead a nation. A woman may be a leader or head of state in Islam. The Quran tells the story of a queen who ruled wisely and led her people to faith, and it names believing men and women as protectors of one another. Muslim history includes women who ruled kingdoms, and in our own time Muslim-majority countries have elected women as their presidents and prime ministers.

What does the Quran say about women rulers?

The Quran’s only extended portrait of a ruler’s council is the court of the Queen of Sheba. The hoopoe brings Solomon (peace be upon him) the news: “I found a woman ruling over them, and she has been given of everything, and she has a mighty throne” (Quran 27:23). When Solomon’s letter arrives, she gathers her advisors:

قَالَتۡ يَـٰٓأَيُّهَا ٱلۡمَلَؤُاْ أَفۡتُونِي فِيٓ أَمۡرِي مَا كُنتُ قَاطِعَةً أَمۡرًا حَتَّىٰ تَشۡهَدُونِ

“She said: ‘O council, advise me in my affair. I never decide a matter unless you are present.’”

Quran 27:32

Her council offers war; she chooses diplomacy, warning that “kings, when they enter a town, ruin it” (27:34). She sends a gift, then visits Solomon herself, judges what she sees with care, and in the end declares, “I submit, with Solomon, to Allah, Lord of the worlds” (27:44). The Quran praises her consultation (shūrā, شورى), her prudence, and her faith, and it never faults her for being a woman who ruled.

The Quran also gives believing women and men a shared public responsibility:

وَٱلۡمُؤۡمِنُونَ وَٱلۡمُؤۡمِنَٰتُ بَعۡضُهُمۡ أَوۡلِيَآءُ بَعۡضٖۚ يَأۡمُرُونَ بِٱلۡمَعۡرُوفِ وَيَنۡهَوۡنَ عَنِ ٱلۡمُنكَرِ

“The believing men and the believing women are protectors of one another: they urge what is right and forbid what is wrong.”

Quran 9:71

What about the hadith “a people led by a woman will not prosper”?

The report comes from the Companion Abu Bakra. When the Prophet ﷺ heard that the Persians had made the daughter of their emperor (Kisrā) their queen, he said, “A people who entrust their affairs to a woman will not prosper” (Sahih al-Bukhari 4425). The Persian empire at that moment was collapsing in civil war, its throne passing from hand to hand, and within a few years it fell. The words describe that event and that dynasty.

Abu Bakra recalled the saying some twenty-five years later, during the Battle of the Camel, when Aisha (may Allah be pleased with her) led one of the armies. The Moroccan sociologist Fatima Mernissi, in The Veil and the Male Elite, examined how this single report came to be used to bar women from public life. The Quran’s own account of a woman ruler, with its praise of her wisdom, is the surer guide.

What did the classical scholars say?

The majority of classical jurists required the caliph, the head of the whole Muslim community, to be a man, relying on this hadith. They were more open about other offices. Abu Hanifa allowed a woman to serve as a judge in all cases except those involving the fixed criminal penalties and retaliation, and Ibn Rushd (d. 1198) reports in Bidāyat al-Mujtahid that al-Ṭabarī (d. 923) allowed women to judge in every kind of case. Ibn Hazm of Córdoba held the same.

The modern presidency or premiership is a different office from the classical caliphate. It is elected, limited by a constitution, shared with parliaments and courts, and held for a term. The reasons the jurists gave for the caliphate do not carry over to it (Is a caliphate required in Islam?; Is Islam compatible with democracy?).

The Sunnah also shows the Prophet ﷺ taking a woman’s political counsel. At al-Ḥudaybiya, when his Companions hesitated to follow his order to end their pilgrimage, his wife Umm Salama advised him to go out, sacrifice his animal, and shave his head without a word. He did so, and they all followed (Sahih al-Bukhari 2731).

Have women ruled in Muslim history?

They have, across the Muslim world:

• Arwa al-Ṣulayḥiyya governed Yemen for decades until her death in 1138.
• Razia Sultana ruled the Sultanate of Delhi from 1236 to 1240.
• Shajar al-Durr ruled Egypt as sultana in 1250, at the founding of the Mamluk state.
• Four sultanas ruled Aceh in Sumatra in succession from 1641 to 1699, beginning with Taj ul-Alam Safiatuddin.

Fatima Mernissi gathered their stories in The Forgotten Queens of Islam. In the modern era, Benazir Bhutto became Prime Minister of Pakistan in 1988, the first woman elected to lead the government of a Muslim-majority country. Tansu Çiller led Turkey from 1993 to 1996, Khaleda Zia and Sheikh Hasina each led Bangladesh, and Megawati Sukarnoputri served as President of Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, from 2001 to 2004.

What does this mean for Muslim women today?

Muslim women may stand for office, vote (Is voting haram?), serve as judges, ministers, and diplomats, and lead institutions, mosques, and movements (Is feminism compatible with Islam?). The qualities the Quran praises in the Queen of Sheba are the ones every leader needs: consultation, prudence, a preference for peace, and humility before Allah.

A closing duʿāʾ

Moses (peace be upon him), given the weight of leading his people, prayed:

رَبِّ ٱشۡرَحۡ لِي صَدۡرِي وَيَسِّرۡ لِيٓ أَمۡرِي

“My Lord, open my heart for me, and make my task easy for me.”

Quran 20:25–26

May Allah grant every woman and man who carries a public trust an open heart, sound judgment, and justice toward all.