Fatwa .. Can Women Work in Politics and Take Leading Positions?

Egypt's Dar al-Iftaa answers readers' questions in various fatwas. We at See publish these fatwas. The question says:

In Canada the head of my province is a woman. I've read the stories of the Queen of Sheeba and instances from hadiths and practices of people during the first three generations of Islam where women took part in politics. Can the woman be a governor or the leader of a state?

ANSWER

The concept of a ruler has changed in today's modern state and has become a set of systems and institutions (such as the constitution, laws, houses of parliament, government and the judiciary). The person who heads these systems and institutions is incapable of contradicting them whether he is a king, president, emperor or the like.

Based on this, a person who occupies this position is like an employee who is charged with specific tasks; he is governed by the general system from which the other systems and institutions spring. Choosing a Muslim, non-Muslim, or woman for this position does not contradict the rulings of the shari'ah (Islamic law). This is because the ruler has become a set of legal entities and not an individual entity.