Any discussion of an Islamic point-of-view on a matter begins with a study of relevant verses (if any) from the Quran. Most Muslims consider the Quran the unaltered word of God as revealed to Prophet Mohammed in the seventh century of the Common Era. It is the primary source of Islamic jurisprudence, followed by the Prophet’s example or sunnah (a combination of biographies and compilations of records of his sayings and actions), the consensus of scholars, and derivation of law through analogy. Unlike the last two sources of jurisprudence, Quranic ordinances are binding on all Muslims, as is the Prophet’s Sunnah. We will therefore confine our discussion of the scriptural treatment of female leadership to the Quran and Sunnah. Does the Quran designate women as the unconditional followers of men within the family and/or within society? Two Quranic verses seem to acknowledge men’s leadership over women:1. Men are in charge of women, because God has made some excel (faddala) some of the others [4:34].2. And they (women) have rights similar to those (of men) over them in kindness, and men are a degree above them [2:228].

Conservative Muslims frequently quote these verse to promulgate the view that a man is the head of the Muslim family and that a woman may never take charge of men. Syed Abul a’la Maududi, for example, extended the role of man as leader and woman as follower within the family to the public sphere. He upheld the translation: “Men are the managers of the affairs of women because God has made the one superior to the other” (cited in Wadud 71). According to Amina Wadud, “an individual scholar who considers faddala an unconditional preference of males over females does not restrict qiwamah to the family relationship but applies it to society at large. Men, the superior beings, are qawwamuna ala women, the dependent, inferior beings” (72). This view opposes any possibility of female leadership as it claims the Quran prefers men as leaders both within the family and within society.On the other hand, fundamentalists such as Sayyid Qutb restrict the applicability of the verses to the family. Qutb upholds that as men provide for women, they earn the privilege of being in charge of women within the conjugal relationship. Even some modernists, such as Rafiq Zakaria, concede that men are the leaders within the family even though they argue women can be leaders at the same time. Scholars such as Qutb and Zakaria restrict the privilege of men over women to within the family as the preceding and following verses deal with conjugal relations and not with the status of each sex in society at large.

At the opposite end of the spectrum from Maududi, Amina Wadud rejects the idea that the Quran relegates women to an inferior position within the family or society in Quran and Woman. She analyzes the first verse as follows: “Men are [qawwamuna ala] women [on the basis] of what God has [preferred] (faddala) some of them over others, and [on the basis] of what they spend of their property (for the support of women)” [4:34]. She defines the more ‘what’ God has given to men as inheritance, the only thing of which God gives more to men in the Quran; she therefore interprets the verse to mean men must use their inheritance and earnings to tend to the needs of women as females play an indispensable and arduous role in assuring the continuation of the human species:

Therefore, the verse, according to Wadud, does not establish women as inferior to men or that men are the divinely designated leaders of women. It ordains men to fulfil responsibilities toward women who bear children and thereby should not be expected to work and support the family as well.With regard to verse 2:228, Wadud restricts it to the matter of divorce. The Quran allows men to divorce their wives without having to go to court whereas women have to seek the assistance of a judge. According to Wadud, this is necessary so that the judge can make sure the husband accepts the termination of the marriage without abusing the wife. Men therefore have to fulfill a greater financial responsibility toward women in return for the ease of initiating the divorce; they have a higher degree of financial responsibility toward women whereas a woman does not have to compensate a man if she initiates the divorce. For modernists such as Wadud, as women are not confined to being followers within the family, there is no prohibition against their assuming leadership roles within society.

Another verse occasionally used by conservatives warns against entrusting money to the “foolish” which many companions of the Prophet interpreted as a reference to women as well as children: “Give not unto the foolish (what is in) your (keeping of their wealth), which Allah has given you to maintain” [4:5]. If God has forbidden men to entrust their money to women, how can they even think of entrusting all of society to them? Al-Tabari, however, says that had God wished to denote women by “foolish” he would have used the feminine plural form of foolish instead of the masculine or gender-neutral one (Mernissi 96). The use of this verse to prohibit female leadership exemplifies the range of evidence both sides bring to support their views. With regard to such verses, the decision on whether or not women may lead men and women depends on whether a nation accepts the fundamentalist or modernist interpretation. Through present day, the conservative view has generally received wider acceptance. Given the possible limitation of verses 4:3 and 2:228 to the conjugal relationship, does the Quran make any specific references to female leadership within society or a ‘nation’?