Why did the Prophet (PBUH) say, “Never will succeed a people who appoint a woman as their ruler”?

The following Prophetic tradition is troubling to some. When the Prophet (PBUH) learned that the people of Persia had appointed the daughter of Khosrau as their queen, he said, “Never will succeed a people who appoint a woman as their ruler.”¹ Why is it that people who appoint a woman as their ruler will never succeed? The answer is quite simple: it relates to women’s nature, which is generally more compassionate and merciful than that of men. These qualities are virtuous in themselves, enabling women to nurture righteous children and raise them to contribute positively to society. Thanks to these attributes, women can spend sleepless nights feeding, comforting, and rocking their babies. However, these very qualities are not always suited to the demands of leadership and command. The primary reason women are generally not successful as head of state is that such a position—or similar roles, such as Commander of the Army—requires continuous decision-making concerning the security and welfare of the people, which may not align with women’s typical physiological and psychological makeup. For example, during pregnancy and menstrual cycles, women experience various physiological and psychological changes that can affect their decision-making, even in emergency situations.²

Interestingly, the Prophet (PBUH)’s statement regarding the Persians—who appointed the daughter of Khosrau as queen—proved accurate. Assuming leadership of the Persian Empire, with its complex political, military, and international affairs, did not suit the female nature of Bōrān (daughter of Khosrau II). Indeed, her reign lasted no more than a year and a half, during which the empire was fragile and in decline. She sought to stabilize Persia by implementing just laws and reducing taxes.³ She even went so far as to grant a public tax exemption.⁴ She was eventually killed by strangulation. A question arises: did the Prophet (PBUH) mean that women can never succeed as rulers? The aforementioned Prophetic tradition does not preclude the possibility of women becoming successful rulers altogether. That is, the Prophet (PBUH) did not imply that a woman in leadership is inevitably destined to fail, for there are exceptions to every rule. Nevertheless, rules are established based on the majority of cases, not the exceptions. Indeed, while women generally undergo physiological and psychological changes that might affect their leadership abilities, some have displayed exceptional qualities as leaders and achieved success, such as the Queen of Sheba, mentioned in the Qurʾān. Nonetheless, due to obvious natural reasons, even in modern times, most nations have never had a female president, including the United States. Even in the most developed countries, it is uncommon to find a woman serving as head of state with substantive authority, a woman commanding the armed forces, or a proportional number of women representatives in the parliament or similar bodies. In short, Islam’s position that women are ineligible for the role of head of state is not rooted in discrimination. Rather, it reflects the natural differences in the physiological and psychological makeup of men and women. To serve effectively as head of state, a woman would need to act against her fiṭrah (the innate disposition with which Allāh has created her), as the role requires maximum rationality and minimal emotionality—qualities that do not naturally align with women’s instinctive nature. Consequently, given the indisputable differences between men and women, customary gender roles are reasonable and conducive to a functional society.