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Fatwa CenterFather appointed daughter as leader over her brother
Question
Assalaamu alaykum. I am in a strange situation. I live alone with my older sister (at university), and our granddad will come and stay with us for a bit. My dad says that there needs to be one decision maker, and not two, or things will go wrong. He says that I have to listen to my sister even if what I think she is saying is wrong, and so he has appointed her as the leader. I told him that I disagree to that as I do not feel that she should be the leader over me as she is a woman, my dad said that I have no choice in the matter as this is the decision that he made. Please advise me.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allah, The Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allah and that Muhammad 
is His slave and Messenger.
The basic principle is that the parents are compassionate with their children and are keen on achieving their interests, and perhaps this is what your father intended; the evidence is that he said that there needs to be one decision maker, and not two, or things will go wrong
However, you are not obliged to obey your father in the decision that he made, as the obedience of the father is obligatory in matters that are beneficial for him while there is no harm for the children as determined by the scholars. For more benefit in this regard, please refer to fatwa 84942.
Our advice to you is that you should have an understanding between you and your sister; you should tolerate each other as much as possible and not differ so that the objective would be achieved and your father will be pleased.
We draw your attention to the fact that the hadeeth that reads, “A people who appoint a woman as their leader will never succeed.” [Al-Bukhari] is regarding taking the position of general leadership. It is for this reason that the scholars condition being a male for taking up this position of leadership.
The Fiqh Encyclopedia reads:
“The scholars agreed that among the conditions of the supreme Imaam is that he should be male. So the leadership of a woman is not acceptable, as the Prophet said, 'A people who appoint a woman as their leader will never succeed.' This is in order that the leader may be able to mix with men and dedicate his time to run the affairs of the government, and because this position involves many dangerous tasks and great burdens that only suit masculinity (males).”
There is no objection to let a women lead men in an institution or organization and the like, as in running a hospital or a school, as ‘Umar, may Allah be pleased with him, appointed Ash-Shifaa’ bint ‘Abdullaah Al-‘Adawiyyah, may Allah be pleased with her, to the position of hisbah (practice of supervision) of the market of Al-Madeenah. This was stated by Ibn Hajar in Al-Isaabah fi Tarjamat Ash-Shifaa’.
For more benefit, please refer to fatwa 96432.
Allah knows best.
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