All praise and thanks are due to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon His Messenger.

Sister in Islam, we really appreciate your efforts in pursuit of knowledge, which is an Islamic obligation upon all Muslims, males and females.

In Islam, the status of woman is unique. Islam honors women and regards her as equal and vital to life as man. Generally speaking, we can say that leadership in Islam is based on the ability and qualifications for the job. If a woman is qualified for a job and can do it well, she can be chosen for the position.

As regards your question, we’d cite the following Fatwa issued by the well-known Muslim scholar, Sheikh Yusuf Al-Qaradawi:

Woman's invaluable work, in fact, is to look after her children and husband. As for employment, which is meant for earning a living, she is permitted to do it provided that the following conditions are met:

First, it should be legal. The Muslim woman is not permitted to work in a place where she will be in privacy with non-mahram (marriageable) man, or in clubs where she is supposed to offer alcohol to people.

Second, she should abide by the Islamic morals in dress, talk, etc.

Third, woman's employment should not be at the expense of her principal work, namely caring about her children and husband.

Accordingly, the Muslim woman is permitted to go to work as long as she is in need of money and there is no person responsible for her maintenance, and the above conditions are met. In this context, we should recall the story of the daughters of Prophet Shu`ayb (peace and blessings be upon him) about whom the Glorious Qur'an says, (And when he (Prophet Musa) came unto the water of Midian he found there a whole tribe of men, watering. And, he found apart from them two women keeping, back (their flocks). He said: What aileth you? The two [women] said: We cannot give (our flocks) to drink till the shepherds return from the water; and our father is a very old man.) (Al-Qasas 28: 23)

Apparently, Prophet Shu`ayb's daughters went out to give water to their flocks because their father was an old man and they had no brothers.

Admittedly, the Muslim society is in need of working women in certain fields such as education and medicine in order to educate and treat women.

As for the woman's work in judiciary, Abu Hanifah permits her to be a judge in cases that her witness is accepted in, i.e., in cases other the criminal ones. Ibn Hazm and At-Tabari, however, are of the opinion that the woman can be a judge in all cases.

Here, we should keep in mind that the permissibility of appointing woman as a judge does not necessitate it. Rather, the public interest of the Muslim society and the welfare the woman herself and the family should be the main criterion in deciding whether it is necessary to appoint a woman in such serious position or not.

A woman is not allowed to be a governor, a ruler, or a Caliph of a Muslim state because often she cannot bear the burdens of that tremendous job. We say 'often' to refer to the fact that there may be some women who are more powerful and forbearing than some men. Yet, this is unusual and the Islamic rulings, therefore, cannot be founded upon the exceptions.

There is nothing wrong, then, if a woman is appointed as head of an institution, or member of parliament as long as it is within the interests of the Muslim society.

Conclusion:

1. According to Sheikh Al-Qaradawi's fatwa, you are blameless for nominating yourself as a candidate in the elections of MSA presidency, for it is not a caliphate office.

2. It was the duty of those brothers who dropped out of the association to give you sincere advice and to explain why they did so.

3. Muslim associations in the west shoulder a great responsibility, namely caring about the welfare of Islam and Muslims, and therefore Muslims should support them irrespective of the gender of their leaders.

4. Muslims now are in need of understanding what Muslim scholars call as fiqh al-awlawiyyat or discernment of priorities, which requires Muslims to concern themselves with the fundamental issues and disregard trivialities. Thus, it was the duty of the brothers of the MSA to be more active and support the association in order to bring forth its avowed fruits.

5. The questioner, the ex-president of the MSA, was put in her position by the voters, and so it became binding upon all members of the association to give loyalty to her as long as there was nothing unlawful committed.