This article examines the position of the Malay religious elite towards the idea of women as leaders. Based on an analysis of the writings and sermons of a sample of the religious elite, the article concludes that they continue to be of the view that gender roles in modern society are ‘fixed’, ‘divine’, and ‘unquestionable’. By exploring Mohammed Arkoun’s concept of the ‘unthinkable’, I argue that the notion that women are unfit for top political leadership positions, by virtue of their gender, results from a parochial attitude towards traditions relating to women’s role in society and from a general failure to re-evaluate traditions in the light of the modern-day context. By traditions here, I refer not only to the hadiths (recorded sayings of the Prophet Mohammad), but also compilations of Qurʾanic exegesis (tafsīr) and juristic opinions (fatāwā, s. fatwa) passed down from one generation to another in the last 1,400 years of Islamic history. The article also explores how the religious elite’s views of gender equality might be reformed—it suggests that they need to be challenged with alternative discourses in order to transform their attitude towards religious sources from one that is unquestioning to one that is more questioning.

本文考察了马来宗教精英对女性作为领导者的观点的立场。基于对宗教精英样本的著作和布道的分析，文章得出结论认为，他们仍然认为现代社会中的性别角色是“固定的”、“神圣的”和“不容置疑的”。通过探索 Mohammed Arkoun 的“不可思议”的概念，我认为女性因其性别不适合担任最高政治领导职位的观点源于对与女性在社会中的角色相关的传统的狭隘态度以及普遍的失败根据现代语境重新评估传统。根据这里的传统，我不仅指圣训（先知穆罕默德的记录），还指古兰经的汇编（tafsīr) 和法学意见 ( fatāwā , s. fatwa ) 在伊斯兰历史的最后 1,400 年中代代相传。这篇文章还探讨了宗教精英对性别平等的看法可能会如何改革——它表明他们需要接受替代性话语的挑战，以便将他们对宗教资源的态度从不质疑的态度转变为更具质疑性的态度。