Is it permissible for a woman to assume leadership positions, such as a marriage officiant (ma'dhun), and to travel without a mahram, knowing that Allah commanded women to go to places accompanied by a mahram?

The default principle is equality between men and women in rulings, except for what the evidence has excluded. This includes prohibiting women from major leadership positions such as the Grand Imamate and minor ones such as judgeship. The proof for this is the practice of the righteous predecessors. This also includes prohibiting her from holding the position of a marriage officiant, because she does not officiate her own marriage nor that of others, and due to the mixing with men and her exposure that this entails, whereas the Sharia (definition) came to protect her. It has been reported from Aisha, may Allah be pleased with her, that she said: "Indeed, women do not solemnize marriages." A woman's travel without a mahram (definition) is prohibited by the consensus of the scholars, except for Hajj, Umrah (definition), and migration from a land of war. As for the statement: "If Allah commands a woman to go to places accompanied by a mahram," its meaning is unclear.