The debate on women's leadership continues to be a relevant topic in social and religious contexts. Some scholars reject women as leaders based on textual interpretations of Qur'anic verses, while others, such as M. Quraish Shihab, provide a more contextual perspective. This article aims to analyze M. Quraish Shihab's thoughts related to women's leadership and the concept of leadership in the tafsir of Al-Misbah, especially the study of Surah An-Naml verses 22–40. This research uses a qualitative approach with a literature study method, exploring his interpretation and thoughts. The results of the study show that M. Quraish Shihab supports women's leadership as long as they meet the ability requirements and get the approval of the community. A study of Surah An-Naml verses 22–40 which tells the story of Ratu Balqis emphasizes the concept of ideal leadership, namely transparent, democratic, wise, and oriented to the welfare of the people. The contextual approach taken by M. Quraish Shihab includes linguistic analysis and the socio-historical situation of the verse, which provides a progressive view of the issue. The novelty of this article lies in the unraveling of M. Quraish Shihab's contextual interpretation approach that is relevant to the challenges of women's leadership in the modern era, making a significant contribution to the discourse of leadership in Islam.