Embodiments of the present invention provide a method, system and computer program product for the integration of a rules engine with message oriented middleware. In an embodiment of the invention, a method for managing a messaging component in message oriented middleware has been provided. The method includes creating shared memory in the memory of a computer and adding or deleting tokens in the shared memory corresponding to objects such as messages and message queues, created in and removed from, respectively, in a messaging component of message oriented middleware. The method additionally includes applying rules in a rules engine to the tokens in the shared memory. Finally, the method includes directing management operations in the messaging component responsive to the applied rules by the rules engine.