عن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : استوصوا بالنساء فإن المرأة خلقت من ضلع وإن أعوج شيء في الضلع أعلاه فإن ذهبت تقيمه كسرته وإن تركته لم يزل أعوج فاستوصوا بالنساء ( صحيح بخاري #3331 )
Hazrat Abu Hurairah (radhiyallahu ‘anhu) narrates that Rasulullah (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) said, “Ensure that you accept my command to treat women kindly, for indeed a woman has been created from a rib, and the most crooked portion of the rib is the upper portion. Hence, if you try to straighten her (entirely), you will break her, and if you leave her (with correcting her with compassion, but not straightening her completely) then she will remain with (slight) crookedness. Therefore ensure that you accept my command to treat women kindly.”
In a similar narration of Saheeh Muslim, Nabi (sallallahu ‘alaihi wasallam) mentioned the following:
عن أبي هريرة قال : قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : إن المرأة خلقت من ضلع لن تستقيم لك على طريقة فإن استمتعت بها استمتعت بها وبها عوج وإن ذهبت تقيمها كسرتها وكسرها طلاقها ( صحيح مسلم #1468 )
"Indeed women have been created from a rib and will thus never remain consistent in their behavior with you. Therefore if you wish to derive benefit from her (while being married to her) then you should do so while she is crooked. If you try to (entirely) straighten her, you will break her, and to break her is to divorce her.”
