I advise you to treat women kindly, for the woman was created from a rib, and the most crooked part of the rib is its uppermost part. If you try to straighten it, you will break it; and if you leave it, it will remain crooked. So, treat women kindly.
Authentic hadithعن أبي هريرة رضي الله عنه قال: قال رسول الله صلى الله عليه وسلم : «اسْتَوْصُوا بالنِّساءِ خَيْرًا؛ فَإِنَّ المرأة خُلِقَتْ مِن ضِلعٍ، وَإنَّ أعْوَجَ مَا في الضِّلَعِ أعْلاهُ، فَإنْ ذَهَبتَ تُقيمُهُ كَسَرْتَهُ، وإن تركته، لم يزل أعوج، فاستوصوا بالنساء». وفي رواية: «المرأة كالضِّلَعِ إنْ أقَمْتَهَا كَسَرْتَهَا، وَإن اسْتَمتَعْتَ بها، استمتعت وفيها عوَجٌ». وفي رواية: «إنَّ المَرأةَ خُلِقَت مِنْ ضِلَع، لَنْ تَسْتَقِيمَ لَكَ عَلَى طَريقة، فإن استمتعت بها استمتعت بها وفيها عوج، وإنْ ذَهَبْتَ تُقِيمُهَا كَسَرْتَها، وَكَسْرُهَا طَلاَقُهَا».
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) said: "I advise you to treat women kindly, for the woman was created from a rib, and the most crooked part of the rib is its uppermost part. If you try to straighten it, you will break it; and if you leave it, it will remain crooked. So, treat women kindly." Another narration reads: "A woman is like a rib: if you straighten her, you will break her, and if you enjoy her, you will enjoy her as she has some crookedness." Another narration reads: "The woman was created from a rib and will not remain straight for you in any way. So, if you enjoy her, you enjoy her as she has some crookedness. And if you try to straighten her, you will break her, and breaking her is divorcing her."
Explanation
Abu Hurayrah (may Allah be pleased with him) conveys a message regarding how women should be treated. He reported that the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) asked them to accept his advice that they should treat women in a kind and good manner. This is because women are characterized by some deficiency in their reason, religion, thinking, and all of their affairs, since they were created from a rib. To clarify, Allah created Adam (peace be upon him) from dust without father and mother. When Allah, the Exalted, willed to bring humanity out of Adam, He created his wife (Eve) from his bent rib. If a man wants to benefit from his bent rib, he has to benefit from it with its bending there. If he tried to straighten it, he would break it. Likewise, if a person wants to enjoy a woman, he has to enjoy her while crookedness remains in her and accept the benefits available. However, if he tries to straighten her, she will not be straightened and he will not be able to, because if she becomes straight in her religious matters, she will not be straight in the matters related to her nature. A woman will never behave exactly as her husband wishes. Rather, there must be cases of disagreement and negligence in addition to a sort of deficiency that already exists in her. Therefore, if you try to straighten her, you will break her, and breaking her is divorcing her. In other words, if you try to straighten her in the way you like, you will not be able to, and as a result you will get fed up with her and divorce her.
Source · Narrated by Muslim - Al-Bukhari and Muslim with its two versions
From the Hadith Encyclopedia (hadeethenc.com).