then lie with her.” (1)

As is well known, women are deficient in reason and religion, and are easily moved by emotion. A single word from you may distance her from you as far as the Pleiades, while another may draw her close until she is by your side. Therefore, one should take such circumstances into consideration in one’s dealings with one’s wife. Yet we ask Allah for safety: nowadays, because people have some weakness of faith, the slightest thing that arises between a man and his wife, the smallest anger—even over the most trivial matters—will cause him to become angry and divorce her. And if only he would divorce her in accordance with the Sacred Law! Rather, you find him divorcing his wife while she is menstruating, or during a period of purity in which he has had intercourse with her, or issuing an innovated form of divorce with respect to its number. Some even go further and pronounce zihar against their wives. We ask Allah for safety. All of this stems from weakness of faith and a lack of Islamic upbringing.

A person should not become angry over everything, for there is bound to be some deficiency. Even a person himself falls short; it is not true that he is complete in every respect. Thus, she too is all the more likely to have shortcomings.

Moreover, one must weigh faults against virtues. Some wives, when their husbands fall ill, may not sleep through the night, and obey them in many matters. Then, if he leaves her, when will he find another wife? And if he does find one, she may be worse than the first. A person must therefore assess matters properly, so that his conduct with his family may be in the best possible manner. When a person trains himself to have good character, he becomes disciplined, and thereby finds ease.