It is obligatory for a man to treat a woman well
➊ Allah the Exalted says:
وَعَاشِرُوهُنَّ بِالْمَعْرُوفِ [An-Nisa: 19]
“Live with them in a good manner.”
➋ It is narrated from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Prophet ﷺ said: “Accept the advice of goodness regarding women, for indeed they were created from a rib, and the most crooked part of the rib is its upper part. So if someone tries to straighten it, he will break it, and if he leaves it as it is, it will remain crooked forever:
فاســو صــوا بالنساء خيرا
“So accept the advice of goodness regarding women always.”
In a narration in Sahih Muslim, it is:
كسرها طلاقها
“Breaking it means divorcing it.”
[Bukhari: 5184 – 5185, Kitab al-Nikah: Bab al-Wasah bi-l-Nisa’, Muslim: 1468, Ahmad: 449/2, Ibn Hibban: 4179]
➌ It is narrated from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said: “No believer should harbour hatred towards a believing woman; if he dislikes one of her qualities, he (surely) likes another of her qualities.”
[Ahmad: 329/2, Muslim: 1469]
➍ It is narrated from Abu Hurairah (may Allah be pleased with him) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
خياركم خياركم لنسائهم
“The best of you is the one who is best to his women.”
[Sahih: Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah: 285, Sahih al-Jami al-Saghir: 3265, Abu Dawud: 4682, Kitab al-Sunnah: Bab al-Dalil ala Ziyadat al-Iman wa Nuqsanih, Tirmidhi: 1162, Ahmad: 250/2, Ibn Hibban: 4176]
➎ It is narrated from Aishah (may Allah be pleased with her) that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ said:
خير كم خير كم لأهله وأنا خيركم لأهلى
“The best of you is the one who is best to his wife, and I am the best of you to my wife.”
[Sahih: Al-Silsilah al-Sahihah: 285, Sahih al-Jami: 3314, Tirmidhi: 3895, Kitab al-Manaqib: Bab Fadl Azwaj al-Nabi, Darimi: 159/2]
It is known that the best person is the one who treats his wife well. Therefore, women should be treated with good companionship and good conduct, and one should overlook their faults and shortcomings and swallow anger. Part of good treatment is that a man must give the woman a reasonable maintenance, providing her with food, clothing and so on, as Hazrat Muawiyah al-Qushayri (may Allah be pleased with him) narrates that a man asked the Prophet ﷺ, “What is the right of a wife over her husband?” He ﷺ said: “When you eat, feed her; when you clothe yourself, clothe her; do not strike her face, do not revile her, and (if you must separate from her) do not separate from her anywhere except within the house.”
[Sahih: Sahih Ibn Majah: 1500, Kitab al-Nikah: Bab Haqq al-Mar’ah ala al-Zawj, Irwa al-Ghalil: 2033, Ibn Majah: 1850, Ahmad: 447/4, Abu Dawud: 2142, Ibn Hibban: 4175, Hakim: 187/2, Bayhaqi: 305/7]
