Some Sayings of the Prophet

and more prone to emotional upset. Everyone realizes this is a fact of life, regardless of whether he is educated or not. A father, for instance, will not be as hard on a daughter as he might be on his son, for he knows that boys are made of sterner stuff than girls. The latter tend to break under severe pressure. For this reason, females are more prone to emotional breakdowns. Sometimes, a trivial matter can drive a woman to have a nervous breakdown. In likening a woman to a rib, the Prophet metaphorically expressed this fact of life. Ribs have a slight curve in them. There is good reason for them to be made that way. They should be left in their natural state. No attempt should be made to straighten them. The Prophet used a parable to explain the delicacy of women’s nature, pointing out that due to their nature, their delicate emotional constitution should always be borne in mind. God has created them that way and has done so for good reason. They should be treated kindly. It should be done tactfully and gently if they must be told something. Abruptness and severity will break them, as a rib is broken by any attempt to straighten it. Once, when the Prophet was on a journey, he saw some women riding on a camel. The man leading the camel made to drive the animal on faster, forgetting that this would cause undue discomfort to his passengers. So, the Prophet said to the camel driver: ‘You have glass cases there. Be gentle with them.’(Sahih Muslim, Hadith No. 2323)