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Why did the Messenger of Allah, may Allah’s prayers and peace be upon him, generalize in his hadiths, such as "Women are deficient in intellect and religion" and "Women are ungrateful to their husbands," despite the fact that generalization is not desirable and not all women are like that?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

"To every occasion, a suitable expression." The Prophet, peace be upon him, was the most eloquent of people and used general phrasing in its proper context without any correlative indicating specification. Thus, the generality of his saying, "Women are deficient in intellect and religion," was all-encompassing for them. Their deficiency in intellect lies in their testimony, and their deficiency in religion lies in their abstaining from prayer during their menstrual periods.

As for their ingratitude towards their spouses, it is not general to all women but occurs among some of them. Their frequent cursing and ingratitude towards their spouses are reasons why they will be the majority of the inhabitants of Hellfire. However, whoever fears her Lord and fulfills her husband's rights will be among those who are saved.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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