"Women are unfaithful because of Eve"?

As salaamu alaikum

Does this hadith have any explanations?

Sahih Muslim Book 008, Number 3471:

Abu Huraira (Allah be pleased with him) reported Allah's Messenger (may peace be upon him) as saying: Had it not been for Eve, woman would have never acted unfaithfully towards her husband.


Answer;

This hadeeth should be understood based on the Arabic language and not the English translation. Therefore, the meaning of the hadeeth goes beyond its appearent wording besides the fact that the translation is incorrect.


To understand the hadeeth, lets see the story of Adam and Hawaa about the tree first.

Sh. Al-Nawawi (رحمه الله) says commenting on this hadeeth: " when the shaytaan decorated the tree in the eyes of Hawa, she went and told Adam about the tree. Then later on, when the shaytaan decorated the tree for Adam and swore by Allah that he is honest and sincere in his advice, they both ate from it."

The meaning of the hadeeth as sais by Sh. Al-Nawawi: "It means that Hawaa is the mother of the daughters of Adam, therefore her daughters inherited from their mother some of her traits."

Alhafith bin Hajar said: "The meaning of the "Khyaana of Hawa" is that she accepted what Ablees decorated in here eyes until she was convinced with then she started decorating what she thought to be good in his eyes......The Khayanaa here does not refer to unfaithful acts, chaeting or betraying but actually since the nafs ogf Hawa liked eating from the tree therefore she complimented that act to decorate it in his eyes, that was considered a Khyanaa.

This is what we actually see today, when wives or sisters like to do something then they start beautify it in your eyes to get it for them or to convince you with it.

Actaully, how many brother wanted to marry and when he wanted to have his wedding the wife insisted on having music or mixed wedding or whatever wrong cultural practices given all excuses and arguing it is the night she always dreamt of and etc etc... (smile)

In addition, this hadeeth is actually addressing men rather women. It is to teach men to be patient with their wives and excuse their mistakes when they are unintentional and rare to happen as mistakes happen and it did happen to their mother; hawaa. Furthermore, it shows women that they need to observe themselves and control themselves in moments when they feel drawn into somthing.

Wallahu A'lam

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