Paying attention to things that are inherent in human nature

an example of this is the jealousy of women, especially in the case of co-wives, some of whom may make mistakes that, if they were made by anyone else under normal circumstances, would be treated quite differently. the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) used to pay special attention to the issue of jealousy among his wives and the mistakes that were made by them as a result, and the patience, justice and fairness with which he handled the matter are plain to see. an example of this is the report narrated by al-bukhaari (may allaah have mercy on him) in his saheeh from anas, who said:

“the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) was with one of his wives when another of the mothers of the believers sent a big vessel full of food to him. the wife in whose house the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) was present struck the hand of the servant, and the vessel fell and broke in two. the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) picked up the pieces and put them together, then he gathered up the food that had been in the vessel and said, ‘your mother is jealous.’ then he asked the servant to wait until he was given the vessel belonging to the wife in whose house he was, and he sent the whole vessel to the wife whose vessel had been broken, and kept the broken vessel in the house of the one who had broken it.” (fath, 5225)

according to a report narrated by al-nisaa`i (kitaab ‘ishrat al-nisaa’), umm salamah brought some food in a vessel belonging to her to the messenger of allaah (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) and his companions, then ‘aa`ishah  came wrapped in a garment, carrying a stone, which she threw and broke the vessel. the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) put the two halves back together and said,

“eat, your mother is jealous…”

…twice, then he took ‘aa`ishah’s vessel and sent it to umm salamah, and gave umm salamah’s vessel to ‘aa`ishah.

according to a report narrated by al-daarimi (kitaab al-buyoo’, baab man kasara shay’an fa ‘alayhi mithluhu) from anas, he said:

“one of the wives of the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) sent him a vessel in which was some thareed [a dish of sopped bread, meat and broth], when he was in the house of one of his other wives, who struck the vessel and broke it. the prophet (peace and blessings of allaah be upon him) started to pick up the thareed and put it back into the vessel, saying, ‘eat, your mother is jealous…’ ”

women’s jealousy is an inherent part of their nature, that may cause them to do bad things and prevent them from seeing the consequences of their actions. it was said that when a woman is jealous, she cannot see the bottom of a valley from its top.