وَرَاوَدَتْهُ الَّتِي هُوَ فِي بَيْتِهَا عَن نَّفْسِهِ وَغَلَّقَتِ الأَبْوَابَ وَقَالَتْ هَيْتَ لَكَ قَالَ مَعَاذَ اللّهِ إِنَّهُ رَبِّي أَحْسَنَ مَثْوَايَ إِنَّهُ لاَ يُفْلِحُ الظَّالِمُونَ
Surah Yusuf, ayat 23 [emphasis added for non-Arabic speakers]:
Sahih International: And she, in whose house he was, sought to seduce him. She closed the doors and said, “Come, you.” He said, “[I seek] the refuge of Allah . Indeed, he is my master, who has made good my residence. Indeed, wrongdoers will not succeed.”

and the word mistress is the female form of the word master, and the mistress of the house of Aziz, as Allah calls him, that woman was wicked — but she was his wife.

wAllaho’Alim, if i had used a feminized form of the word rabb in my earlier comment, there would probably have been even less tolerance or comprehension.

Most of the comments seem to be geared toward criticizing how the wife cooks. Someone mentioned how the father makes jokes and the family laughs. Be careful with this method though. What you think is funny may not be funny to your spouse.

I feel sorry for people who do not know of the joy of perfecting a recipe — of tweaking it until it is JustSo. It is one of life’s little pleasures.

So what you are saying are that husbands are Gods, and wives are just the mistress?

Rabb literally means master or caretaker…so rabb al bayt will be the master of the house i.e. husband (in some cases wife ;) )
so in shar’eeh meanings it is used for Allah, but in literal meaning it can be used for master…

and i don’t think he meant mistress as the illegitimate “mistress” rather the feminine form of Master…
so he meant that husband maybe the ‘master’ of the house but the mistress (i.e. master) of his heart should be his wife…;)

If she ever did make anything and I didn’t like it, it’d have to be because it had an ingredient, Parmesan cheese for example, that I didn’t like, so she’d be cooking it with full knowledge already that I didn’t like it (since we had our food disclosure before marriage). Is that a risk she’d be willing to take? Lol we’ll see, only been nikkah’d 7 months alhamdulilah ;-)

P.S I cook a lot too, and we cook a lot together as well, so as far as the whole “cooking is the wife’s responsibility” argument, I think I lean towards the idea of the wife being the house cook due to her skill level being hire than mine, but I don’t mind bustin out the apron here and there.

really, where’s a hadith that says one of the duties of a wife is to cook? is this a husband’s right? I always thought it was the husband’s responsibility to feed the wife. Many scholars have indicated that this includes the cooking portion of it also! :)

and to the previous commenter, what in the world does he mean Rabb of the house? Rabb is something that should be used for God only. A mistress is someone who is a sort of illegitimate woman. So what you are saying are that husbands are Gods, and wives are just the mistress? please….

Abu Hurairah (May Allah be pleased with him) reported: Messenger of Allah (PBUH) never found fault with food. If he had inclination to eating it, he would eat; and if he disliked it, he would leave it. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim].

we’re still working on that, b/c my husband forgets the rule, and STILL tells me right away,

Typical brotha :) haha

my husband can’t tell me at the actual mealtime it’s not good. he has to wait until we’re done eating. that way, u don’t feel as bad. when u’ve been slaving away, makin food, and someone rejects it right after, it buuuuuuurns.

we’re still working on that, b/c my husband forgets the rule, and STILL tells me right away,

first — the article has a smartly-designed graphic, but perhaps it both reveals and belies. i believe many spouses come to assume that the compliments they receive from their spouses are only facades built upon lies, many small “insignificant” lies, but so many that no compliment need be taken as true. notice that in the magnifying glass, the person sees nothing but lies. the result is an erosion of a level of support. at some point the spouse making compliments may make perfunctory what had been genuine as a response to their reception.

how much better is the example of the Prophet, sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam — we know that his habit was not to complain. but also not to lie.

so perhaps the upshot should be do not complain in a way that you would be embarrassed for later, when you are shown your deeds. and may Allah give each of us (and our spouses) our respective book of deeds in our right hand. ameen.

second — the article made me think of the situation of the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam as a man with multiple wives. alhamdolillah, look at how he handled the duty of a husband to treat his wives equally. the Prophet sull Allaho alayhi wa sallam would make dua to Allah asking for relief and forgiveness over what he could not control, the responses and inclinations of his heart. but he did not eschew the duty of what he could control: his actions including how he divided his time and rizq.

so if your wife knows that you did not like much less love a particular meal, still she may know that your heart inclines to her. and perhaps she may offer you relief for what you cannot control of your heart (and stomach) if she sees how you act in what is in your control: your choice of words, your tone, your deeds. for the man may be rabb of the house, but his wife (at least one of them!) should be mistress of his heart.