This essay presents a defense of the sound prophetic hadith, narrated by Bukhārī, Muslim, and others, and that is often misunderstood and mistranslated as: ‘women are deficient in intellect and religion.’ Given that the luminaries of our ummah did not shy away from invoking the zeitgeist of their times by referring to women’s ‘wetter’ temperaments — a frame of reference largely accepted at the time but not grounded in the Qur’an and Sunnah — what charge is there against one who intends to elucidate the literal purport of the words of the Messenger of Allah ﷺ in light of greater gender sensitivity? Furthermore, the defence presented herein makes fewer assumptions than many older works of tafsīr and hadith commentary, and it requires less cultural baggage. Having said that, Allah and His Messenger ﷺ know best what the Messenger of Allah ﷺ meant by his own words. This is literally an essay; i.e. an attempt. May Allah support the truth.