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Fatwa CenterStory of woman fleeing from helpful Prophet, sallallaahu 'alayhi wa sallam, unauthentic
Question
Assalam 'alaykum wa rahmatullah, This is a very famous story circulated around the internet, can you please check if it is authentic? JazakAllah Khayr! One day Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was going somewhere at noon and it was too hot in the desert when He (S.A.W) saw an old woman carrying her luggage on her head. Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) helped her and took the luggage from the woman and carried it for her.. Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) asked the woman that where she was going and why? She said that I am leaving this town as I have heard that a magician named Muhammad (S.A.W) is in town. As Holy Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) was very patient and kind, He (S.A.W) didn't say a word and kept listening. The old lady kept complaining that why she was leaving the town. In short the basic reason of her to leave the town was her misconception about Muhammad (S.A.W), who was walking beside her and she didn't knew it. When they reached the destination, Muhammad (S.A.W) put down the bag and was about to leave when the old woman said, "O, kind person! Atleast tell me your name!". Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W) replied, "I am the person because of whom you left the town." The old lady was amazed to listen that and said that such a kind, helping and true person can never be wrong and therefore she also accepted Islam.
Answer
All perfect praise be to Allaah, The Lord of the Worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad 
is His Slave and Messenger.
We have not come across any accounts of this story in the reliable books that we have at hand. Shaykh ‘Abdur-Rahmaan ibn Suhaym was asked about it and he replied: “I looked up this story and did not find any origin for it, and in some versions of the story, it was mentioned that the woman was a Jew. So this is very unlikely, as there were no Jews in Makkah but they were rather in Madeenah. Also, in some versions of the story, the Jewish woman described the Prophet as a Saabi' [i.e. someone who abandons the religion of his forefathers]. However, it is the people of Makkah who described the Prophet as a Saabi'. This causes us to believe that the story is fabricated and baseless."
Allaah Knows best.
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