Musnad Ahmad 21304

Translation

✧ I was a disbeliever, and Allah guided me to Islam. I used to be far from water while my family was with me, and I would become junub. That weighed on my mind. Abu Dharr had been described to me, so I performed Hajj and entered the mosque of Mina, and I recognized him by the description. There was a lean, dark-skinned old man wearing a Qatari garment. I went and stood beside him while he was praying. I greeted him, but he did not respond to me. Then he prayed a prayer that he completed, perfected, and lengthened. When he finished, he responded to me. I said: 'Are you Abu Dharr?' He said: 'My family claims that.' He said: 'I was a disbeliever, and Allah guided me to Islam. My religion concerned me. I used to be far from water while my family was with me, and I would become junub. That weighed on my mind.' He said: 'Do you know Abu Dharr?' I said: 'Yes.' He said: 'I found the climate of Madinah disagreeable' – Ayyub said: 'or a word like it' – 'so the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered for me a small herd of camels and sheep, and I would be with them. I used to be far from water while my family was with me, and I would become junub. It occurred to me that I had perished. So I mounted one of the camels and reached the Messenger of Allah ﷺ at midday while he was sitting in the shade of the mosque among a group of his companions. I dismounted from the camel and said: "O Messenger of Allah, I have perished." He said: "What has destroyed you?" I told him, and he laughed. He called someone from his household, and a black slave girl came with a wooden bowl containing water, not full, it was splashing. I hid behind the camel, and the Messenger of Allah ﷺ ordered a man from the group to screen me, so I washed. Then I came to him, and he said: "Clean earth is a means of purification as long as you do not find water, even for ten years. When you find water, then touch your skin with it."'

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