Abū Dharr was with a small flock of his at al-Rabadhah. When he came, the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said to him:

“O Abū Dharr!”

But he remained silent. He repeated it to him, and he again remained silent. He then said:

“O Abū Dharr! May your mother be bereaved of you!”

He said, “I am in a state of major ritual impurity.” So he called for a servant girl to bring him water. She came to him, and he concealed himself behind his camel and bathed. He then came to the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, who said to him:

“It will suffice you...” to the end of the hadith.

Al-Bazzār also recorded its Prophet-attributed portion in his Musnad (1/157/310, Kashf al-Astār): Muqaddam ibn Muḥammad ibn ʿAlī ibn Muqaddam al-Muqaddamī narrated to us: my uncle, al-Qāsim ibn Yaḥyā ibn ʿAṭāʾ ibn Muqaddam, narrated to me: Hishām ibn Ḥassān narrated to us, through the same chain. Its wording is:

“Clean earth serves as minor ablution for the Muslim, even if he does not find water for ten years. Then, when he finds water, let him fear Allah and let it touch his skin, for that is better.”

He said: “It is not narrated from Abū Hurayrah except through this route; and Muqaddam is trustworthy and of known lineage.”

Al-Ṭabarānī said: “Muqaddam alone narrated it.”

I say: He is trustworthy, as al-Bazzār and others stated. He was among al-Bukhārī’s shaykhs in al-Ṣaḥīḥ; likewise, his uncle was trustworthy and among its narrators, while those above him were narrators relied upon by the Two Shaykhs. Thus, the chain is authentic. Ibn al-Qaṭṭān also declared it authentic, as cited in al-Talkhīṣ al-Ḥabīr (1/154), but then remarked: “However, al-Dāraquṭnī said in al-ʿIlal: Its transmission as a mursal report is more correct.”