I met the Prophet ﷺ while I was in a state of major ritual impurity, so I walked alongside him until he sat down. Then I slipped away, went to my mount, performed the ritual bath, and returned while he was still seated.He asked, "Where have you been?"I replied, "You met me when I was in a state of major ritual impurity, and I disliked sitting with you in that state, so I went and bathed."He said, "Glory be to Allah! A believer is never impure."
حدثنا ابن أبي عدي عن حميد عن بكر عن أبي رافع
لقيت النبي ﷺ وأنا جنب فمشيت معه حتى قعد فانسللت فأتيت الرحل فاغتسلت ثم جئت وهو قاعد فقال أين كنت فقلت لقيتني وأنا جنب فكرهت أن أجلس إليك وأنا جنب فانطلقت فاغتسلت فقال سبحان الله إن المؤمن لا ينجس
Its chain of transmission is sahih. Humayd is Humayd al-Tawil, that is, Humayd bin Abu Humayd, a trustworthy tabii, whose reliability was already established at 2194. We add here that Bukhari mentioned him in al-Kabir 2/1/345-346, Ibn Abu Hatim in al-Jarh wal-Tadil 2/1/219, and Ibn Saad in al-Tabaqat 7/2/17. Bakr is Bakr bin Abdullah al-Muzani. Abu Rafi is al-Saigh, Nufay bin Rafi.In this chain there are three tabiin, some of whom narrated from others. The hadith was narrated by Bukhari 1:333-334, Muslim 1:111, Abu Dawud 231-1:92 in Awn al-Mabud, and Tirmidhi 1:116, all of them from the hadith of Humayd al-Tawil, with this chain, in a similar wording. Tirmidhi said, the hadith of Abu Hurairah is a hasan sahih hadith. It was also narrated by Nasai and Ibn Majah, as Munziri stated at 219.