I had a wet dream on a cold night during the expedition of Dhat al-Salasil. I feared that if I bathed I would perish, so I performed dry ablution and then led my companions in the dawn prayer. They mentioned this to the Prophet ﷺ, who asked, "Amr, did you lead your companions in prayer while in a state of major impurity?"I told him what had prevented me from bathing and said, "I heard Allah say, 'And do not kill yourselves. Indeed, Allah is ever Merciful to you' [Nisa 4:29]."The Messenger of Allah ﷺ laughed and said nothing.
احتلمت في ليلة باردة في غزوة ذات السلاسل، فأشفقت إن اغتسلت أن أهلك، فتيممت، ثم صليت بأصحابي الصبح، فذكروا ذلك للنبي ﷺ فقال: يا عمرو! صليت بأصحابك وأنت جنب؟ فأخبرته بالذي منعني من الاغتسال، وقلت: أني سمعت الله يقول: {ولا تقتلوا أنفسكم إن الله كان بكم رحيما} [سورة النساء: ٢٩] فضحك رسول الله ﷺ ولم يقل شيئا.
Abu Dawud (334), Ahmad (17812), and Hakim (1/177) all narrated it through the route of Imran bin Abu Anas, from Abdul-Rahman bin Jubayr, from Amr bin As, and he mentioned it. Abu Dawud said, Abdul-Rahman bin Jubayr was an Egyptian, the freedman of Kharija bin Hudhafa, and he is not Ibn Jubayr bin Nufayr.I say, there is a break in the chain, for Abdul-Rahman bin Jubayr did not hear directly from Amr bin As. Another story has been narrated from Abdul-Rahman bin Jubayr, from Abu Qays, the freedman of Amr bin As, which does not mention tayammum. It is that Amr bin As was leading a raiding party, and they were struck by severe cold, the like of which he had never seen. He went out for the dawn prayer and said, "By Allah, I had a wet dream last night, but by Allah, I have never seen cold like this. Has anything like it ever come upon your faces?" They said, "No." So he washed his private folds, performed wudu as he would for prayer, then led them in prayer.When he came to the Messenger of Allah ﷺ, the Messenger of Allah ﷺ asked, "How did you find Amr and his companions?" They praised him well and said, "O Messenger of Allah, he led us in prayer while he was in a state of major ritual impurity." So the Messenger of Allah ﷺ sent for Amr and questioned him. Amr told him what had happened and about the cold he had encountered, and said, "O Messenger of Allah, Allah Most High says, "and do not kill yourselves" [Nisa 4:29], and had I performed ghusl I would have died." The Messenger of Allah ﷺ laughed at Amr.Abu Dawud (335) also narrated this from the same route, saying, Muhammad bin Salama told us, Ibn Wahb told us, from Ibn Lahia and Amr bin Harith, from Yazid bin Abu Habib, from Imran bin Abu Anas, from Abdul-Rahman bin Jubayr, and he mentioned the hadith.Abu Dawud then said, this story has also been narrated from Uzai, from Hassan bin Atiya, who said in it, "so he performed tayammum." It appears that Abu Dawud favors the version that mentions tayammum, and he arranged his chapter heading accordingly. This is also what Bukhari mentioned in a suspended form, saying, "Chapter on when a person in a state of major ritual impurity fears illness or death for himself, or fears thirst, he performs tayammum. It is mentioned that Amr bin As had a wet dream on a cold night, so he performed tayammum and recited "and do not kill yourselves, for Allah is Merciful to you" [Nisa 4:29]. This was mentioned to the Prophet ﷺ, and he did not reproach him."Taking all these routes together, the hadith becomes hasan. It is also possible to reconcile the narration mentioning tayammum with the narration mentioning wudu, rather than favoring one over the other. This is the view taken by Bayhaqi in Sunan al-Kubra (1/226), where he said, "It is possible that he did both things mentioned in the two narrations together, washing what he was able to wash and performing tayammum for the rest."Nawawi supported this, saying, "What Bayhaqi has said here is decisive." Khulasat al-Ahkam (1/216). And Allah knows best.