Majma al-Zawaid — Hadith 73

Nu'aym bin Qa'nab al-Riyahi narrates: I came to meet Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him), but I did not find him. I saw a woman and asked her, and she told me: "He has gone to his land." Meanwhile, Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) arrived, driving two camels, one behind the other, and around the neck of each of them was a water-skin. He put down the two water-skins, and I said: "O Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari! Of all people in the world, meeting you is the most beloved thing to me, and meeting you is also the most disliked thing to me." He said: "What are you saying, my friend? How can these two things come together?" The narrator says: I said: "In the Days of Ignorance I buried a baby girl alive. So I wished to meet you so that you would tell me whether there is room for repentance for me, and in meeting you I also feared that you might tell me that there is no room for repentance for me." Sayyiduna Abu Dharr al-Ghifari (may Allah be pleased with him) asked: "Did this happen in the Days of Ignorance?" I replied: "Yes!" He said: "May Allah Almighty pardon what you did before."
(Allamah al-Haythami says:) I say: This complete report will come later in the chapter on conduct with women.
Ahmad recorded it, and its narrators have been declared trustworthy.