Mustadrak al-Hakim — Hadith 7811

It is narrated from Sayyiduna Ali bin Abi Talib (may Allah be pleased with him) that he said: I heard the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) say: "I never intended to do the things the people of the Jahiliyyah did except twice in my life, and on both occasions Allah Almighty protected me from them. One night I said to a young man from Quraysh who was with me in the upper part of Makkah, grazing his family's goats: 'Look after my goats so that tonight I may go to Makkah and join the evening story-telling gatherings as other young men do.' He said: 'All right.' So I set out. When I reached the nearest house of Makkah, I heard singing, the sound of drums and the notes of a flute. I asked: 'What is this?' The people told me: 'A man of Quraysh is marrying such-and-such a woman.' I became absorbed in that singing and that sound until my eyes grew heavy and I fell asleep, and nothing woke me except the heat of the sun. I went back (the next day) and heard the same sounds again and was told the same thing. Again I became occupied in listening until sleep overcame me, and nothing woke me except the heat of the sun. Then I returned to my companion, and he asked: 'What did you do?' I said: 'I did nothing.'" The Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: "By Allah, after that I never intended any evil deed of the kind the people of the Jahiliyyah did, until Allah Almighty honoured me with prophethood."
This hadith is sahih (authentic) on the condition of Imam Muslim, and the two Shaykhs (Bukhari and Muslim) did not record it.