Hadith 11362

Chapter 2

باب 2

(2) باب سُقُوطِ الذُّنُوبِ بِالاِسْتِغْفَارِ تَوْبَةً

(2) Chapter: Sins Are Erased By Praying For Forgiveness And Repenting
12
حَدَّثَنَا هَارُونُ بْنُ سَعِيدٍ الأَيْلِيُّ، حَدَّثَنَا ابْنُ وَهْبٍ، حَدَّثَنِي عِيَاضٌ، - وَهُوَ ابْنُ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ الْفِهْرِيُّ - حَدَّثَنِي إِبْرَاهِيمُ بْنُ عُبَيْدِ بْنِ رِفَاعَةَ، عَنْ مُحَمَّدِ بْنِ كَعْبٍ الْقُرَظِيِّ، عَنْ أَبِي صِرْمَةَ، عَنْ أَبِي أَيُّوبَ الأَنْصَارِيِّ، عَنْ رَسُولِ اللَّهِ صلى الله عليه وسلم أَنَّهُ قَالَ " لَوْ أَنَّكُمْ لَمْ تَكُنْ لَكُمْ ذُنُوبٌ يَغْفِرُهَا اللَّهُ لَكُمْ لَجَاءَ اللَّهُ بِقَوْمٍ لَهُمْ ذُنُوبٌ يَغْفِرُهَا لَهُمْ " .

Abu Ayyub Ansari reported that Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) said:
If you were not to commit sins, Allah would have swept you out of existence and would have replaced you by another people who have committed sin, and then asked forgiveness from Allah, and He would have granted them pardon.

Reference: Sahih Muslim 2748 b

In-book reference: Book 50, Hadith 12

USC-MSA web (English) reference(deprecated numbering scheme): Book 37, Hadith 6621