(2) باب سُقُوطِ الذُّنُوبِ بِالاِسْتِغْفَارِ تَوْبَةً
Abu Sirma reported that when the time of the death of Abu Ayyub Ansari drew near, he said:
I used to conceal from you a thing which I heard from Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) and I heard Allah's Messenger (ﷺ) as saying: Had you not committed sins, Allah would have brought into existence a creation that would have committed sin (and Allah) would have forgiven them.
Reference: Sahih Muslim 2748 a
In-book reference: Book 50, Hadith 11
USC-MSA web (English) reference(deprecated numbering scheme): Book 37, Hadith 6620