Sahih Muslim 6964
صحيح مسلم#6964Sahihحَدَّثَنَا 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
Scholarly Authentication
The label above is the grade most of these scholars gave — one dissenting opinion no longer speaks for all of them. If any scholar calls a narration fabricated, that verdict is shown instead, whatever the others say. Each scholar's own wording:
Every narration in Sahih Muslim is accepted as Sahih (authentic) by the established status of the book.
In-book reference: 50:12