Narrated Qutaybah ibn Sa'id: Layth narrated to us, from Muhammad ibn Qays—the storyteller of 'Umar ibn 'Abd al-'Aziz—from Abu Sirmah, from Abu Ayyub, that he said when death approached him: "I had concealed from you something I heard from the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him. I heard the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, say: 'Were it not that you commit sins, Allah would have created a creation who would commit sins, and He would forgive them.'"