Some transmitters (1) have added, in another report from Abū Nuwās, the following lines:
I say, when every pathway narrows round me
and worries have scored their scars upon my heart;
Because my crimes are many and my offense immense,
I am destroyed, with no claim at all to repentance.
I sink, despairing, in an ocean of dread,
yet my soul will sometimes rally and repent.
It remembers the All-Generous pardoning His servants;
I revive, hoping for His mercy, and turn back.
I humble my words and implore in longing:
perhaps the Remover of affliction will relent toward me.

Ibn Ṭarāra al-Jarīrī (2) said: “I have transmitted these verses ascribed to a poet who lived before Abū Nuwās; they appear among his ascetic poems, and grammarians have cited them in many places that we have already mentioned.”

Ḥasan ibn al-Dāya said: “I entered upon Abū Nuwās while he lay in his final illness and said, ‘Admonish me.’ He recited:
Pile up as many sins as you can,
for you will meet a Lord All-Forgiving.
You will see—when you arrive before Him seeking pardon—
that you face a Sovereign, Mighty King.
You will bite your hands in bitter regret
for every evil you abandoned out of fear of Hellfire. (3)

I protested, ‘Woe to you! In such a condition you give me this sort of advice?’

He replied, ‘Be quiet. Ḥammād ibn Salama narrated to us, from Thābit, from Anas, who said that the Messenger ﷺ declared: “I have stored up my intercession for the major sinners of my community.” (4)

“By this same chain it has also been related from him: ‘Let none of you die except while holding a good opinion of Allah.’ (5)”

Al-Rabīʿ and others reported that al-Shāfiʿī said: “We visited Abū Nuwās on the day he was dying, while he struggled for breath. We asked, ‘What have you prepared for this day?’ He composed:
My sin loomed large before me, but when I set it
beside Your pardon, my Lord, Your pardon proved greater.
You have ever been One who forgives sin, unfailingly
bestowing and absolving as a grace and a favor.
Had it not been for You, no worshipper would be led astray by Iblīs—
and how could he, when he even deceived Your chosen one, Adam?