Is guidance acquired or does it come through effort, given the existence of verses and hadiths such as, "Indeed, you do not guide whom you like," and "As for those who strive hard in Our cause, We shall most certainly guide them to Our paths," and the hadith, "Every child is born upon Fitra"?

A servant does not possess the ability to independently guide themselves except through Allah's grace. However, after this grace, their diligence in performing acts of obedience and avoiding sins benefits them. This is the meaning of the verse: (And those who strive for Us – We will surely guide them to Our ways. And indeed, Allah is with the doers of good) [Al-Ankabut: 69]. That is, We will increase them in guidance to the path of goodness and righteousness. Guidance (huda) is used in the Qur'an in two ways: general and specific. The general meaning is: clarifying the path of truth and elucidating the proof. The specific meaning is: Allah's bestowal of grace upon the servant through divine enabling (tawfiq). The guidance denied to the Prophet, peace be upon him, is the specific guidance, because divine enabling is solely in Allah's hand. To these two meanings all actions attributed to the servant revert. Indeed, the guided one is he whom Allah guides. There is no contradiction between the Prophet's saying, peace be upon him, "Every child is born upon the natural disposition (fitra)..." and the two verses, because the meaning of fitra mentioned in the hadith is what was taken from them in the loins of their fathers, and that birth occurs upon it until change happens through the parents.