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Does a person enter Paradise by their deeds or by Allah's mercy?

1 min readAlso available in العربية

Good deeds are a cause for entering Paradise, as in the Almighty's saying: (And that is Paradise which you have inherited for what you used to do). However, no one enters Paradise solely by their deeds, but by Allah's mercy and grace, as the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, said: "And know that none of you will enter Paradise by his deeds." They said: "Not even you, O Messenger of Allah?!" He said: "Nor I, unless Allah encompasses me with His mercy and grace." So, the particle "bi" (ب) in the verse denotes causality, and in the Hadith, it denotes a price, meaning that good deeds are a cause for entering Paradise, not a price for it. Some scholars have held that a servant only performs acts of obedience through Allah's mercy, so their entering Paradise by their deeds is, in reality, their entering by Allah's mercy.

Summarized from the full answer at Ftawy · reviewed Sep 2, 2026

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