Will man be admitted into Paradise by virtue of his own deeds or by the mercy of Allaah?

All perfect praise be to Allaah, the Lord of the worlds. I testify that there is none worthy of worship except Allaah, and that Muhammad, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, is His Slave and Messenger.

Good deeds are a means for being admitted into Paradise, even a condition for that goal. Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And that is Paradise which you are made to inherit for what you used to do.}[Quran 43:72]

However, good deeds, no matter how great they are, will not admit a person into Paradise unless they are coupled with the mercy and favor of Allaah. If there is just treatment but not favor from Allaah The Almighty, man will never enter Paradise.

The mercy of Allaah The Almighty is most important here. Therefore, anyone who experiences it will have his good deeds accepted and sins forgiven, whereas anyone who forfeits the mercy of Allaah and receives close reckoning will perish.

Based on this, we can understand the following verse and Hadeeth in combination: Allaah The Almighty Says (what means): {And that is Paradise which you are made to inherit for what you used to do.}[Quran 43: 72] It was narrated that the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, said that none will enter Paradise by virtue of his own deeds, even the Prophet, sallallaahu ‘alayhi wa sallam, himself, who will be admitted by the mercy of Allaah. [Al-Bukhari and Muslim]

Reconciling the above verse and Hadeeth, Shaykh Haafith Al-Hakami said that the verse indicates that good deeds are a means for entering Paradise, but the Hadeeth confirms that work is not the equivalent price for this. This is because fasting, praying at night and abstaining from all sins throughout one’s entire life could never equal or be the same as the smallest part of any outward or inward favor of Allaah, let alone the price for entering Paradise.

There is a nice interpretation of this concept by some scholars who say that man does not do good deeds except by the mercy of Allaah, who guides the person to do them. Therefore, if man is admitted into Paradise, he will enter it by the mercy of Allaah.     

And Allaah Knows best.