“Your actions alone will not save any of you..” (Bukhari 6463)
Narrated Abu Huraira:
Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, “The deeds of anyone of you will not save you (from the (Hell) Fire).” They said, “Even you (will not be saved by your deeds), O Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ)?” He said, “No, even I (will not be saved) unless and until Allah bestows His Mercy on me. Therefore, do good deeds properly, sincerely and moderately, and worship Allah in the forenoon and in the afternoon and during a part of the night, and always adopt a middle, moderate, regular course whereby you will reach your target (Paradise).
In another narration, prophet said “Be firm, steadfast, and balanced; know that your actions alone will not b e a cause for your entry into the paradise and that most beloved actions to ALLAH are those which are done continuously & persistently , even if they be few.
From the above, it is evident that our deeds alone will not forbid our entry into the hell nor guarantee us entry to the Paradise and it is only and only ALLAH’s mercy that can protect us.
ALLAH says in the Qur’an:
Their lord gives the good news of his mercy and good pleasure and gardens where they enjoy everlasting delight, remaining in them timelessly ever n ever.
Some scholars say: Entry into paradise or protection from the Hell is by ALLAH’s mercy & forgiveness while, the levels which one attains in Jannah (Paradise) are resulted from the DEEDS one has done in this Dunia.
In Sahih Hadith, Prophet Said: “ALLAH swt said to Paradise: You are my mercy, I show mercy through you to whoever I will of my servants”
It can well be understood that reward for good deeds is multiplied manifold by the grace of ALLAH from ten to 700 folds to whatever he wills out of his grace & mercy, while for the evil deed, its eqvt to only 1.
Were the rewards of good deeds be equal to that of evil deeds, our good deeds would never have strength to render void the evil deeds. AlhadmuLILLAH
This can further be understood by Ibn Masud’s saying: “on the day of resurrection, after the mutual recompense is made, if a person is left with an atom’s weight of good, ALLAH would increase it and let the person enter Paradise out of his mercy. On the other hand, if he is left with no good deed and the angels say “his good deeds are vanished yet many more people remain seeking”, ALLAH will reply “take their evil deeds and add them to his evil deeds then prepare for him place in Hell” and still ALLAH will be just.
Hadeeth in this context from Sahih Muslim:
Do you know who is poor? They (the Companions of the Holy Prophet) said: A poor man amongst us is one who has neither dirham with him nor wealth. He (the Holy Prophet) said: The poor of my Umma would be he who would come on the Day of Resurrection with prayers and fasts and Zakat but (he would find himself bankrupt on that day as he would have exhausted his funds of virtues) since he hurled abuses upon others, brought calumny against others and unlawfully consumed the wealth of others and shed the blood of others and beat others, and his virtues would be credited to the account of one (who suffered at his hand). And if his good deeds fall short to clear the account, then his sins would be entered in (his account) and he would be thrown in the Hell-Fire.
Also, Yahya ibn Muadh said: “When ALLAH extends his grace, not a single evil deed remains for the person, and when his justice is brought forth not a single good deed remains for the person”
Furthermore, Hadeeth in Muslim & Bukhari is “Prophet said: whoever’s account is scrutinized will be destroyed” Scrutiny here by Ibn Unayah means “to undergo evil of thorough examination such that nothing is left over”.
From the above narrations, It shows a servant cannot possibly succeed without mercy, forgiveness and overlooking of his faults.
Ahmad # 17650: Prophet SAAW said: were a servant to remain in state of prostration from the day he was born to the day he dies an old man, in devout obedience to ALLAH, he would consider that insignificant on the day of judgement and would wish to return to this world so that he may increase the reward.
So how can one rely on or be impressed with their deeds when any good in this dunia will still not be enough on the day of judgement. Therefore we should not be content with our good deeds even if they be great assuming this will lead us to the Paradise rather we need to be constantly taking our accountability and be in fear and hope of ALLAH for his mercy to fall on us such that we are saved from the Hell out of his mercy.
Even if we want to look at our good deeds it should be with the intent of showing gratitude to ALLAH, because if it was not from his favors we wouldn’t have done that act/good deed.
Wahb ibn al-ward replied when asked about the reward of a particular deed: “ask not about the reward but ask about the gratitude due upon one who was guided to it.”
SubhanALLAH
Abu Dawood 4699: Messenger of ALLAH said: “ere Allah to punish everyone in the heavens and in the earth. He would do so without being unjust to them, and were he to show mercy to them his mercy would be much better than their actions merited”
With all this said, it is of paramount importance for believers who desired salvation from the Hell and seek entry into Paradise to do deeds which lead him/her to the Mercy, Forgiveness, pleasure and Love of Almighty ALLAH. And the best way to do this by holding fast to the Quran and the Sunnah ie. Following the footsteps of the Prophet of ALLAH Muhammad (Peace & Blessing of ALLAH be upon him). For ALLAH said in the Quran:
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “If you ˹sincerely˺ love Allah, then follow me; Allah will love you and forgive your sins. For Allah is All-Forgiving, Most Merciful.” (03:31)
Say, ˹O Prophet,˺ “Obey Allah and His Messenger.” If they still turn away, then truly Allah does not like the disbelievers. (03:32)
Source: “parts taken from the book Jounrey to ALLAH”
