Is Paradise Promised for Iman Alone

Question

Regarding the verse [ar]إِنَّ الَّذِينَ آمَنُوا وَعَمِلُوا الصَّالِحَاتِ كَانَتْ لَهُمْ… الخ[/ar] a certain scholar stated that, according to the majority of the exegetes, even a mere believer — without righteous deeds, without prayer, fasting and the rest — is also deserving of this glad tiding, since a thing is not conjoined to itself. How is this to be understood?

Answer

If a person dies immediately upon believing, and the time for righteous deeds has not come upon him, then he too, by the decree of the Lord and according to the true position, is included in this glad tiding. But one who was given time after accepting iman and yet did not perform righteous deeds, remaining instead in sins — he does not, by the rule, enter Paradise with the…

Source: Fatawa Mahmudiyya

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