Man is particularly known for ploughing his life on the footing of disobedience but still bethinks that the doors of paradise must be opened for him. God created paradise for a purpose — to award those who stood firmly in paying obeisance to Him, even after having given them the freedom to do whatever they find pleasing.
Let us question ourselves – that why do we stay awake working so well to earn a better livelihood? We could have stayed idle for success to come to us without having worked for it. Tacitly, God will not do by miracle what we need to do by responsibility. In so doing, aren’t we taking the bold steps to win big?
Similarly, had paradise been made free for every soul, the evil man and oppressor would have won on this earth and again be exceedingly joyful in the hereafter. The God we serve will not be that unfair to those who have been wronged, and people who keep devoting themselves to good. The Bible says that “Faith without works is faithless”. Accordingly, know that it takes much effort to get to Paradise. Other than that, the Prophets and righteous people would have all done shoddy works.
More so, the believe that without the mercies of God none will enter into paradise is absolutely true, but many have contextually misconstrued it. For instance, when we appear for accountability on the day of judgment with chunks of good deeds, there will still be some spots on us, as fallible as we are. Regardless, it will take the Mercy of God to find those deeds worthwhile to earn us the abode of paradise. So chunk of the workload rests on man’s penchant and preparedness to work for paradise. Man will not just “sleep”, in his stay on earth, just to wake up one day and be told to “enter Paradise”.
The Quran (103:1-3) mentioned that “By the passage of time. Man is in a state of loss. Except those who have believed, and follow it with righteous deeds, call one another to truth and preserve.” Imam Shafi says that “if men were to ponder about this chapter alone, it would be enough for their salvation.” So ponder.