The meaning of the saying of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him): "By Him in whose hand is my soul, one of you may do the deeds of the people of Paradise until there is nothing between him and it but a cubit, when the decree overtakes him..."

The Shaykh : Then he said in the hadith: .
These two sentences contain intense fear, fear, and they also contain great hope.
What is the fear? The fear is that a person may do the deeds of the people of Paradise and then his end is sealed with the deeds of the people of the Fire, may Allah protect us from that , meaning that only a little time remains of his lifespan and he dies, then the decree overtakes him, and he does the deeds of the people of the Fire and enters the Fire, may Allah protect us from that.
And the reverse is the reverse: a person does the deeds of the people of the Fire until his lifespan nears its end, so there is nothing between him and it but a cubit, when the decree overtakes him and he does the deeds of the people of Paradise.
And this is something observed in this and in this, and all of it also occurred in the time of the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him).
There was a man with the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) in a military expedition in jihad, and he was a brave, bold man who did not leave a stray or a fleeing enemy without killing them. So the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and he was a mujahid in the path of Allah, . This was a great matter for the Companions. Why was it great for them? How could he say that he is from the people of the Fire when his deeds are the deeds of the people of Paradise, jihad in the path, and yet he said: . So a man said: , meaning I will follow him until I see what the end is. So the man followed him. While he was fighting, an arrow struck him. This brave, bold man was struck by an arrow, so he became sad and angry, and he saw that there was no good for him in remaining alive after that. So he took his sword, may Allah protect us from that, and placed it on his chest and leaned on it until the sword came out of his back, so he killed himself. And it is known that one who kills himself is in the Fire. For this reason, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) did not pray over one who kills himself. The one who commits suicide is in the Fire, may Allah protect us from that, and he is punished in the Fire with what he used to kill himself with, remaining in it eternally.
So this man committed suicide, may Allah protect us from that. When the man who was watching him woke up, he went to the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) and said: I bear witness that you are the Messenger of Allah. He said: . He said: The man you said was from the people of the Fire, such and such happened to him. So the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . Praise be to Allah, this lightened the matter.
So his saying here in the hadith: means: as it appears to people.
And his saying: means until his lifespan nears its end, because when a person dies, from the moment he dies, if he is from the people of Paradise, he will be in the bliss of Paradise.