Explaining that people enter Paradise by the mercy of Allah (Glorified and Exalted is He), and that deeds are a cause for entering Paradise, not a compensation for it.

The Shaykh : So, the hadith establishes another issue, different from the issue established by the noble verse. The verse follows the second interpretation, whereas the first interpretation requires some clarification. A person lives in this world, if Allah wills, a hundred years at most, or one hundred and fifty. Our master Noah (peace be upon him) was the longest-lived of people; he remained among his people for a thousand years minus fifty years. So, he remained among his people for a thousand years, possibly adding another fifty. Now, these thousand years, no matter what this person does in such a long life—no matter what good deeds he performs, no matter what he does—does he deserve Paradise? First, one of its attributes is eternal abode, as stated in the authentic hadith: in the form of a ram, . And this principle was carried to this realization that in the Hereafter there is no death, neither in Paradise nor in the Hellfire. So, does this person, who lived this long, extended life and did whatever good deeds he did, deserve this Paradise which contains eternal abode with no end? Of course not. He lived a thousand years. So, living a thousand years, my brother, living ten thousand, living a million, billions and billions, but until there is no end? No, he does not deserve to enter this endless Paradise with deeds he performed in a thousand years.
This is the greatest what? A duration of life. And this is one of the attributes of Paradise that one enters by good deeds. But there are other attributes. For these other attributes, he deserves to live in them with that little work in that short life... short compared to the eternal life in Paradise.
He (peace and blessings be upon him) said: , and perhaps this is the completion of the Qudsi hadith.
So, in reciting that Qudsi hadith, Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) says in the Qudsi hadith: . So, does this righteous person who lived a thousand years, hypothetically, and did whatever good deeds he did, deserve a bliss in Paradise that our Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) describes in this Qudsi hadith? He does not deserve that. If he lived in Paradise in a simple house like ours, with no heat or cold, and their provision comes to them morning and evening, he would win. But what if added to that is what no eye has seen, no ear has heard, and what has not occurred to the heart of any human? What if added to this simple house we assumed, which is like any of our houses but has no hardship, no toil, no heat, and no cold? What if the house in Paradise, for the most wretched of people, is ten times the size of the world? This is the least of what a person has in Paradise, as evidenced by his saying (peace and blessings be upon him): , an allusion to the fact that the Fire destroyed him, burned him, and weakened his strength, so he could no longer walk on the ground properly as Allah created him as a sound human being before. So, he comes out of the Fire crawling like a small child, having not yet regained his strength.
Where is he walking? He is walking to Paradise. Allah permitted it for him. He took him out of the Fire because a weight of an atom of faith remained in his heart. This weight of an atom of faith saved him from the Fire and brought him into Paradise. This person walks crawling, crawling on his way to Paradise, and he sees from afar a very large, green, ripe tree. He says: "O my Lord, bring me to this tree so I can take shelter in its shade." He is ruined from the Fire, having become black charcoal; so, black charcoal; he wants to take shelter from the heat of the Fire which he still feels in his body. He says: "Bring me to this tree so I can take shelter in its shade, eat from its fruit, and drink from its water." Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) says: . He says: "No, O my Lord, I do not ask You for anything else." So, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) brings him to this tree by His power and grace. He takes shelter in its shade, eats from its fruit, and drinks from its water. Then he continues his way to Paradise, and he sees a second tree, larger, more noble, and greater than the first tree. He says: "O my Lord, bring me to this tree so I can take shelter in its shade, eat from its fruit, and drink from its water." The Lord (Blessed and Exalted is He) says: "O My servant, did you not pledge to Me not to ask Me for anything else—meaning the first one?" . He says: "O Lord, I do not ask You for anything else." So, He brings him to it. He takes shelter in its shade, eats from its fruit, and drinks from its water. Then he continues his way to Paradise, and he sees a third tree, greater and more lush than the first two trees. The servant hopes for the grace of his Lord, for he has no need but the grace of his Lord. Allah, Allah.
On the occasion that the servant has no need but the grace of his Lord, I will narrate to you a hadith from "Sahih al-Bukhari" that is related to a prophet of the prophets of Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He). The Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . The intended meaning of the locusts is a heap, a heap of gold. Allah sent it down to him from the sky as a prophetic miracle and a karamah (a miracle granted to a righteous person) for our master Ayyub (peace be upon him). So, he started scooping this locusts of gold into his pocket. Then the Lord called out to him, saying: , or as He (Blessed and Exalted is He) said to him. So, his answer was that he said: "And do we have any need but Your grace, O Lord?"
-- And upon you be peace and the mercy of Allah and His blessings --.
So, the servant, who is the last to come out of the Fire and the last to enter Paradise, hoped for the grace of Allah even in the previous instance when he saw the huge, great tree. So, Allah (Mighty and Majestic) sent him and took a pledge from him previously not to ask Him (Blessed and Exalted is He) for anything else. When he reached it, took shelter in its shade, ate from its fruits, and drank from its water, he continued his way to Paradise until he reached the gate of Paradise. He heard the singing of the houris and the spirit and scent of it reached him, and he was close to its gate. He said: "O Lord, let me enter Paradise—even if from behind the gate—let me enter Paradise." Allah (Blessed and Exalted is He) says to him: . The poor servant does not believe it. He says to him: "O Lord, are You mocking me, and You are the Lord?!" It is like what came in the story of the three who took refuge in a cave in the mountain when the rains fell upon them. One of them was the worker who had worked for the employer on a "affah" of rice, a container of rice. When this measure was offered to him, he turned away from it and left angrily. The employer took the "affah" of rice—meaning: a container of rice—and planted it and harvested it, and planted and harvested until the end. Over a long time, cattle, sheep, shepherds, and the blessings of Allah gathered for him. The owner of the what? The measure of rice came. He said to him: "So-and-so, give me my right." He said to him: "Look at those cattle, go and take them." He said to him: "Are you mocking me? I only have a measure of rice with you, and you tell me: take all the cattle?" He says to him: "Go and take it; for those cattle are from that measure."
The point is: this is what he did not believe when he was told: take the cattle. This servant, where would he start to believe that in Paradise it is ten times the world, and he is burned, coming out of the Fire, the last of the people of the Fire? And the hadith came to us with laughter. The one who narrates the hadith from the Companions is Ibn Mas'ud. The narrator says about Ibn Mas'ud: When Ibn Mas'ud reached the servant's saying to the Lord: "Are You mocking me, and You are the Lord?" Ibn Mas'ud laughed. They said to him: ... why did you laugh? He said: When the Messenger told us up to this point, the Messenger laughed. So, we asked him: Why are you laughing, O Messenger of Allah? He said: .