Praise be to Allah, and peace and blessings be upon the Messenger of Allah. To proceed:
The Qur’an and Sunnah indicate that whoever dies believing in the Oneness of Allah and without associating partners with Him will not remain in Hell forever. Rather, his ultimate destination will be Paradise by the mercy of Allah, even if he is punished for his sins for a period of time.
However, this does not mean that a Muslim may abandon prayer and acts of obedience or commit whatever sins he wishes. Allah created His servants to worship Him and sent the messengers commanding people to obey Him and avoid disobedience.
Allah says:
“I did not create jinn and humans except to worship Me.” [Adh-Dhariyat 51:56]
Allah has established means through which His servants attain Paradise, and among the greatest of these are faith and righteous deeds.
Allah says:
“Enter Paradise for what you used to do.” [An-Nahl 16:32]
Righteous deeds, therefore, are not something unnecessary or insignificant. Allah has commanded them, and they are among the means of entering Paradise and attaining higher ranks within it.
When the Prophet ﷺ informed his Companions that the places of people in Paradise and Hell had already been written, they asked whether they should rely upon what had been written and abandon deeds.
The Prophet ﷺ replied:
“Keep doing deeds, for everyone will be facilitated toward that for which he was created.”
Agreed upon.
A person does not know what has been decreed for him. Therefore, he is commanded to act and strive in obedience to Allah rather than abandon deeds and rely upon destiny.
A true believer does not abandon righteous deeds while relying solely on Allah’s mercy, nor does he despair of Allah’s mercy because of his sins.
Rather, he combines fear and hope. He strives to obey Allah, avoids sin, and asks Allah for forgiveness, steadfastness, and a good ending.
A person does not know how his life will end. For this reason, righteous people feared a bad ending despite their many good deeds.
The teaching that a believer in Tawhid will ultimately be saved should not be understood as permission to abandon prayer.
Prayer is one of the greatest pillars of Islam after the two testimonies of faith, and abandoning it is among the gravest sins.
A number of scholars have held that completely abandoning prayer constitutes major disbelief. Therefore, the issue of someone who abandons prayer is far too serious to be treated as an ordinary sin while assuming that Paradise is guaranteed in the end.
Tawhid is the foundation of salvation from eternal punishment in Hell, but it does not justify abandoning acts of obedience or committing sins.
A believer is commanded to have faith, perform righteous deeds, maintain the prayers, and avoid sins while trusting Allah, hoping for His mercy, and fearing His punishment.
No one enters Paradise because his deeds make him independent of Allah’s mercy. Rather, a person enters Paradise through Allah’s mercy and grace, while righteous deeds are among the means Allah has prescribed for attaining His mercy and pleasure.
And Allah knows best.