السلام عليكم

Entering Paradise is Tied to Being a Believer

Ibn Taimiya also points out that the promise of Paradise is always tied
to being a believer or having faith. There are no verses, for example, that
promise Paradise for the "Muslims". There are only promises given to the
believers unconditionally or those who have faith and perform good deeds. For
example, Allah has said,

Allah has promised to the believers, men and women, gardens through which
rivers flow to dwell therein forever, and beautiful mansions in Gardens of
Paradise. But the greatest bliss is the Good Pleasure of Allah. That is the
supreme success" (al-Tauba 72).


An example of the second type includes,

"And give glad tidings to those who believe and do good deeds that for them
will be Gardens through which rivers flow ... " (al-Baqara 25).

After the Battle of Khaibar, the Companions of the Messenger of Allah
(peace be upon him) were commenting about some of the valiant Muslims who
had died fighting. They said, "So and so is a martyr, so and so is a martyr."
They came to one person and said that he was a martyr and the Prophet (peace
be upon him) told them, "Certainly not, for I have seen him in the Hell-fire due to a cloak or garment that he had misappropriated from the booty." Then the Messenger of Allah (peace be upon him) said to Umar ibn al-Khattaab,

"O ibn al-Khattaab, go and announce among the people that no one enters Paradise except the believers." (Recorded by Muslim.)

For every person, it is only when he has been purified of wrongs and
he then fulfills the requirements of imaan that he will be entered into Paradise.

Al-Umari wrote,

The important point here is this: When the effects and traces of
evildoing are removed by repentance or erased by good deeds
or hardships or by being entered into the Hell-fire-- and we
seek refuge in Allah from that- and nothing is left with the
Muslim except what he has of imaan, and true imaan cannot be
denied of him, then he will enter Paradise as a believer, even if
his imaan is less than the imaan of others.

Commentary On The Forty Hadeeth of Al-Nawawi: By Jamaal al-Din Zarabozo, Vol. 1, pp.198-199.

السلام عليكم