“The first distinction”:

Allah bestows His blessings and kindness upon His servants without any prior cause on their part whatsoever. He grants well-being, provision, victory, and other blessings to those who have never done any good. He also brings into being creatures for Paradise whom He settles in its unoccupied expanses, having created them in the Hereafter without their having done any good deeds. By His mercy, He admits the children of the believers and those among them who are of unsound mind into Paradise without any deeds on their part.

As for punishment, He punishes no one except for their own deeds.

“The second distinction”:

When someone performs good deeds, the very act of performing them is itself part of Allah’s kindness and His favour in granting that person guidance and faith. As the people of Paradise say:

“Praise be to Allah, who has guided us to this. We would never have been guided had Allah not guided us.”

And in the authentic hadith:

“O My servants, it is only your deeds that I record for you and then recompense you for in full. Whoever finds good, let him praise Allah; and whoever finds otherwise, let him blame no one but himself.”

The very fact that Allah created them alive and endowed them with hearing, sight, and hearts is itself one of His blessings. His sending the Messenger to them, and the Messenger’s clearly conveying the message through which they were guided, is likewise one of His blessings. His inspiring them with faith, guiding them to it, and singling them out for an additional blessing through which they attained