كَتَبَ: “he wrote” — the active form foregrounds the doer of the action.
كُتِبَ: “was written” — the passive form foregrounds the act without explicitly naming its agent.
In Hadith 225, كُتِبَ لَهُ بَرَاءَةٌ means “freedom was recorded for him.” The contrast is similar to the earlier example أُفْتِيَ, “was given a ruling.”
This is a focused recognition exercise; learners need not memorize a complete passive conjugation at this stage.