Beautiful Islamic Stories

- A Satanic Calculation

Imam Jafar Sadik became interested in a man after he had repeatedly heard about his piety and kindness and his popularity with the common people.

The Imam decided to find out if the man was truly righteous.

So, one day, the Imam went to observe him. At that time, the man was surrounded by people. After a while, the people left and the man began to walk away. The Imam followed him.

A little later, the man entered a bakery and cleverly hid two loaves of bread under his robe while the baker was busy. The Imam was surprised to see this and thought that the man must have paid for the loaves earlier.

Even so, the Imam felt disturbed by the way the man had take the bread without letting the baker know.

The man came out of the bakery and walked ahead. The Imam followed him. Soon, the man stopped by a fruit stand. As so as the fruit vendor looked the other way, the man then took two pomegranates, hurriedly hid them under his robe the left.

The astonished Imam continued to follow him and was surprised to see that the man gave the bread and fruit to a sick man.

The Imam couldn't wait any more. He went to the man and told him everything he had seen and asked him to explain his strange behaviour. The man said:"I assume that yiou're Jafar Ibn-e Muhammad.

"Yes, I'm Jafar ibn-e Muhammad."

"I'm sorry to say that youre' very ignorant."

"How can you say that?"

Your question shows your sheer ignorance. Obviously, you can't do a simple sum. Don't you know that Allah says in the Qur'an: Whosoever does a good deed shall be rewarded ten times over. The Qur'a also says that whoever commits an evil deed, he will be punished only once for it. I stole two loaves of bread, which meant two sins. Then I stole two pomegranates that meant two more sins, altogether four sins. But i gave the two loaves and the two pomegranates for the cause of Allah. Each counted as good deeds. Thus I have forty good deeds to my credit, and forty minus four is thirty-six. Like this, I have thirty-six pure good deeds to my name. This is simple arithmetic but you cannot understand it.

The imam answered:"Your calculation shows how very ignorant you are. You should know Allah only accepts the deeds of the pious. Now a simple piece of arithmetic should be enough to make you aware of your mistake. As you say, you committed four sins. Also since you've given stolen goods to people in the name of charity and good will, you have not earned any good points but, instead have a sin against your name for each deed. So, you have a total of eight sins. Moreover, you have no good deeds."

The man was left speechless, as the Imam walked away, he gazed after him i a state of shock.