In the name of Allah, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

I would like to greet all my readers...Assalamu Alaikum!

After sending blessings upon the Prophet and his family, the story is as follows...

Sometimes a person appears to be good, people describe his miracles, but in the eyes of Allah, the real goodness is that which is accompanied by piety.

Today, I will tell you a similar incident from the time of Hazrat Imam Jafar Sadiq (a.s.).

One day, Imam Sadiq (a.s.) heard some people of Medina praising a person a lot.

The people of Medina said:

"So-and-so is a great person of Allah, miracles appear from his hands!"

The Imam became curious, the Imam (a.s.) said:

"I want to see him."

A few days later, by chance, one day, the Imam (a.s.) saw this person. People were gathered around him, he was hiding his face with a cloth, only his forehead and eyes were visible. People were showing their devotion to him, but he was pushing them away. Finally, he started moving forward alone.

Imam (a.s.) also started walking behind him silently. On the way, he came to a baker's shop, which was crowded. Imam saw that the man moved forward slowly... and silently, avoiding the people's eyes, picked up two loaves of bread and hid them and moved forward.

Seeing this! Imam was surprised, "What is this? This is theft!"

Then he reached a fruit seller's shop. There too he did the same thing - stole two pomegranates and left.

Now Imam's face was full of surprise. "How can this be a pious man?"

Going a little further, he found a sick man sitting on the road, so the man gave those two loaves of bread and two pomegranates to the sick man.

Then Imam called out...

"Ya Abdallah!"

The man stopped, looked back.

The Imam said to the man:

"I had heard many praises of you, but what I saw today... my heart has become sad for you."

The righteous man asked the Imam:

"What did you see?"

The Imam said to him:

"You stole two loaves of bread and two pomegranates."

Upon hearing this, the man said:

"Who are you?"

The Imam introduced himself to him and said:

"I am Ja'far bin Muhammad bin Ali bin Hussain."

He was shocked, but still he continued to talk:

"So you are Ja'far as Sadiq? But you do not know the Sharia of your grandfather!"

The Imam smiled and asked him:

"Please tell me which aspect of Sharia you are talking about, of which I not aware?"

The man said in a haughty tone:

"In the Quran, Allah says, 'Whoever does a good deed will be rewarded ten times over, and whoever does a bad deed will be punished the same amount.'

"Now listen! I stole two loaves of bread and two pomegranates - four sins. Then I gave those four things in the way of Allah - so they became forty good deeds. By reducing four sins, thirty-six good deeds remained! for me it is beneficial"

The Imam (a.s.) raised his head and looked at the sky, took a deep breath, then said:

"I feel sorry for you! You do not understand the Book of Allah at all."

The Imam said again:

Didn't Allah say in the Quran: 'Indeed, Allah accepts only the deeds of the pious.'

The man said:

"Yes! Exactly."

Now the Imam corrected the man:

"Listen! The two loaves and two pomegranates you stole — their sins were written in your book of deeds."

The Imam further explained:

"Then when you gave these things in charity without the permission of the owner of this property — then in return for this act of giving charity to something you have no right to, more sins were written in your book of deeds."

The Imam explained the result of his action and said:

"Thus, only sins were written in your book of deeds, not a single good deed!"

Hearing this, the man trembled. His face changed color, tears flowed from his eyes. And he started crying and said to the Imam:

"O son of the Messenger! I had read the Quran, but today my knowledge has increased."

After that, the man fell at the Imam's feet in repentance.

Result and Lesson:

Allah does not look at deeds, but at intentions and piety. Because God only accepts the deeds of the pious.

Reference: Pand-e-Tarih Vol. 4, p. 141; Ganjinah-e-Ma'arif Vol. 1, p. 310