A Satanic Calculation

lmam 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 lmam 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 lmam 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 lmam 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 taken 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 soon as the fruit vendor looked the other way, the man took two pomegranates, hurriedly hid them under his robe then left.

The astonished lmam 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: “l assume that you’re Jafar ibn-e Muhammad.”

“Yes, I’m Jafar ibn-e Muhammad,” the Imam replied.

The man said: “I’m sorry to say that you’re very ignorant.”

The Imam asked: “How can you say that?”

The man replied: “Your question shows your sheer ignorance. Obviously, you can’t do a simple sum. Don’t you know that Allah says in the Quran: “Whoever does a good deed shall be rewarded ten times over.” The Quran 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 counts as ten 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 that 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 done no good deeds.”

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