Where have all my good deeds gone?

Where have all my good deeds gone?’ God said: ‘Whenever you did something good and you informed the people of it, nothing remained for you (from that good deed) except that which you yourself were pleased with.” ^13 It is narrated: “A scholar went to a pious man, saying: ‘How is your prayer?’ The pious man said: ‘One like you asks about my prayer while I have worshipped God for so many years!’ Then, the scholar asked: ‘How is your weeping?’ The pious man said: ‘I weep in a way that my tears run on my cheeks.’ Realizing that self-conceit was about to lead him to perdition, the scholar said: ‘Surely your laughing when you fear Allah is better than your weeping when you offer your worship as a favor from you on God, for the prayer of one who lays God under an obligation shall never go up.” ^14 Imam Baqir and Imam Sadiq (AS) have been reported as saying: “Once, two men entered a mosque.

One of them was pious and the other was a wrongdoer. They came out of the mosque. The wrongdoer became a veracious man and the pious became a wrongdoer. This is because the pious man entered the mosque while being proud of his devotion, but the wrongdoer was ashamed and asked forgiveness for his sins.”[^15] How can we dare then to be proud of our prayer and good deeds…