A story is told that Moses was going to Mount Sinai and on his way he met a very pious person, who said to him, "Moses, speak to God of me. All my life I have been pious, I have been virtuous, I have prayed to God, and I have had nothing but troubles and misfortunes." A little later Moses met a man sitting in the street with a bottle of liquor. He called out, "Moses! Where are you going?" Moses said, "To Mount Sinai." The man called out, "To Mount Sinai? Then speak to God of me", for he was drunk.

Moses went to Mount Sinai and he told God of the pious person whom he had met. God said, "For him there is a place in the heavens." Then he told God of the drunken man whom he had met. God said, "He shall be sent to the worst possible place in hell."

Moses went away and first he met the drunken man. He told him, "God says you shall be sent to the worst possible place in hell." The man said, "God spoke of me?" and he was so overjoyed that he could not contain himself but began to dance, just as a poor man might be overjoyed if he heard that a king had spoken of him, even if the king had said nothing good of him. Then he said, "How happy should I be that He, the Creator and Sovereign of the universe, knows me, the great sinner." Then Moses told the pious person what God had said. He said, "Why not? I have spent all my life in the worship of God and in piety, sacrificing all else in life; and therefore I am entitled to have it."

Both the pious person and the drunkard died, and Moses was curious to know what had become of them. He went to Mount Sinai and asked God. God said, "The pious person is in hell, and the drunken man is in heaven." Moses thought, "Does God break His word?" God said, "The drunkard's joy on hearing that We had spoken of him has wiped out all his sins. The pious person's virtue was worthless. Why could he not be satisfied if We made the sun shine and sent the rain?"