Five Jobs Are Undesirable

5-45 Muhammad ibn al-Hassan ibn Ahmad ibn al-Walid - may God be pleased with him - narrated that Muhammad ibn al-Hassan al-Saffar quoted Ahmad ibn Aba Abdullah al-Barqy, on the authority of Muhammad ibn Isa, on the authority of Ubaydullah al-Dihqan, on the authority of Durost, on the authority of Ibrahim ibn Abdul-Hamid, on the authority of Abil Hassan Musa ibn Ja’far al-Kadhim (MGB), “A man went to see the Prophet (MGB) andsaid, ‘O Prophet of God! I have taught my son how to write. What should he engage in now?’ The Prophet (MGB) replied, ‘Have him do any job but the following five: selling shrouds for the dead; working as a goldsmith ; slaughtering quadrupeds; selling wheat; and selling slaves. The reason behind this is as follows. One who sells shrouds for the dead would wish the death of his people, while even a baby from my followers is superior to all the people on the Earth in my sight. A goldsmith would plan to have the people lose their money. When a slaughterer of quadrupeds kills the quadrupeds, he will not forgive others wholeheartedly. A wheat-seller would hoard up the wheat and withhold it from my followers. It would be better if one has stolen something when he meets God, than having hoarded up food for forty days (in order to sell it at a higher price). Selling slaves is a bad job since once Gabriel descended to me and said, ‘