كُنْتُ جَالِساً عِنْدَ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ( عليه السلام ) فَدَخَلَ عَلَيْهِ رَجُلٌ وَ مَعَهُ ابْنٌ لَهُ فَقَالَ لَهُ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ( عليه السلام ) مَا تِجَارَةُ ابْنِكَ فَقَالَ التَّنَخُّسُ فَقَالَ أَبُو عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ( عليه السلام ) لَا تَشْتَرِيَنَّ شَيْناً وَ لَا عَيْباً وَ إِذَا اشْتَرَيْتَ رَأْساً فَلَا تُرِيَنَّ ثَمَنَهُ فِي كِفَّةِ الْمِيزَانِ فَمَا مِنْ رَأْسٍ رَأَى ثَمَنَهُ فِي كِفَّةِ الْمِيزَانِ فَأَفْلَحَ وَ إِذَا اشْتَرَيْتَ رَأْساً فَغَيِّرِ اسْمَهُ وَ أَطْعِمْهُ شَيْئاً حُلْواً إِذَا مَلَكْتَهُ وَ تَصَدَّقْ عَنْهُ بِأَرْبَعَةِ دَرَاهِمَ
Translation
Ali Bin Ibrahim, from his father, from Ibn Abu Umeyr, from Zurara who said, ‘I was seated in the presence of Abu Abdullah<sup>asws</sup>, so a man came over to him<sup>asws</sup> and with him was a son of his’. So Abu Abdullah<sup>asws</sup> said to him: ‘What is the business of your son?’ So he said, ‘A slave trader’. So Abu Abdullah<sup>asws</sup> said to him: ‘Do not buy a disfigured one nor the one with defects (physical/mental); and whenever you buy a head, so do not display his price in the pan of the scale, for there is none from a head whose price was displayed in a pan of the scale has (ever) succeeded; and whenever you buy a head, so change his name and feed him something sweet when you own him, and give in charity with four Dirhams about him’.
Compiled by Shaykh Muhammad ibn Ya'qub al-Kulayni
Source
License: Free for educational and research use (Thaqalayn Data API)
Provided for research and educational purposes. Original source: Thaqalayn Project. Open License.