The Sufficient (Vol 5) · Hadith 983 (#Ḥadīth #5)

5- عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ أَحْمَدَ بْنِ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللهِ عَنْ بَعْضِ أَصْحَابِنَا قَالَ قَالَ أَبُو جَعْفَرٍ كَانَ أَبِي يَقُولُ خَيْرُ الأعْمَالِ الْحَرْثُ تَزْرَعُهُ فَيَأْكُلُ مِنْهُ الْبَرُّ وَالْفَاجِرُ أَمَّا الْبَرُّ فَمَا أَكَلَ مِنْ شَيْءٍ اسْتَغْفَرَ لَكَ وَأَمَّا الْفَاجِرُ فَمَا أَكَلَ مِنْهُ مِنْ شَيْءٍ لَعَنَهُ وَيَأْكُلُ مِنْهُ الْبَهَائِمُ وَالطَّيْرُ.

5. A number of our people have narrated from Ahmad ibn abu ‘Abd Allah from certain persons of our people who has said the following: “Abu Ja‘far , has said, ‘My father , would say, “The best work is farming in which you plant, and the virtuous as well as sinful ones eat. The virtuous on eating asks forgiveness for you and the sinful one on eating it is condemned; and even animals and birds eat thereof.’”

Gradings are classical jarḥ-wa-taʿdīl, name-matched to a rijāl index (not individually re-verified).