عِدَّةٌ مِنْ أَصْحَابِنَا عَنْ سَهْلِ بْنِ زِيَادٍ عَنْ يَحْيَى بْنِ الْمُبَارَكِ عَنْ عَبْدِ اللَّهِ بْنِ جَبَلَةَ عَنْ مُعَاوِيَةَ بْنِ وَهْبٍ عَنْ إِسْحَاقَ بْنِ عَمَّارٍ عَنْ أَبِي عَبْدِ اللَّهِ ع قَالَ:
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قُلْتُ لَهُ جُعِلْتُ فِدَاكَ إِنِّي أَحْفَظُ الْقُرْآنَ عَلَى ظَهْرِ قَلْبِي فَأَقْرَؤُهُ عَلَى ظَهْرِ قَلْبِي أَفْضَلُ أَوْ أَنْظُرُ فِي الْمُصْحَفِ قَالَ فَقَالَ لِي بَلِ اقْرَأْهُ وَ انْظُرْ فِي الْمُصْحَفِ فَهُوَ أَفْضَلُ أَ مَا عَلِمْتَ أَنَّ النَّظَرَ فِي الْمُصْحَفِ عِبَادَةٌ.
Read English translationHide English translationMuhammad Sarwar — attributed by Thaqalayn
5. A number of our people have narrated from Sahl ibn Ziyad from Yahya ibn al- Mubarak from ‘Abd Allah ibn Jabalah from Mu’awiyah ibn Wahab from Ishaq ibn ‘ Ammar who has said the following: “Once I said to Abu ‘Abdillah (a.s.) ‘May Allah keep my soul in service for your cause, I memorize the Holy Quran by heart and read from my memory, is that more virtuous or looking on a copy of the Holy Quran?’ The narrator has said that the Imam said to me, ‘It is better to look in a copy. Have you not heard that looking at a copy of the Holy Quran is an act of worship?”’
Translation: Muhammad Sarwar — attributed by Thaqalayn·The Arabic above is the original.
Hadith gradings
1- ضعيفAllamah Baqir al-MajlisiMirʾāt al-ʿUqūl fī Sharḥ Akhbār Āl al-Rasūl (12/499)