The masbahah, or prayer beads, has always been a source of controvosy for some Muslims. Sheikh Muhammad Nasiruddin al-Albani- the Saudi scholar who once issued a fatwa urging Palestinians to leave the occupied territories en masse- wrote,
…the subhah (prayer beads) is bid’ah and was not known at the time of the Prophet…One wonders then what reaction this little device might invite.
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but you can only count up to 10 on teh bracelet thats no good compared to a normal bead
Shalom,
I doubt it’s useful for zikir. Maybe to count the cycles of prayer, or even the number of prayers in a day. Just a thought.
Mind those beads now.
I don’t see how it would go against Shariah but I do not see that pragmatism in it. The Sunnah after prayer is to make 33 SubhanAllah, 33 Hamdullah, and 33 Allahuakbar but this bracelet goes up to ten. Saying “There is not god but Allah, He is one and we do not associate anything with him. To him is the Muluk (I don’t know how to translate that) and all praise. He gives life and death and upon all things he is powerful” is sunnah ten times after fajr and mughrib that that is only twice a day and people have ten fingers, just use those. I would say that even though this bracelet does not go against Shariah in terms of thikr, it does go against Okham’s razor.
As for counting the prayer cycles, I would stay away from that as for fear that could be a bidaa because it takes away from the Khusoo (presence of mind in prayer) because one has to use the bracelet after every prayer cycle (which would invalidate the prayer if it took more than three consecutive motions in the Shafii school) and because the person praying may feel that they do not need Khusoo and they can just rely on the bracelet. It seems to partly defeat the purpose of prayer.
And about the prayer beads being bidaa, I go with the opinion that it is not because I see some top scholars in Damascus using them and there are numerous ahadith about the greatness of the scholars of Damascus (though there are some i would not follow). Another reason for this is that I heard a hadith that the Prophet Mohammad (S) saw Ibn Abas (R) string together some date seeds and use them to make thikr and the prophet said nothing indicating there is nothing wrong with it. Furthermore, in order to be a misguided innovation, it must go against shariah and I don’t see that nor do the scholars I have spoken to. The counter argument is that our Beloved Prophet (S) saw his wife Aisha (R) and disapproved of it. In order to truly know the ruling, one must know the validity of these ahadith and what the scholars ruled in regards to them.
As for me, I follow the example of the Prophet (S) and use my hands becuase there is no example better than his.
actually the sunnah is to say 34 allahu akbars, no?
However I think the bracelet being used in this regard is not in place of prayer beads, but rather to keep track of how many prayers one has prayed as in the five obligatory ones or even during Ramadan when one prays the taraweeh prayer of soemtimes 20 rakahs, and those who pray them in 2 rakats times 10 will definately find the device beneficial to keep track.
Saying that prayer beads are bid’ah is true, yes they are an innovation…but one must also know that quran cd’s are an innovation…no one is forbidding them.
There is something called bid’ah hasana. Good innovations. Things that help you in your religion. Using a prayer alarm on your computer, is an innovation. but it is a good one. A prayer bead, to help keep track of how much zikr you have done.
If I’m not entirely mistaken, in the time of the prophet pbuh, they used the seed of the dates as a way to keep track. What is the difference?
Wahabis need to just breathe in and out, and hopefully realize they are forbidding something which is not made forbidden.
Ibrahim, just read your comment You’re in Damascus then? I was there back in 2002-2003 and studied. Nothing like it on this earth.