Question: ‘Are prayer beads an innovation?’ Answered by Hajj Gibril Haddad & Faraz Rabbani Hajj Gibril: Imâm al-Suyût.î recounted in one of his fatwas entitled al-Minh.a fîl-Sibh.a (“The Profit In Dhikr-Beads”) the story of ‘Ikrima, who asked his teacher ‘Umar al-Mâlikî about dhikr-beads. The latter replied that he had also asked about it his teacher al-H.asan al-Bas.rî who replied: “Something we have used at the beginning of the road we are not desirous to leave at the end. I love to remember Allâh with my heart, my hand, and my tongue.” Al-Suyût.î comments: “And how should it be otherwise, when the dhikr-beads remind one of Allâh Most High, and a person seldom sees dhikr-beads except he remembers Allâh, which is among the greatest of its benefits.”[1][1] Abû Hurayra possessed a thread with two thousand knots and would not sleep until he had used it all for dhikr.[2][2] He said: “Verily, I make glorifica­tion (tasbîh.) of Allâh Almighty every day accord­ing to my ransom (qadar diyyatî), twelve thousand times.”[3][3] Faraz Rabbani: -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- The tasbih is a means to do dhikr. One should do dhikr in the way that is most conducive to actually doing dhikr, and to maintaining one’s presence of heart with Allah. The generally acceped fiqh principle is that, “Means take the ruling of their ends.” Interestingly, even Wahhabis (such as Shaykh Uthaymin (Allah have mercy on him)) apply this in some spheres. The position of some Wahhabis that using prayer beads is a bida is a bid`a in itself. All the schools of Sunni Islam allow it. The greatest hadith experts, including giants like Imam al-Nawawi, Imam Ibn Hajar al-Asqalani, Imam Badr al-Din al-`Ayni, and others all explicitly permitted the use of prayer beads. The same applies to great Qur’anic exegetes. If these people did not understand the Qur’an and Sunna, then who did? The prayer bead’s permissibility is explicitly mentioned in Imam al-Haskafi’s Durr al-Mukhtar, and in the Hashiyas of Imam al-Tahtawi and Ibn Abidin. Imam Abd al-Hayy al-Lakhnawi has an excellent treatise on it, based on a shorter work by Imam al-Suyuti. Wassalam, Faraz Rabbani. -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- [1][1]Al-Suyût.î, al-H.âwî lîl-Fatâwâ. Cf. section on dhikr-beads in al-Shawkânî’s Nayl al-Awt.âr (2:316-317) and Zakariyyâ al-Kandihlawî’s H.ayât al-S.ah.âba. Albânî’s astounding claim that whoever carries dhikr-beads in his hand to remember Allâh is misguided and innovating was refuted in Mah.mûd Mamdûh.’s Wus.ûl al-Tahânî bi Ithbât Sunniyyat al-Sibh.a wal-Radd ‘alâ al-Albânî (“The Alighting of Mutual Be­nefit and the Confirmation that Dhikr-Beads are a Sunna in Refutation of Albânî”). Another refutation was published by H.âmid Mirzâ Khân al-Firghânî al-Namnakânî in the seventh of his al-Masâ’il al-Tis‘ (Madîna: Maktabat al-Îmân, 1985) p. 44-48. [2][2]Narrated by Abû Nu‘aym in the H.ilya (1:383) and al-Dhahabî in the Siyar (Risâla ed. 2:623) and Tadhkira (1:35) [3][3]Narrated by Abû Nu‘aym in the H.ilya (1:383), al-Bayhaqî in the Sunan (8:79), Ibn H.azm in al-Muh.allâ (10:396), Ibn al-Jawzî in S.ifat al-S.afwa (1:691), al-Dhahabî in the Siyar (Risâla ed. 2:610) and Tadhkirat al-H.uffâz. (1:35), Ibn Rajab in Jâmi‘ al-‘Ulûm wal-H.ikam, and Ibn H.ajar in the Is.âba (7:442) where he said that Ibn Sa‘d narrates it with a sound chain in his T.abaqât.