Ruling on using the masbahah (prayer beads)

 

What is the ruling on using the masbahah
(prayer beads)?

Praise be to Allaah.

Some scholars say that it is permissible to use the masbahah, but they
say that it is preferable to do tasbeeh on one’s fingers; others say that it is
bid’ah (reprehensible innovation).

Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in al-Fataawa (22/187):
“Some of them might show off by putting their prayer-mats over their shoulders and
carrying their masbahahs in their hands, making them symbols of religion and prayer. It is
known from the mutawaatir reports that neither the Prophet
(peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him) nor his Companions used these as symbols. They used to recite tasbeeh
and count on their fingers, as the hadeeth says: “Count on your fingers, for they
will asked, and will be made to speak.” Some of them may count their tasbeeh with
pebbles or date stones. Some people say that doing tasbeeh with the masbahah is makrooh,
and some allow it, but no one says that tasbeeh with the masbahah is better than tasbeeh
with the fingers.” Then he (may Allaah have mercy on him) goes on to discuss the
issue of showing off with the masbahah, saying that it is showing off with regard to
something that is not prescribed by Islam, which is worse than showing off with regard to
something that is prescribed.

Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (al-Liqa’
al-Maftooh, 3/30) was asked whether using the masbahah for tasbeeh is bid’ah, and
his reply was: “It is better not to do tasbeeh with the masbahah, but it is not
bid’ah, because there is a basis for it, which is the fact that some of the Sahaabah
did tasbeeh with pebbles. But the Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him) taught that tasbeeh with the fingers is better, as he said, ‘Count with the
fingertips, for they will be made to speak.’ Doing tasbeeh with the masbahah is not
haraam or bid’ah, but it is better not to do it, because the one who does tasbeeh
with the masbahah has shunned something better. Using the masbahah may also be
contaminated with some element of showing off, because we see some people carrying
masbahahs that contain a thousand beads, as if they are telling people, ‘Look at me,
I do a thousand tasbeehs!’ Secondly, those who use the masbahah for tasbeeh are
usually absent-minded and not focused, so you see them doing tasbeeh with the beads, but
their gaze is wandering all over the place, which indicates that they are not really
concentrating. It is better to do tasbeeh with one’s fingers, preferably using the
right hand rather than the left, because the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah
be upon him) used to count his tasbeeh on his right hand. If a person counts his tasbeeh
using both hands, there is nothing wrong with that, but it is better to use the right hand
only.”

Shaykh Muhammad Naasir al-Deen al-Albaani said in Al-Silsilat
al-Da’eefah (1/110), where he quotes the (weak) hadeeth “What a good
reminder is the subhah [masbahah],”

“In my view, the meaning of this hadeeth is invalid for a number
of reasons:

Firstly, the subhah [masbahah] is bid’ah and was not known at the
time of the Prophet
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). It happened after
that, so how could he
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) have encouraged his
Sahaabah to do something that was unknown to them? The evidence for what I have said is
the report narrated by Ibn Waddaah in Al-Bid’ wa’l-Nahy ‘anhaa from
al-Salt ibn Bahraam, who said: ‘Ibn Mas’ood passed by a woman who had a
[masbahah] with which she was making tasbeeh, and he broke it and threw it aside, then he
passed by a man who was making tasbeeh with pebbles, and he kicked him then said,
“You think you are better than the Sahaabah, but you are following unjustified
bid’ah! You think you have more knowledge than the Companions of Muhammad
(peace
and blessings of Allaah be upon him)!”’ Its isnaad is saheeh to al-Salt, who is
one of the trustworthy (thiqah) followers of the Taabi’een.

Secondly, it goes against the guidance of the Prophet
(peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). ‘Abd-Allaah ibn ‘Amr said, ‘I saw the
Messenger of Allaah
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) counting the tasbeeh
on his right hand.’”

He also said (1/117): “If there is only one bad thing about the
masbahah, which it is that it takes the place of the Sunnah of counting on the fingers,
even though all are agreed that counting on the fingers is preferable, then that is bad
enough. How rarely I see people counting their tasbeeh on their fingers!

Moreover, people have invented so many sophisticated ways of following
this bid’ah, so you see the followers of one of the [Sufi] tareeqahs wearing the
masbahah around their necks! Or some of them counting with the beads whilst talking or
listening to you! Or another one – the like of whom I have not seen for some time
– riding his bicycle through a street crowded with people, with the masbahah in one
of his hands! They are showing the people that they are not distracted from the
remembrance of Allaah for even an instant, but in many cases this bid’ah is a cause
of their neglecting what is obligatory (waajib). It has happened many times – to
others as well as myself – that when I greet one of these people with salaam, they
answer only by waving and not by saying the words of the greeting. The bad results of this
bid’ah are innumerable, and no one can say it better than the poet:

‘All goodness is in following that which went before (the salaf)

All badness is in the innovations of those who came later.’”

And Allaah knows best.

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