Prayer Beads: An Innovation?

Wa alaykum Assalam wa Rahmatullah wa Barakatuhu,

In the Name of Allah, Most Merciful & Compassionate

An innovation is something inaugurated in matters of religion that is against the principles of the Shariah. This is taken from the very words of the Messenger of Allah (Allah bless him and give him peace) that,

“Whoever inaugurates in our religion something that is not of it shall have it rejected.” [Bukhari and Muslim]

This is because the Prophet’s words make clear that matters that are new in religion are of two types:

a) matters that are in accordance with the principles and guidance of Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—these are ‘of it’;

b) matters that are not in accordance with the principles and guidance of Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him)—it is these are ‘not of it,’ and their doer ‘shall have it rejected.’

As relates to prayer beads:

a) They are a means to one of the general central practices encouraged by Allah and His Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him): the remembrance of Allah. Allah has made ‘much remembrance of Allah’ one of the ways to be hopeful of salvation. Sayyida A’isha (Allah be pleased with her) tells us, “The Messenger of Allah used to be in remembrance of Allah at all times.” [Bukhari and Muslim] The established principle of the Shariah is that, “Means take the rulings of the ends they are used for,” as long as they are not in themselves blameworthy or deemed interdicted by the Lawgiver.

b) Furthermore, they are a means to fulfill the specific sunna of making particular dhikrs are a large number of times (such as 100 times). This is not easy for everyone to do, particularly when mind and body are busy in worldly concerns, without a means of keeping track of the number. This is why we find various Companions of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) using pebbles, date pits, knotted strings, and the like. Did they get the Prophet’s permission for these actions? No. Why? Because these are permitted means to the praiseworthy.

c) Prayer beads act as a reminder to make remembrance of Allah. This is not only a means to acting on this great sunna and key to proximity with Allah and His love and pleasure, but also a means of maintaining uprightness and avoiding sin—it is rare that one sin while in a state of remembrance of Allah.

This is why traditional scholarship has accepted and praised the use of prayer beads. As for some of our dear yet methodologically challenged brethren (whose dhikr is dispute, and conduct coarse), their ‘understandings’ are ultimately a methodological innovation in of themselves.

And Allah alone gives success.

Faraz Rabbani.

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