Is using prayer beads for dhikr considered a religious innovation if the user believes there is no extra reward or merit in them?

The questioner : Is using prayer beads for dhikr considered a religious innovation if the user believes there is no extra reward or merit in them? And is it established that Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah said that they are not an innovation?

The Shaykh : It is established from Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him) that the prayer beads are not an innovation, but we do not adopt his view on this issue. It is sufficient for us that we follow him in most of his opinions and independent legal reasoning, but we do not agree with him in everything he held; because he is not an infallible prophet whom we must follow in every big and small matter. Furthermore, we are not Taymiyyis. If we wanted to affiliate ourselves with a non-infallible man, every one of us would have remained on his old school of jurisprudence. I personally was a Hanafi, so I would have remained a Hanafi, and Zayd was a Shafi'i, so he would have remained a Shafi'i; because these imams are attested to as imams, and for their knowledge, righteousness, and piety, and so on. So if we wanted to remain followers of a single imam, we would have remained as we were, following our fathers and grandfathers in that. But Allah (Mighty and Majestic) has guided us to following the Sunnah, and to not preferring anything that contradicts this Sunnah.
Ibn Taymiyyah (may Allah have mercy on him), like many who hold that the prayer beads are not an innovation, only noted one thing; which is that it is a means for counting, a means and not a goal. But he (may Allah have mercy on him) missed something, indeed things; which I have mentioned and pointed out in some of my writings or comments. The first of these, with the acknowledgment of everyone, from Ibn Taymiyyah and those before him and those after him, is that the prayer beads were not in the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), as I authenticated in the first volume of "The Series of Weak and Fabricated Hadiths" under the hadith: "The best reminder is the prayer beads," and I expanded on that explanation in my response toThe Shaykh : Abdullah al-Habashi; I mentioned that the prayer beads were not known in the time of the Companions, nor were they known in the language of the Arabs; because the prayer beads in the language of the Arabs is the voluntary prayer, whereas applying this term to this system, to this chain of beads of different shapes and colors; this is a later linguistic convention, just as the prayer beads themselves are a later religious matter. It was hidden from some people that the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: . If the view of Ibn Taymiyyah and others is that the prayer beads are from the angle that they are a means for counting; did not the Messenger (peace be upon him) come to the people and not establish for them a Sunnah for counting the dhikr that he ordered his ummah or encouraged his ummah to tally and count? No doubt that he came with that in two ways; by his saying (peace be upon him) and by his action. As for his saying, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) passed by some women, so he gestured to them with his hand in greeting and said: ; so this is a command from the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) to tie the dhikr and count and tally it with the fingers, and he did not suffice with explaining this legal ruling, but he coupled the explanation with the wisdom, and we can say the operative cause in the command to tie the dhikr and tasbih with the fingers; he said (peace be upon him) , indicating (peace be upon him) by that to His saying (Glorified and Exalted is He): , so these fingers will be a witness for their owner on the Day of Resurrection that they remembered Allah, and glorified Allah, and so on, and people are heedless or turning away from this Sunnah. This is explanation number one from the Messenger by his saying.
And by his action as well; where Abu Dawud narrated with his authentic chain from Abdullah ibn Umar ibn al-Khattab (may Allah be pleased with him) or from Abdullah ibn Amr ibn al-As (I am uncertain now, and perhaps the second is closer to the truth): "That the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) used to tie the tasbih with his right hand," or he said: "I saw the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) tying the tasbih with his right hand." So if we look at the prayer beads from the side that they are a means for tying and tallying the number, the Messenger (peace be upon him) came with a better means, which testifies for its owner on the Day of Resurrection with a good and pure testimony. So turning away from this Sunnah that was established by his saying (peace be upon him) and his action, with the explanation of the wisdom by that testimony; turning away from this and that by saying that the prayer beads, with the acknowledgment that they were not in the time of the Messenger, are a means; we say: means are like goals if the means were found to have the requirement for acting upon them, then they were not acted upon. Did the Salaf, after the prayer beads were found, put their prayer beads in their pockets, and when the prayer ended, take them out and sit and count the prescribed dhikr with the prayer beads, or did they tie the tasbih with their right hands?
No doubt that they did it this way, and the prayer beads are from the innovations of the Sufis, and that is enough! So with the contradiction of this innovation to the Sunnah, we do not see the correctness of Ibn Taymiyyah's saying regarding the permissibility of using them, and likewise those who agreed with him on this saying; because we have sufficiency in using what the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) explained to us of this good means of tying with the right hand, by saying and action.
Until now, we see that the manifestations of these prayer beads are an imitation by some Muslims, from old, of the Christians. The prayer beads originated from the Christians and seeped into the Muslims. The Christians took them from the Buddhists; so it is an old innovation from some of the people of the previous religions before Islam, which seeped into the Christians and they innovated it, just as they innovated monasticism and other things, then it seeped from the Christians to the Muslims; so we do not see the permissibility of tying with the prayer beads; because it opposes the authentic Sunnah.
In addition to the above: the prayer beads bring upon their owners behavioral deviations; so we find many of those who display asceticism and righteousness and piety hanging them around their necks. We find some Egyptian reciters, in particular, wrapping the prayer beads around their wrist, and raising their hand like this while reading the Qur'an. You find him doing it like this once, and like this once, and waving it like this. Shapes and colors that fall into showing off!! And I know some shaykhs in Damascus al-Sham who used to display that he was scrupulous and pious, and of that was that he would put his hand in the pocket of his robe and the prayer beads in his hand, and the prayer beads in his hand were not shown, but he had hidden them in the robe. So when a passerby passed by him and greeted him, and he was doing this, "And upon you be peace," the prayer beads fell into the air, what was hidden became apparent. This is cold scrupulousness and a colder affectation. Why is all this? That is from the whispering of Satan to the children of Adam, and the proof of that is his saying (peace be upon him): . Did the Messenger of Allah (peace and blessings be upon him) tie the tasbih with the prayer beads? One of the misguidances of the common people is that they say that when the Messenger (peace be upon him) died, he left such and such, and among what he left was the prayer beads. This is from their misguidance. So all these harms follow from turning away from the Sunnah and holding onto the innovation.
In summary, I say: looking at the prayer beads as a means only, with the contradiction of that to the prescribed means, which is tying with the fingers; it follows from using the prayer beads many behavioral harms that corrupt sound intentions; and therefore we do not see the permissibility of using the prayer beads.
Please proceed.