The ruling on using prayer beads to keep count in the daily remembrances
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The question has been asked frequently about using prayer beads to help the one who recites dhikr keep count, because the daily remembrances in the Sunnah are numerous. Some people feel that keeping count is difficult for them, especially the elderly. Is it permissible for them to use prayer beads?
Using prayer beads for tasbih is permissible, but counting on the fingers is better, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us when he said: “Count on your fingers, for they will be questioned.” When a person becomes accustomed to something, he gets used to it. Those who did not know about prayer beads, or who did not know about tasbih with prayer beads, do not care about counting the number, even if it is a thousand. Those who are accustomed to counting the number with prayer beads are the ones who will be lost if they do not use them. So the matter depends on custom. If it is better for a person to count the number with his fingers, then it is better for him to accustom himself to that. It may be difficult for him at first, but in the end, it will be an easy matter. This is provided that the use of the prayer beads is free from showing off;Because some people adopt it as showing off so that it will be said: This is a man who recites a lot of tasbih, or he adopts a specific prayer bead to indicate that this man is a shaykh and that he is among those who know Allah, as is found with some of the Sufis. You find a man with a prayer bead hanging from his neck to his private parts, as if he is saying to people: O people! Look at the number of tasbih I recite, or he calls people to honor him and take him as a wali. There is no doubt that if something is associated with it that makes it forbidden, it becomes forbidden. But if it is merely the count, and when he finishes with it he puts it in his pocket, we say: it is better to count on the fingers.
Using prayer beads for tasbih is permissible, but counting on the fingers is better, as the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) informed us when he said: “Count on your fingers, for they will be questioned.” When a person becomes accustomed to something, he gets used to it. Those who did not know about prayer beads, or who did not know about tasbih with prayer beads, do not care about counting the number, even if it is a thousand. Those who are accustomed to counting the number with prayer beads are the ones who will be lost if they do not use them. So the matter depends on custom. If it is better for a person to count the number with his fingers, then it is better for him to accustom himself to that. It may be difficult for him at first, but in the end, it will be an easy matter. This is provided that the use of the prayer beads is free from showing off;Because some people adopt it as showing off so that it will be said: This is a man who recites a lot of tasbih, or he adopts a specific prayer bead to indicate that this man is a shaykh and that he is among those who know Allah, as is found with some of the Sufis. You find a man with a prayer bead hanging from his neck to his private parts, as if he is saying to people: O people! Look at the number of tasbih I recite, or he calls people to honor him and take him as a wali. There is no doubt that if something is associated with it that makes it forbidden, it becomes forbidden. But if it is merely the count, and when he finishes with it he puts it in his pocket, we say: it is better to count on the fingers.