Ruling on Using Prayer Beads for Amusement
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What is the ruling on using prayer beads for amusement?
Reciting the remembrance of Allah with prayer beads is permissible, but it is better to do so with the fingers.Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Count them with your fingers — addressing women — for they are the ones who count) These women had pebbles with which they counted their remembrance, so he said: (Count them with your fingers, for they are the ones who count) Fingers means the fingers of the hand, so using the fingers is better. Using prayer beads is permissible,But as you see, the prayer bead is a problem: First: some people show off in them. How many beads are in a prayer bead? Some have up to a thousand,Then he hangs it around his neck as if he is saying to people: Look, I recite the remembrance a thousand times.
This is a type of showing off.
Second: The person who recites the remembrance with prayer beads is usually inattentive with his heart. For this reason, we see them counting these beads while they look to the right and left, with those going and coming. Therefore, we see that prayer beads are permissible, but the fingers are better.
The questioner: I say: for amusement, is it permissible?The Shaykh: For amusement, there is nothing wrong with it. Just as a person sometimes amuses himself when he has a (shilagh) and in this we call it (al-qaytan) you find him playing with this (al-qaytan) so there is nothing wrong with it.
But it is not the case that some people may be acting in a way that contradicts dignity, meaning for example: if we found a noble, knowledgeable man entering gatherings and playing with his prayer beads like this and that, he would be criticized.
Reciting the remembrance of Allah with prayer beads is permissible, but it is better to do so with the fingers.Because the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) said: (Count them with your fingers — addressing women — for they are the ones who count) These women had pebbles with which they counted their remembrance, so he said: (Count them with your fingers, for they are the ones who count) Fingers means the fingers of the hand, so using the fingers is better. Using prayer beads is permissible,But as you see, the prayer bead is a problem: First: some people show off in them. How many beads are in a prayer bead? Some have up to a thousand,Then he hangs it around his neck as if he is saying to people: Look, I recite the remembrance a thousand times.
This is a type of showing off.
Second: The person who recites the remembrance with prayer beads is usually inattentive with his heart. For this reason, we see them counting these beads while they look to the right and left, with those going and coming. Therefore, we see that prayer beads are permissible, but the fingers are better.
The questioner: I say: for amusement, is it permissible?The Shaykh: For amusement, there is nothing wrong with it. Just as a person sometimes amuses himself when he has a (shilagh) and in this we call it (al-qaytan) you find him playing with this (al-qaytan) so there is nothing wrong with it.
But it is not the case that some people may be acting in a way that contradicts dignity, meaning for example: if we found a noble, knowledgeable man entering gatherings and playing with his prayer beads like this and that, he would be criticized.