The ruling on tasbih with pebbles or other objects
Machine translationRead the Arabic original
This is a letter received from (M. H. D.), an Egyptian national residing in al-Zulfi in the Kingdom. He says: I work at a school in al-Zulfi, and we have a group of our brothers from Bangladesh and Pakistan. After the 'Isha' prayer, they begin to do tasbih with stones. The number of stones is one thousand, and they sit in a circle in the mosque and exchange the stones. When they exchange them, one of them says: "There is no god but You, glory to You, indeed I have been of the wrongdoers." We ask you to provide information on this, may Allah guide you?
Answer: This practice is a religious innovation. It is not permissible for a person to sit with his brothers while they recite tasbih, praise, and takbir using pebbles or stones, helping one another in this matter. However, if a person recites tasbih to himself, remembering Allah to himself with his fingers, or with stones or date pits, there is nothing wrong with it, though using the fingers is better. As for them forming a circle and gathering for this matter, where one says, "Recite tasbih thus," and another says, "Recite praise thus," or each person has a known rule such that when one finishes, the other begins, this is what 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) disapproved of, for he.
The point is: This is one of the innovations that people have introduced. But if a person wishes to remember Allah between himself and his Lord in the row, in the first row, in the second row, according to where he comes to the prayer, in a corner of the mosque, in a place in his house, there is no harm. He remembers Allah between himself and his Lord, does tasbih, says tahlil, seeks forgiveness, makes du'a', and counts with his fingers, there is no harm. And if he counts with date pits or other things, there is no blame on him. But the fingers are better. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh: Repeat his question again, repeat it once more. Yes.
The presenter: I repeat the question: He says: We have a group from Bangladesh and Pakistan. After the 'Isha' prayer, they begin to do tasbih with stones. The number of stones is one thousand. They sit in a circle in the mosque and exchange the stones among themselves, meaning each one takes a stone and gives it to his neighbor. And when they exchange them, he says: "There is no god but You, glory to You, indeed I have been of the wrongdoers"?
The Shaykh: As mentioned before, this is an innovation, and it is obligatory to leave it. And each person, if he wants to do tasbih, should do tasbih between himself and his Lord in the row, the row... waiting for the prayer or after the prayer, or in his house, or in a corner of the mosque, or sitting on one of the pillars of the mosque, remembering his Lord between himself and his Lord. As for this practice where they form a circle and exchange the stones, and one thousand stones, all of this has no basis. All of this is from the innovations. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you.
Answer: This practice is a religious innovation. It is not permissible for a person to sit with his brothers while they recite tasbih, praise, and takbir using pebbles or stones, helping one another in this matter. However, if a person recites tasbih to himself, remembering Allah to himself with his fingers, or with stones or date pits, there is nothing wrong with it, though using the fingers is better. As for them forming a circle and gathering for this matter, where one says, "Recite tasbih thus," and another says, "Recite praise thus," or each person has a known rule such that when one finishes, the other begins, this is what 'Abdullah ibn Mas'ud (may Allah be pleased with him) disapproved of, for he
He came out to a group in the mosque of Kufa who were sitting in a circle, and so-and-so was saying to them: "Do tasbih one hundred times, do such and such." So they were counting with pebbles, and he rejected it from them and said: "You are upon a religion that is more guided than the religion of Muhammad, or you are opening the door to misguidance." So he rejected that from them, and they said: "O Abu 'Abd al-Rahman! We did not intend anything but good." He said: "How many are there who intend good but do not attain it."
خرج على قوم في مسجد الكوفة وهم متحلقون يقول لهم فلان: سبحوا مائة، افعلوا كذا، فيعدون بالحصى فأنكر عليهم، وقال: إنكم لعلى ملة هي أهدى من ملة محمد، أو مفتتحو باب ضلالة فأنكر عليهم ذلك، وقالوا: يا أبا عبد الرحمن ! ما أردنا إلا خيراً، قال: كم من مريد للخير لم يصبهThe point is: This is one of the innovations that people have introduced. But if a person wishes to remember Allah between himself and his Lord in the row, in the first row, in the second row, according to where he comes to the prayer, in a corner of the mosque, in a place in his house, there is no harm. He remembers Allah between himself and his Lord, does tasbih, says tahlil, seeks forgiveness, makes du'a', and counts with his fingers, there is no harm. And if he counts with date pits or other things, there is no blame on him. But the fingers are better. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you.
The Shaykh: Repeat his question again, repeat it once more. Yes.
The presenter: I repeat the question: He says: We have a group from Bangladesh and Pakistan. After the 'Isha' prayer, they begin to do tasbih with stones. The number of stones is one thousand. They sit in a circle in the mosque and exchange the stones among themselves, meaning each one takes a stone and gives it to his neighbor. And when they exchange them, he says: "There is no god but You, glory to You, indeed I have been of the wrongdoers"?
The Shaykh: As mentioned before, this is an innovation, and it is obligatory to leave it. And each person, if he wants to do tasbih, should do tasbih between himself and his Lord in the row, the row... waiting for the prayer or after the prayer, or in his house, or in a corner of the mosque, or sitting on one of the pillars of the mosque, remembering his Lord between himself and his Lord. As for this practice where they form a circle and exchange the stones, and one thousand stones, all of this has no basis. All of this is from the innovations. Yes.
The presenter: May Allah reward you.
Source
binbaz.org.sa
The Arabic text is copied verbatim from the original source, without any edits.