irani@brahms.udel.edu (Jennifer Irani) (04/12/91)
I was reading a book today and there was a picture of a Kuwaiti man holding beads in his hand. Under the photo it said that they were "worry beads". Could someone please explain what these are. Jennifer irani@brahms.udel.edu
anwar@GS9.SP.CS.CMU.EDU (Anwar Mohammed) (04/13/91)
In article <1991Apr11.204700.24495@wpi.WPI.EDU>, irani@brahms.udel.edu (Jennifer Irani) writes: |> |> I was reading a book today and there was a picture of a Kuwaiti man |> holding beads in his hand. Under the photo it said that they were |> "worry beads". Could someone please explain what these are. |> |> Jennifer |> irani@brahms.udel.edu This is called a Misbah. -anwar
zama@midway.uchicago.edu (iftikhar uz zaman) (04/13/91)
In article <1991Apr11.204700.24495@wpi.WPI.EDU> irani@brahms.udel.edu (Jennifer Irani) writes: > >I was reading a book today and there was a picture of a Kuwaiti man >holding beads in his hand. Under the photo it said that they were >"worry beads". Could someone please explain what these are. > >Jennifer >irani@brahms.udel.edu I have heard the term "worry beads" used to refer to these strings of beads which are commonly used among Muslims during "dhikr." "dhikr" can be translated as "remembrance" -- here the remembrance of God is intended. The "vehicle" for remembrance is repeating a name of God or some sentence from the Quran a number of times. Additionally, this is extended to praying to God for blessings on the Prophet ("durud" in India/Pak/Bangladesh, and "salat ala al-nabi" among Arabs), and to short formulae of asking God for forgiveness (istighfar). What you refer to as "worry beads" are known as "sibha" by arabs, and "tasbih" in the Indo-Pak subcontinent. Why keep a count? Well, for some types of dhikr there is a precedent of the Prophet himself saying something or the other for, say, a hundred times (BTW one does not find mention of more than a hundred of anything in hadiths judged authentic in the classical tradition of hadith criticism). So, to match the "footsteps of the Prophet" (i.e. to "act on a sunna") people attempt to match the number either explicitly prescribed by the Prophet or the number as reported by some observer. In addition, some people attempt to set up a regular routine--so that, by sticking to a minimum they are able to make sure that they never "slip out" of the habit of doing dhikr. Especially in modern times there have been people who object to (i) the use of these counters (whether in the shape of beads on a string or some other physical shape), and (ii) to the habit of setting up routines of doing a specific number of repetitions of something (when such a routine is not to be found in the Prophet's own life. The motivation for the condemnation of either practice is that it is an addition to religion--for which the technical term "bid'a" ("innovation," and more accurately: "religious innovation") is used. There does not seem to be any sound reference to the Prophet having used anything but his fingers to keep track of the number of repetitions in his dhikr. Thus, the use of a sibha is seen as a religious innovation. However, there are reports that Salman al-Farisi (one of the companions of the Prophet) used to carry a bag full of date seeds which he used to count his dhikr. So, I think the argument that this is a religious innovation, is not as strong as it seems at first sight...wallahu a'lam... ("...and God only knows best...")