Re: Subhah/Tasbeeh Beads: Is’t Sunnah or Bid’ah?
Look man I love you for being Muslim but it is always good to first search the issue then paint a school with a blanket statement. Now I know people are lazy by nature and do not like to search but hold on to what they have been taught. So, let me kill two birds with one stone and answer the OP and help you better understand what you term the “Wahabis!”
Firstly, prayer beads in Arabic are called masbahahs in Arabic
*Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in * al-Fatawa (22/187): **“Some of them might show off by putting their prayer-mats over their shoulders and carrying their masbahahs in their hands, making them symbols of religion and prayer. It is known from the mutawatir reports (reports in such large numbers that they couldn’t be forged) that neither the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) nor his Companions used these as symbols. They used to recite tasbeeh and count on their fingers, as the hadeeth says: “Count on your fingers, for they will be asked, and will be made to speak.” Some of them may count their tasbeeh with pebbles or date stones. Some people say that doing tasbeeh with the masbahah is makrooh (disliked), and some allow it, but no one says that tasbeeh with the masbahah is better than tasbeeh with the fingers.”
Al-Shaykh Muhammad ibn Salih al-‘Uthaymeen (al-Liqa al-Maftooh, 3/30) was asked whether using the masbahah for tasbeeh is bid’ah, and his reply was: “It is better not to do tasbeeh with the masbahah, but it is not bid’ah, because there is a basis for it, which is the fact that some of the Sahabah (Companions) did tasbeeh with pebbles. But the Messenger (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) taught us that tasbeeh with the fingers is better, as he said, ‘Count with the fingertips, for they will be made to speak.’ Doing tasbeeh with the masbahah is not haram (impermissible) or bid’ah, but it is better not to do it, because the one who does tasbeeh with the masbahah has shunned something better. Using the masbahah may also be contaminated with some element of showing off, because we see some people carrying masbahahs that contain a thousand beads, as if they are telling people, ‘Look at me, I do a thousand tasbeehs!’
**Al-Shaykh Muhammad Nasir al-Deen al-Albani ** said in *Al-Silsilat al-Da’eefah* (1/110), where he quotes the **(weak)** hadeeth
“What a good reminder is the subhah [masbahah],”
“In my view, the meaning of this hadeeth is invalid for a number of reasons:
Firstly, the subhah [masbahah] is bid’ah and was not known at the time of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him). It happened after that, so how could he (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him) have encouraged his Sahabah to do something that was unknown to them? The evidence for what I have said is the report narrated by Ibn Waddah in *Al-Bid’ wa’l-Nahy ‘anha* from al-Salt ibn Bahram, who said: **‘Ibn Mas’ood passed by a woman who had a [masbahah] with which she was making tasbeeh, and he broke it and threw it aside, then he passed by a man who was making tasbeeh with pebbles, and he kicked him then said, “You think you are better than the Sahabah, but you are following unjustified bid’ah! You think you have more knowledge than the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings of Allah be upon him)!”’ Its isnad (chain of transmission) is saheeh (authentic) to al-Salt, who is one of the trustworthy (thiqah) followers of the Tabi’een (Successors)**.
So. you see my brother in faith, not all those who are termed Wahabis say it is bidah! Good to search first and not let hatred instilled in oneself by others make one biased!