Hello. Regarding Muslim prayer beads, I will ask my Muslim friends when I get back from my vacation in the next few days. I have noticed in Australian mosques that they are scattered around the floor of the mosque for worshippers to pick up and use (which they do). I was surprised to see them thrown on the floor after they have been used - unlike the reverence usually associated with Catholic rosary beads. Best wishes, John Cochrane, Sydney
>From: Chris Laning <
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>Reply-To: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and culture <
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>To:
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>Subject: [M-R] Islamic prayer beads?
>Date: Sun, 26 Sep 2004 19:22:13 -0700
>
>medieval-religion: Scholarly discussions of medieval religion and
>culture
>
>Another odd question. This is definitely religion, and definitely
>medieval, just not Christian :)
>
>Can anyone refer me to someone who would know about the history of
>Islamic prayer beads?
>
>I am coming to the conclusion that nothing reliable has been written
>in English, although I'm on the track of a couple of things in
>German, thanks to another correspondent. Books on Christian rosaries
>barely mention the Islamic beads, and mostly just have a note that
>they exist and are called *tasbih*. So far everything I've seen in
>English has either been strictly modern, or has assumed without
>saying so that the Islamic beads originated at the founding of Islam
>and haven't changed since. Considering how long ago that was, and
>how
>much has happened to Christian prayer beads in that time, I have to
>be skeptical.
>
>My most recent foray has been into _Beads of Faith_, by Gray Henry
>and Susannah Marriott. When I mention that Gray Henry was a student
>of Joseph Campbell, that Susannah's most recent book is _The Good
>Karma Guide_, and that the book has no bibliography and only the
>most
>rudimentary photo credits, you'll know what I think of its
>reliability. It appears to be the book-ization of a video, and
>admittedly the photography is gorgeous. :)
>
>What I'm trying to track at the moment is whether anyone knows how
>far back in Islam the use of beads actually extends. _Beads of
>Faith_
>contains a quote from the prophet Mohammed: "Repeat the *Tasbih* a
>hundred times, and a thousand virtues shall be recorded by God for
>you, 10 virtuous deeds for each repetition." However I have no idea
>whether this has been correctly translated, and particularly not
>whether the *tasbih* in this context actually refers to _beads_, or
>simply to a particular practice of prayer.
>
>Until recently the best documentation I could find was a couple of
>16th-century Safavid Persian paintings showing people with what are
>clearly prayer beads. _Beads of Faith_ does have a manuscript
>illustration which it says is a "12th century Mogul painting"
>showing
>an Islamic "saint" in India with his beads, but apparently the
>manuscript is in private hands (?) which means I have no way to
>check
>the date.
>
>Suggestions?
>
>Books I've tried already include Eithne Wilkins' _The Rose-Garden
>Game_, which I don't consider reliable at all, and Anne
>Winston-Allen's _Stories of the Rose: The Making of the Rosary in
>the
>Middle Ages_, which is excellent in scholarship, but barely mentions
>the Islamic beads and doesn't have anything on them in the
>bibliography.
>--
>_________________________________________________________
>O Chris Laning
>| <
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>+ Davis, California
>_________________________________________________________
>
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