7/31/2019 Tash Bee

1/4

Table 1

(Question no.7918)When we do tasbeeh, is it necessary that we count it only onour fingers?[Topic:Bidaa` (Innovations)]

Mu' meneen Brothers and Sisters,

As Salaam Aleikum wa Rahmatullahi wa Barakatuh. (May Allah's Peace, Mercy andBlessings be upon all of you)

One of our brothers/sisters has asked this question:Assalam alaikumburhan bhai ham tasbeeh padhte hain to kya wo sirf fingers par padhni hai.Agar hum tasbih par padhe to ye galat hai. Zikr agar tasbih par kare to yebida hai kya. Meri friend ne mujhse kaha k jo bhi zikr hai wo fingers parpadhna chahiyye. Aur counting nahin karni chahiyye. Pls mujhe bataiyye kesahi kya hai.Pls do remember me in your supplication

Jazakallah

Translation of Question: When we do tasbeeh, is it necessary that we countit only on our fingers? If we do tasbeeh through a rosary, would it bewrong? If dhikr is done through a rosary, would it be considered bida? Myfriend told me that whatever dhikr one does, its count should only be donethrough ones fingers. And one should not count the dhikr. Please do let meknow what is right.

(There may be some grammatical and spelling errors in the above statement. The forum does not changeanything from questions, comments and statements received from our readers for circulation inconfidentiality.)

Answer:

Tasbeeh rosary or fingersIn the name of Allah, We praise Him, seek His help and ask for His forgiveness.

Whoever Allah guides none can misguide, and whoever He allows to fall astray, nonecan guide them aright. We bear witness that there is none worthy of worship but

Allah Alone, and we bear witness that Muhammad (saws) is His slave-servant andthe seal of His Messengers.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 33 Surah Ahzaab verses 41-42:

41 O ye who believe! Celebrate the Dhikr (Remembrance) of Allah and dothis (as) much (as possible);

42 And glorify Him morning and evening.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 29 Surah Ankabut verse 45:

45 Recite what is sent of the Book (Al-Quran) by inspiration to thee and establishregular prayer, for prayer restrains from shameful and unjust deeds; and theDhikr (Remembrance) of Allah is the greatest (thing in life) withoutdoubt. And Allah Knows all that ye do.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 13 Surah Raad vers 28:

7/31/2019 Tash Bee

2/4

28 Those who believe, their hearts find satisfaction in the Dhikr of Allah: forwithout doubt, (only) in the Dhikr of Allah do hearts find satisfaction!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 2 Surah Baqarah verse 152:

152 Then do ye remember Me; I will remember you. Be grateful to Me and rejectnot faith.

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 43 Surah Zukhruf verse 36:

36 If anyone withdraws himself from Dhikr of (Allah) Most Gracious, Weappoint for him a Shaytaan to be an intimate companion to him!

Allah Says in the Holy Quran Chapter 63 Surah Munafiqoon verse 9:

9 O ye who believe! Let not your wealth or your children divert you fromthe Dhikr of Allah. If any act thus, the (severe) loss is their own!

Hadrat Said ibn Jubair (r.a.) reported that the Messenger of Allah (saws) said:"Anyone engaged in obeying Allah is in fact engaged in the Dhikr (Remembrance) of

Allah."

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 9.502 Narrated by Abu HurairaThe Prophet (saws) said, "Allah, The High and Exalted, Says: 'I am just as My slave

thinks I am, and I am with him if He remembers Me. If he remembers Me in himself,I too, remember him in Myself; and if he remembers Me in a group of people, I

remember him in a group that is better than they (the Angels); and if he comes onespan nearer to Me, I go one cubit nearer to him; and if he comes one cubit nearer to

Me, I go a distance of two outstretched arms nearer to him; and if he comes to Mewalking, I go to him running!'"

Hadrat Abu Sa'id Al-Khudri (r.a.) and Hadrat Abu Hurairah (r.a.) reported that the

Prophet (saws) "When any group of men do Dhikr (Remembrance) of Allah, the

Angels surround them and mercy covers them, tranquility descends upon them, andAllah mentions them to those who are with Him (the Angels)."

The Prophet (saws) said, "The devotees have surpassed all." The companions asked,

"Who are these exceptional people (Mufarridoon), O Messenger of Allah (saws)?"The Prophet (saws) replied, "Those men and women who remember Allah

unceasingly."

Related by Muslim.)

Hadrat Abu Musa Al-Ashari (r.a.) reported that the Prophet (saws) said: "Thelikeness of the one who remembers his Lord and the one who does not remember

Him is like that of a living to a dead person!''Related by Bukhari.

A man came to the Messenger of Allah (saws) and complained, "The laws of Islam

are too heavy for me, so tell me something that I can easily follow". The Prophet(saws) told him, "Let your tongue be always busy with the Dhikr (Remembrance) of

Allah."

The Prophet (saws) would often tell his companions, "Shall I tell you about the bestof deeds, the most pure in the Sight of your Lord, about the one that is of the

highest rank and is far better for you than spending gold and silver, even better for

7/31/2019 Tash Bee

3/4

you than meeting your enemies in the battlefield where you strike at their necks andthey at yours?" The companions replied, "Yes, O Messenger of Allah (saws)!" The

Prophet (saws) said, "The Dhikr (Remembrance) of Allah.''Related by Tirmidhi, Ahmad, and Al-Hakim.

Hadrat Mu'adh (r.a.) reported that the Prophet (saws) said, 'No other act of man is a

more effective means for his deliverance from the Chastisement of Allah than theDhikr (Remembrance) of Allah.''Related by Ahmad.

One is at absolute liberty to make as much dhikr or Remembrance of Allah as often

as one wills or is easy for them..and when and only when a specific number orcount of a specific dhikr or tasbeeh is given and endorsed by the Messenger of

Allah (saws), one should follow the Sunnah and fulfill that count.

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 4.344 Narrated by AliHadrat Fatimah (the daughter of the Prophet (saws)) complained of what she

suffered from the hand mill and from grinding, and when she got the news that some

slave girls of the booty had been brought to Allah's Messenger (saws), she went tohim to ask for a maid-servant, but she could not find him, and she told Hadrat Aisha(r.a.) of her need. When the Prophet (saws) came, Aisha (r.a.) informed him of

that. The Prophet (saws) came to our house when we had gone to our beds. (Onseeing the Prophet (saws)) we were going to get up, but he (saws) said, 'Keep at

your places,' I felt the coolness of the Prophet's (saws) feet on my chest. Then he(saws) said, "Shall I tell you a thing which is better than what you asked me for?

When you go to your beds, say: 'Allahu Akbar (i.e. Allah is Greatest)' 34 times,and 'Alhamdu Lillah (i.e. all Praise is due to Allah) 33 times, and SubhanAllah (i.e. Glorified be Allah) 33 times. This is better for you than what you haverequested."

Sahih Al-Bukhari Hadith 4.514 Narrated by Abu HurairaAllah's Messenger (saws) said, "If one says one-hundred times in one day:"None has the right to be worshipped but Allah, the Alone Who has nopartners, to Him belongs Dominion and to Him belong all the Praises, and Hehas power over all things", one will get the reward of manumitting ten slaves, andone-hundred good deeds will be written in his account, and one-hundred bad deeds

will be wiped off or erased from his account, and on that day he will be protected

from the morning till evening from the Shaytan, and nobody will be superior to himexcept one who has done more than that which he has done."

Al-Tirmidhi Hadith 2185 Narrated by Sa'id ibn al-Musayyib

The Prophet (saws) said, "If anyone recites ten times 'Say, He is Allah, One andOnly . (Surah 112: Al-Ikhlaas), a palace will be built for him in Paradise because

of it; if anyone recites twenty times two places will be built for him in Paradisebecause of it; and if anyone recites it thirty times three palaces will be built for himin Paradise because of it." Umar ibn al-Khattab said, "I swear by Allah, O Messengerof Allah (saws), that we shall then produce many palaces for ourselves; to which he

(saws) replied, "Allah's abundant Grace is even more comprehensive than that."

Abu Hurairah reported that the Prophet, peace be upon him, said, "If anyone said inthe morning and evening: 'subhana-Allah wa bihamdihi' (Glory to Allah and allpraise to Him), a hundred times, on the Day of Judgment none will come with

7/31/2019 Tash Bee

4/4

anything better than that except the person who utters similar words or adds someto them."

Abdallah b. Habib reported that the Prophet (saws) said, "Speak." I asked, "O

Messenger of Allah (saws), what should I say?" He (saws) replied, "Recite Surat al-Ikhlas (112th Surah), and the two last surahs (of the Qur'an), i.e. Surat al-Falaq

(113th

) and Surat an-Naas (114th

), in the morning and evening three times, and itwill suffice you for everything."

When the Messenger of Allah (saws) guided the believers on any aspect of the deen,

then it becomes incumbent upon the believers to obey and accept exactly what isdeclared by the Messenger of Allah (saws). When the Messenger of Allah (saws) has

given a specific number or count of a tasbeeh or a dhikr, then we should know andbelieve with absolute conviction that it is this number of repetitions alone that is

acceptable and best in the Sight of Allah Subhanah; and when the Messenger ofAllah (saws) has not given a specific number or count, then it would not befit a

believer that he should invent or allocate a specific number towards that repetitionfrom himself without any authority from Allah and His Messenger (saws).

Your Question: When we do tasbeeh, it is necessary that we count it onlyfrom our fingers? If we do tasbeeh through a rosary, would it be wrong? Ifdhikr is done through a rosary, would it be considered bida?The Messenger of Allah (saws) would count his repetitions of tasbeeh on his fingersand it would obviously be best for the believers to follow his (saws) Sunnah and do

the same.

The absolute majority of the scholars are of the opinion that it one counts or finds iteasier to count the number of ones repetitions of ones tasbeeh on a rosary instead

of ones fingers, there is absolutely no harm and it would not constitute a bida orinnovation.

But if one were to believe that the count of a tasbeeh or dhikr should only be donethrough a rosary, or one believes that counting a repetition through a rosary earns

more reward or is more meritorious in the Sight of Allah.then indeed suchdeterminations would be absolutely incorrect! But if one finds it more convenient or

easier to keep count on a rosary rather than on ones fingers, there is absolutely noharm and no restriction in using a rosary. And Allah Alone Knows Best.

Whatever written of Truth and benefit is only due to Allahs Assistance and Guidance,and whatever of error is of me alone. Allah Alone Knows Best and He is the Only

Source of Strength.

Your brother and well wisher in Islam,