Ruling on tasbeeh using the “electronic masbahah” program

Question

Praise be to Allah.

Firstly:

The scholars
differed concerning the ruling on the masbahah. Some of them said that it is
an innovation (bid‘ah), and others said that that is not the case. This has
been discussed previously in the answer to question no.
3009.

What there
should be no dispute about is the following:

1.
That
counting tasbeeh on the fingers is better, because it is what the Prophet
(blessings and peace of Allah be upon him) taught us.

Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Counting
tasbeeh on the fingers is Sunnah, as the Prophet (blessings and peace of
Allah be upon him) said to the women: “Glorify Allah (by saying
Subhaan-Allah) and count on your fingers, for they will be questioned and
will speak.” End quote.

Majmoo‘
al-Fataawa,
22/506

Shaykh
Muhammad ibn Saalih al-‘Uthaymeen (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

But better
than that [i.e., better than the masbahah] is for a person to count the
tasbeeh on his fingers, because they will speak, as the Prophet (blessings
and peace of Allah be upon him) taught. End quote.

Fataawa
ash-Shaykh al-‘Uthaymeen,
13/173

2.

Counting tasbeeh openly with the masbahah in order to show off is forbidden

Shaykh
al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

With regard to
adopting that – i.e., counting tasbeeh with the masbahah – unnecessarily or
in order to show off to people, such as hanging it around one’s neck or
wearing it like a bracelet on the arm, and so on, that is either showing off
to people or is likely to be thought to be showing off and imitating those
who show off unnecessarily. The former is haraam and the latter is, at the
very least, makrooh, because showing off to people in doing private acts of
worship such as prayer, fasting, dhikr and reading Qur’an, is one of the
gravest of sins.

Majmoo‘
al-Fataawa,
22/506

3.

Tasbeeh with the fingers when there is no focus of the heart or tongue on
dhikr is invalid tasbeeh, which brings no reward to the one who does it.

Al-Mannaawi
(may Allah have mercy on him) said:

As for what
heedless people used to do, of holding a masbahah which is very ornate and
costly, and carrying it without any presence of mind or thought, and talking
or listening to people, or talking to them whilst moving its beads through
his fingers, when his heart and tongue are distracted by worldly matters,
this is blameworthy and is makrooh, and it is one of the worst of
reprehensible deeds.

Fayd al-Qadeer,
4/468

Ibn al-Haaj
al-‘Abdari (may Allah have mercy on him) said:

Some of them
hold the masbahah in their hands, so that people can see it, and they move
the beads one by one, as if they are counting their dhikr, and in fact they
are talking and gossiping with people about what happened to this one and
that one. Obviously a person has only one tongue, so his counting on the
masbahah in this manner is worthless, because he does not have another
tongue so that he could be reciting dhikr with one tongue and talking about
whatever he wants to do with the other. So he can only be using the masbahah
in this manner for the purpose of showing off and as an innovation.

Al-Madkhal,
3/205

Secondly:

We have looked
at the program referred to in the question, and it seems to us that it is
less serious than saying tasbeeh using the masbahah; if it is said that the
masbahah is permissible, then by the same token this program may also be
permissible. That is because some of the objectionable matters that are
present in the case of the masbahah are not present in this program, such as
showing off to people by using the masbahah, or counting tasbeeh on the hand
when the heart and tongue are distracted by worldly matters or talking to
people.

However, we
should point out a number of things:

1.
In
the case of adhkaar for which no specific number was narrated from the
Prophet (blessings and peace of Allah be upon him), it is not prescribed to
adhere to a particular number in reciting them; rather the Muslim may
remember his Lord however he likes, a little or a great deal.

The scholars
of the Standing Committee for Issuing Fatwas said:

The basic
principle with regard to dhikr and acts of worship is tawqeef (i.e.,
adhering to what is mentioned and prescribed in the Qur’aan and Sunnah and
not worshipping Allaah in any way except that which has been prescribed on
the lips of the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon
him)). Based on this, in cases where a certain time, number of times, place
or manner has been specified, we must worship Allaah in the way that has
been proven in sharee’ah. But when Allaah has prescribed dhikrs, du’aa’ and
other kinds of worship in general terms without specifying a particular
time, number, place or manner, then it is not permissible for us to set
limits with regard to the manner, time or number of times. Rather we should
worship Him in general terms as it was narrated.

Shaykh ‘Abd
al-‘Azeez ibn Baaz, Shaykh ‘Abd ar-Razzaaq ‘Afeefi, Shaykh ‘Abdullah ibn
Ghadyaan, SHaykh ‘Abdullah ibn Qa‘ood

Majallat
al-Buhooth al-Islamiyyah,
21/53; Fataawa Islamiyyah, 4/178

See also the
answers to questions no. 22457 and
21902

2.
In
the program there is a icon called “The Beautiful Names of Allah”, the
author of which relied on a report narrated by at-Tirmidhi to list
ninety-nine names of Allah. But this is a da‘eef (weak) report according to
the consensus of hadeeth scholars.

For more
information, please see the answer to question no. 72318

We should also
point out that it is not prescribed to remember Allah, may He be exalted, by
repeating His name on its own; so it is not prescribed to remember Allah by
saying “Ya Allah, Ya Allah, Ya Allah” or “Ya Quddoos, Ya Quddoos, Ya Quddoos
(O Most Holy…)” and so on.

Please see
also the answers to questions no. 9389 and
91305

And Allah
knows best.