Title
Prayer beads
Year/Period
Early 20th century
Region
Turkey
Material
Dimension
Object size: L 29.5 cm
Accession No.
1999-01055
Collection of
Credit Line
Gift of Friedrich Sphuler, Germany
Since ancient times, strands of prayer beads (tasbih) have been used to help keep count of repetitions of prayers. In Islam, repetition of God's Divine Names or pious formulae (zikr), is an act of devotion and worship. As stated in the Qur’an: ‘… and recollect God often.’ This constant recollection of God can be done silently or aloud. Usually, the 99 Beautiful Names of Allah (asmah al-husnah), or the tasbih (‘O Holy God’), tahmid (‘Praised be God’), takbir (‘God is Great’), and so on are repeated. This prayer bead strand is made of yellow amber consisting of 33 beads.
