Title
Prayer beads
Year/Period
Late 19th- early 20th century
Region
Iran
Material
Dimension
Object size: L50.0 cm
Accession No.
1999-02799
Collection of
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 strand has 100 prayer beads.
