Misbaha...

A misbaha (Arabic: مسبحة), subha (Arabic:سبحة), or tespih (Turkish) is a string of prayer beads, which is a tool used to perform dhikr (Islamic practice that focuses on the remembrance of God), including the 99 Names of Allah, and the glorification of God after regular prayer.

Misbaha, sometimes also called “worry beads,” have played an important role, not just in Islam but other religions. Roman Catholics, Orthodox Christians, Jews, Buddhists, and Hindu Brahmanists also use prayer beads. Although Islamic prayer beads usually have either ninety nine or thirty three beads, mystic sects sometimes used 500 or 1000 bead misbaha with very large beads.

The Turkish name tespih means prayer beads or rosary and originates from the word “Süpha” (also pronounced sebha), which means to recite the glories of God. Strings of tespih with ninety nine beads signify the ninety nine names of God in Islam. The main entreaty repeated by believers while fingering each of the first thirty three of the ninety nine beads is, Subhan’allah which comes from the Koran and means “Praise be to God.” For the next thirty three beads, one says “Glory be to God,” or Alhamdulillah, in Arabic and for the final thirty three beads, Allahu Akbar which means God is most great, is repeated.

With a shorter, thirty-three bead string of tespih, believers simply turn the strand over and over and repeat the same three prayers as for the ninety-nine bead tespih. After these repetitions a final prayer is said, bringing the total number of prayers, as dictated by the Koran, to one-hundred. Why one-hundred? Because the Prophet Muhammad is said to have given the command: “Whoever completes a hundred, by telling these beads, all his sins shall be forgiven even if they are as great as the waves of the ocean.”