Tradition says that the Prophet attributed great merit to those who recited the names of God and repeated certain formulae. "Verily," he says, "there are ninety-nine names of God, and whoever recites them shall enter into Paradise," and, "whoever recites this sentence [the tasbih, "I extol the holiness of God," and the tahmid, "God be praised ] a hundred times, morning and evening, will have all his sins forgiven."[1] At another time the Prophet promises, as a reward for the repetition of a sacred formula, that the devotee "shall receive rewards equal to the emancipation of ten slaves, and shall have one hundred good deeds recorded to his account, and one hundred of his sins shall be blotted out, and the words shall be a protection from the devil."[2]
The date of the introduction of the rosary among Muhammadans is uncertain. It has been often assumed that it was taken over by them in a fully developed form from Buddhism. But tradition and various passages in the early literature point to a primitive form of rosary, such as would not have been used if borrowed from a people who had it already in a highly developed form.
Muhammadan tradition points to a very early use of the rosary, dating it back even to the time of the Prophet himself. In support of this belief it is related that Muhammad reproached some women for using pebbles in repeating the tasbih, etc., suggesting that they should rather count them on their fingers.[3] Another tradition, collected in the ninth century a.d., relates that Abu Abd al Rahman, on visiting a mosque and seeing some of the worshippers engaged under a leader in the recitation of 100 takbir, 100 takhlil, and 100 tasbih, keeping count of these by means of pebbles, reproached them and said: "Rather count your sins and I shall guarantee that nothing
