encouraged using the joints of the fingers to
count recitations, though using pebbles and knots
in a string are also mentioned as acceptable. In
modern times Wahhabi scholars and some other
Muslims have renewed the debate by denouncing
the use of prayer beads as bidaa, a religious inno-
vation introduced after the time of Muhammad.
Nevertheless prayer beads remain an important
part of worship for many Muslims.
See also dhikr; prayer; sUFism; Wahhabism.
Shauna Huffaker
Further reading: Daniel da Cruz, “Worry Beads.” Saudi
Aramco World 19 (November–December 1968): 2–3;
Samuel M. Zwemer, “The Rosary in Islam.” Muslim
World 21 (1931): 329–343.
prayer rug See prayer.
predestination See fate.
prophets and prophethood
Belief in prophets and prophethood is a primary
feature in the Abrahamic religions of Judaism,
Islam, and Christianity. Prophets are virtuosos
in divine-human communication. In Islam there
are two main terms for prophet: (1) messenger
(sing. rasul, pl. rusul), the bringer of a message
or revelation sent from God via angels (imply-
ing that the transmitter of the message is not the
source and revelation is not a human product, but
divine speech, Q 16:2), and (2) the older Jewish
term navi prophet, or in Arabic nabi (pl. nabiyin
or anbiya)—a law bringer who mediates a specific
covenantal relation with God and conveys the
binding quality of divine law upon the commu-
nity of believers. Prophets as law-bringers are sent
by God to every people, conveying God’s message
in language they can understand (Q 30:47). This
was later interpreted to mean an Arabic revela-
tion to the Arab people, a Hebrew revelation to
the Jewish people, and a Greek revelation to the
Christian people (Muslims were familiar with the
Greek-speaking Christians of Byzantium).
In Islamic belief, the prophetic tradition begins
with the forefather of humanity, Adam, with whom
God is said to have formed a preexisting covenant
(Q 7:172). Islamic tradition accepts, and the qUran
details, the ongoing covenantal legacy of Jewish and
Christian prophets and revelations, including three
chief scriptures: (1) Jewish torah (Arabic: tawrat,
encompassing Torah, Naviim, and Ketuvim [Penta-
teuch, Prophets, and Writings, except Psalms]), (2)
Zabur (the Psalms of david), and (3) Christian Injil
(“Gospel,” implicitly the whole of the New Testa-
ment). In addition to mUhammad, the full list of
prophets mentioned in the Quran includes: Adam,
Alyasa (Elisha), Ayyub (Job), Daud (David), Dhu
al-Kifl (Ezekiel), Hud, Ibrahim (abraham), idris
(Enoch), Ilyas (Elijah, Elias), Isa (JesUs), Ishaq
(Isaac), Ismail (Ishmael), Luqman, Lut (Lot), Musa
(moses), Nuh (Noah), Salih, Shuayb (Jethro),
Sulayman (Solomon), Yunus (Jonah), Uzeir (Ezra),
Yahya (John the baptist), Yaqub (Jacob), and
Yusuf (Joseph). Although revelations appear to be
plural (even if only by virtue of inevitable errors in
transmission by earlier human communities), the
prophets in Islam are all understood to be equal,
with no difference between one and another (Q
2:135–140; 2:285). Belief in the prophets without
distinction brings reward (Q 4:152).
Female figures with some of the “prophetic”
gifts deserve some mention here. mary, mother of
Jesus, is the only female figure to have a chapter
of the Quran named for her (Q 19). She does not
fully fit the category of prophet, which otherwise
seems a completely male category. She does, how-
ever, receive divine messages via an angelic mes-
senger of the “word of God” (kalimat Allah), which
God breathes into her in the divine conception of
Jesus (Q 3:45; 4:171). She is credited in Islam with
extraordinary holiness, herself immaculately con-
ceived, and is a “receiver/transmitter” of the “Word
of God” via her son, Jesus. However, she has no pro-
phetic ministry, she does not bring a new religion,prophets and prophethood 559 J