Prayer beads or Rosaries are used by members of various religions such as Roman Catholicism, Orthodox Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, and Bahá'í Faith to count the repetitions of prayers, chants or devotions. They may also be used for meditation, protection from negative energy, or for relaxation.

Use

Prayer beads may have physical, metaphysical and psychological effects on their users. Since the beads are fingered in an automatic manner, they allow the user to keep track of how many prayers have been said with a minimal amount of conscious effort, which in turn allows greater attention to be paid to the prayers themselves.

There are three widely accepted uses for Prayer beads:

1. Repetition of the same devotion a set (usually large) number of times. This is the earliest form of prayer beads (the Japa Mala) and the earliest Christian form (the prayer rope). This is also the type in use by the Bahá'í Faith
2. Repetition of several different prayers in some pattern, possibly interspersed with or accompanied by meditations.
3. Meditation on a series of spiritual themes, as in e.g. Islam or Catholicism.

• Shia@ (1)

See also:

• Science: Social Sciences: Psychology: Psychology and Religion: Religious Experience: Prayer (21)

• Accurate Times
  icoproject.org
  Downloadable prayer and direction calculator, provided by the Jordan Astonomical Society.
• Salah or Prayer according to Islam
  islamawareness.net
  Explains prayer according to Islam and its benefits, and compares it to the prayer in the bible.
• Supplications
  supplication.8m.com
  A collection of supplication to Allah.