Dhikr » The Tidjaniyya rosary, part of the ritual

The Tidjaniyya rosary ,in North Africa as well as in Senegal, includes one hundred grains, he concludes with a piece called alif with a form which looks like a finger; one hundred is the number most often prescribed by the Prophet (S and B) for recitation of formulas.

Most rosaries include terminals division of another form after the twelfth, the thirtieth and fiftieth grain.

The rosary strung grain was not used in the time of the Prophet (S and B). But some companions of the Prophet (S and B) counted with stones or pebbles of dates . Practically there is no difference between starting with a rosary or any object ritually pure . It is reported that Abu Huraira, a companion of the Prophet, had a rope tied in thousand knots and he never went to sleep without having gining it, which is close to the rosary used today. As the Prophet often recommended to recite certain formulas a number of times (and the canonical books of traditions abound in that order) and as all beings are not equally gifted for counting on the fingers, (like, apparently,the Messenger of God) without being distracted during the recitation by the effort to count on the fingers, the need has probably led to imagine a way as simple and as practical as a knotted curve like Abu Huraira ones and, consequently, the rosary. There is no need to look further the origin of the rosary in Islam.

The Dhikr adopted by all the fraternities, consists of formulas and prayers (dua), which varies following the brotherhoods, each of these formulas being recited a number of times either alone or in assembly.

Dhikr is recited often on the beads of a rosary (Sobha) which have been adopted a long time ago by the brotherhoods of Islam. The rosary was in fact not an innovation due to religious orders as it has been said now, since the rosary is attested in Islam since the fifteenth century. Like any innovation, this practice had during a long time to defend itself against the enemies of all religious bonds, so that in the fifteenth century still; to such an extend that As-Suyuti was to compose a pleading for the rosary.