Ruling on using the masbahah (prayer beads)

What is the ruling on using the masbahah (prayer beads)?
Praise be to Allaah.
Some scholars say that it is permissible to use the masbahah, but they
say that it is preferable to dotasbeeh on one's fingers;others say
that it is bid'ah (reprehensible innovation).
Shaykh al-Islam Ibn Taymiyah said in al-Fataawa (22/187): "Some of
them might show off by putting their prayer-mats over their shoulders
and carrying their masbahahs in their hands, making them symbols of
religion and prayer. It is known from the mutawaatir reports that
neither the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) nor
his Companions used these as symbols. They used to recite tasbeeh and
count on their fingers, as the hadeeth says: "Count on your fingers,
for they will asked, and will be made to speak." Some of them may
count their tasbeeh with pebbles or date stones. Some people say that
doing tasbeeh with the masbahah is makrooh, and some allow it, but no
one says that tasbeeh with the masbahah is better than tasbeeh with
the fingers." Then he (may Allaah have mercy on him) goes on to
discuss the issue of showing off with the masbahah, saying that it is
showing off with regard to something that is not prescribed by Islam,
which is worse than showing off with regardto something that is
prescribed.
Shaykh Muhammad ibn Saalih al-'Uthaymeen (al-Liqa' al-Maftooh, 3/30)
was asked whether using the masbahah for tasbeeh is bid'ah, and his
reply was: "It is better not to do tasbeeh with the masbahah, but it
is not bid'ah, because there is a basis for it, which is the fact that
some of the Sahaabah did tasbeeh with pebbles. But the Messenger
(peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him) taught that tasbeeh with
the fingers is better, as he said, 'Count with the fingertips, for
they will be made to speak.' Doing tasbeeh with the masbahah is not
haraamor bid'ah, but it is better not to do it, because the one who
does tasbeeh with the masbahah has shunned something better. Using the
masbahah may also be contaminated with someelement of showing off,
because we see some people carrying masbahahs that contain a thousand
beads, as if they are telling people, 'Look at me, I do a thousand
tasbeehs!' Secondly, those who use the masbahah for tasbeeh are
usually absent-minded and not focused, so you see themdoing tasbeeh
with the beads, but their gaze is wandering all over the place, which
indicates that they are not really concentrating. It is better to do
tasbeeh with one's fingers, preferably using the right hand rather
than the left, because the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) used to counthis tasbeeh on his right hand. If a person
counts his tasbeeh using both hands, there is nothing wrong with that,
but it isbetter to use the right hand only."
Shaykh Muhammad Naasir al-Deen al-Albaanisaid in Al-Silsilat
al-Da'eefah (1/110), where he quotes the (weak) hadeeth "What a good
reminder is the subhah [masbahah],"
"In my view, the meaning of this hadeethis invalid for a number of reasons:
Firstly, the subhah [masbahah] is bid'ah and was not known at the time
of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him). It
happened after that, so how could he (peace and blessings of Allaah be
upon him) have encouraged his Sahaabah to do something that was
unknown to them? The evidence for what I havesaid is the report
narrated by Ibn Waddaah in Al-Bid' wa'l-Nahy 'anhaa from al-Salt ibn
Bahraam, who said: 'Ibn Mas'ood passed by a woman whohad a [masbahah]
with which she was making tasbeeh, and he broke it and threw it aside,
then he passed by a man whowas making tasbeeh with pebbles, and he
kicked him then said, "You think you are better than the Sahaabah, but
you are following unjustified bid'ah! You think you have more
knowledge than the Companions of Muhammad (peace and blessings of
Allaah be upon him)!"' Its isnaad issaheeh to al-Salt, who is one of
the trustworthy (thiqah) followers of the Taabi'een.
Secondly, it goes againstthe guidance of the Prophet (peace and
blessings of Allaah be upon him). 'Abd-Allaah ibn 'Amr said, 'I saw
the Messenger of Allaah (peace and blessings of Allaah be upon him)
counting the tasbeeh on his right hand.'"
He also said (1/117): "If there is only one bad thing about the
masbahah, which it is that it takes the place of the Sunnah of
counting on the fingers, even though all are agreed that counting on
the fingers is preferable, then that is bad enough.How rarely I see
people counting their tasbeeh on their fingers!
Moreover, people have invented so many sophisticated ways of following
this bid'ah, so you see the followers of one of the [Sufi] tareeqahs
wearing the masbahah around their necks! Or some of them counting with
the beads whilst talking or listening to you! Or another one – the
like ofwhom I have not seen for some time – riding his bicycle through
a street crowded with people, with the masbahah in one of his hands!
They are showingthe people that they are not distracted from the
remembrance of Allaah for even an instant, but in many cases this
bid'ahis a cause of their neglecting what is obligatory (waajib). It
has happened many times – to others as well as myself – that when I
greet one of these people with salaam, theyanswer only by waving and
not by saying the words of the greeting. The bad results of this
bid'ah are innumerable, and no one can say it better than the poet:
'All goodness is in following that which went before (the salaf)
All badness is in the innovations of those who came later.'"
And Allaah knows best.