In the 15th century it was promoted by Alanus de Rupe (aka Alain de la Roche or Alan of the Rock), a Dominican priest and theologian, who established the “fifteen promises of the rosary” and started many rosary confraternities. In any case, it was because of this Marian apparition that it received the title of Our Lady of the Rosary. Yet even in Christianity it was known since the 9th century in various forms. The first to bear witness to this were the Desert Fathers, but the concept of the Rosary was attributed to Dominic of Osma in an apparition of the Virgin Mary during the year 1214 in the Church of Prouille. In early Christianity, on the other hand, some knotted cords were used to keep count of the number of times they said the Jesus prayer.

Eventually counters were strung for convenience, more precious materials were substituted for the simple originals, and in this way the Muslim rosary was born. Some traditions report that it came to the Middle East through India, and this “necklace” called a misbaha at first was probably nothing more than a handful of date seeds or pebbles moved from one pile to another in the course of devotions. Originally it had the sacred purpose of helping devotees to remember the number of times a particular prayer or praise to GOD had been recited, and also helping to keep a man’s thoughts away from the sometimes running disorderly. The misbaha, the Muslim rosary to be clear, has served both a religious and a social function for the Arabs at least since the ninth century, when we have the first written records of it. We don’t know if this object was born earlier in India, in the Middle Eastern countries, or within the Church Fathers, the only thing we know with certainty is that it has remained an integral part of many traditions, and delving into them is an interesting topic that binds peoples and cultures only apparently different and distant.

Linking Your Beads by Patricia Kasten