The Concise Oxford Dictionary of World Religions (2017 page)

Rosary
.

In Christianity, a
Catholic
devotion which consists in reciting fifteen ‘decades’ (groups of ten) of Hail Marys (
Ave Maria
), each decade preceded by the
Lord's Prayer
and followed by the
Gloria
Patri. A string of variously numbered (e.g. 55 or 165 ‘beads’, Med. Eng.,
beda
, ‘prayer’) are used to count the individual prayers. Each decade represents one of the ‘fifteen mysteries’ (five ‘joyful’, five ‘sorrowful’, five ‘glorious’), each an event in the life of Jesus or his mother.
Prayer beads are also used in other religions (e.g. Hinduism and Buddhism: see
M
L
; Jap. Buddhism: see
NENJU
), and are referred to in English as ‘rosaries’. Thus, many Sikhs use a rosary (
m
l
) to assist meditation. See also
N
M SIMARAN
. In Islam, the
sub
a
(Arab.,
sabba
a
, ‘praise God’, cf.
sub
n All
h
, ‘Glory to God!’) is the Muslim string of prayer beads, in three groups, divided by two larger beads (
im
m
), with a larger piece serving as a handle. By different reckonings, the total is always 100—All
h + his
Ninety-nine Beautiful Names
. See
N
FILA
.

 
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