Prayer beads from China best-sellers

TEHRAN // The Made in China brand has become synonymous with cheap electronics, clothes and toys. But in Iran, officially atheist China has dominated an unusual market: prayer beads. According to a recent report in the Sarmayeh newspaper, Chinese-made prayer beads now account for more than 60 per cent of the market in Iran. But it does not seem to bother the country's devout, who use the coloured beads to count off the number of prayers or holy names of God, they recite daily. "I don't personally mind praying with these Chinese-made prayer beads," said Sedigheh Eftekhari, a middle-aged, veiled woman, as she examined beads in a shop in Tehran's Tajrish bazaar, close to the entrance of the popular shrine of Imamzadeh Saleh, the son of the seventh Shiite Imam. "What one does with them is what matters, not where and by whom they are made. And I've never heard of any religious ban on them or a need for purifying them before use. "I wish I could buy better ones but the ones you say are Chinese-made are much less expensive, look better and survive better. God is full of forgiveness and even if there is something wrong with praying on these beads, he'll forgive me," she said. Prayer beads come in strings of 25, 34, 100 and, sometimes, 1,000. They come in a variety of colours and shapes and can be made from plastic, baked clay, glass, semi-precious stones, wood, coral, bone or mother of pearl. Some are studded with silver or inlaid with semi-precious stones. According to industry businessmen, the Chinese-made beads are of better quality and value than their Iranian counterparts. "Only the plastic kind is produced in Iran. The machinery for manufacturing glass and stone beads are very expensive," the managing director of a beads factory was quoted by Sarmayeh as saying. "Iranian producers are reluctant to invest in the machinery because competition with the Chinese is risky." Over the past few years, China has replaced Germany as Iran's number one trade partner, with machinery, clothes and other consumer goods the major imports. Although most of the beads sold in Iran are made in China, others come from Mecca, the holy city of Karbala, Iraq, Turkey and India. "Nobody has ever fussed over where the beads are made but some people do ask for certain kinds, like the baked clay ones brought back by pilgrims to the holy shrine of Imam Hossein in Karbala," said Mr Pishbin, who has been running a shop selling prayer beads and other religious paraphernalia in the bazaar for 10 years. He wears two strings of expensive, sweet smelling wooden prayer beads from Saudi Arabia, one around his neck tucked under his shirt collar and another in his pocket. "I use these only when I'm reciting other prayers after my daily prayers. I don't like carrying them as an accessory like some other men do," he said. The cheapest plastic beads made in Iran cost about 1,500 rials (Dh0.6), while Chinese-made ones start at about a few thousand, and can reach to millions if they are made with semi-precious stones. Beads from Karbala, made with the baked clay of the holy city, start at about 5,000 rials. "Some prayer beads we sell are known as Mecca prayer beads and are brought back by haj pilgrims, but most of these are Chinese-made too," said Amir Abbasi, who has a shop in the bazaar. Mr Abbasi, however, is not concerned that the Made in China brand will affect his business. "I've been in the business for a long time," he said. "I've never seen anyone worrying about where the beads were made or whether beads made by non-Muslims could be used in saying prayers." [e-mail]