in the case of what came first, the chicken or the egg, we will probably never know! in the case of the Kiffa bead or the Islamic bead we can rest assured that the Islamic beads came first. Many Kiffa types copy the Islamic beads in color, pattern, shape and size, I consider the Islamic beads that resemble Kiffa beads pre-courser beads.....here is a shot I did for Ornament magazine with a side by side comparison of the 2 types. The Powder glass, Kiffa beads are the strand on the left side and the Islamic beads on the right.