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Mindfulness in Salah Prayer and its Association with Mental Health

DOI:10.1007/s10943-017-0413-1
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Shahid Ijaz
Shahid Ijaz
Shahid Ijaz
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Muhammad Tahir Khalily at Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Islamabad
Muhammad Tahir Khalily
  • Shifa Tameer-e-Millat University Islamabad
Irshad Ahmad at International Islamic University, Islamabad
Irshad Ahmad
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Abstract

Plethora of researches has been carried out for the last many decades and has identified relationship between mental health and religious convictions; in particular, range of religious practices has been found instrumental in the promotion of mental health. The aim of this paper is to find out association between mindfulness in Salah (prayer) and mental health of individuals who identify themselves with Islam and to examine the mental health of those Muslims who offer Salah prayer with mindfulness and those who offer without mindfulness. A total of 174 participants with mean age of 21.57 including 62% males and females 38% were selected through convenient sampling. RAND Mental Health Inventory was used to measure mental health and other three variables; three self-reported measures were constructed. They included Islamic religious education scale, Salah education scale and mindfulness in Salah scale. Psychometric properties for all scales were established. The findings indicated that mean on mindfulness and mental health was significantly higher for those who were offering Salah (prayer) regularly (p < 0.01) as compared with those who were not offering it regularly. Moreover, those who were offering Salah (prayer) with mindfulness had also significantly higher mean for mental health (p < 0.01) as compared with those who were offering it without mindfulness. Religious education, Salah education and mindfulness were able to account for 13% of the variance in mental health (p < 0.01). Of note two of the measures included Salah education and mindfulness made a significant contribution in the prediction of mental health (p < 0.01). The present study indicated that individuals who offer prayer regularly and with mindfulness have better mental health as compared with those who don't offer it regularly and with mindfulness. The findings of this study urge to spread awareness regarding offering prayer regularly with mindfulness for the better outcome of mental health in people.
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ORIGINAL PAPER
Mindfulness in Salah Prayer and its Association
with Mental Health
Shahid Ijaz
1
•Muhammad Tahir Khalily
2
•Irshad Ahmad
2
Published online: 13 May 2017
ÓSpringer Science+Business Media New York 2017
Abstract Plethora of researches has been carried out for the last many decades and has
identified relationship between mental health and religious convictions; in particular, range
of religious practices has been found instrumental in the promotion of mental health. The
aim of this paper is to find out association between mindfulness in Salah (prayer) and mental
health of individuals who identify themselves with Islam and to examine the mental health of
those Muslims who offer Salah prayer with mindfulness and those who offer without
mindfulness. A total of 174 participants with mean age of 21.57 including 62% males and
females 38% were selected through convenient sampling. RAND Mental Health Inventory
was used to measure mental health and other three variables; three self-reported measures
were constructed. They included Islamic religious education scale, Salah education scale and
mindfulness in Salah scale. Psychometric properties for all scales were established. The
findings indicated that mean on mindfulness and mental health was significantly higher for
those who were offering Salah (prayer) regularly (p\0.01) as compared with those who
were not offering it regularly. Moreover, those who were offering Salah (prayer) with
mindfulness had also significantly higher mean for mental health (p\0.01) as compared
with those who were offering it without mindfulness. Religious education, Salah education
and mindfulness were able to account for 13% of the variance in mental health (p\0.01).
Of note two of the measures included Salah education and mindfulness made a significant
contribution in the prediction of mental health (p\0.01). The present study indicated that
individuals who offer prayer regularly and with mindfulness have better mental health as
compared with those who don’t offer it regularly and with mindfulness. The findings of this
&Shahid Ijaz
Islamic.psychologist@gmail.com
Muhammad Tahir Khalily
khalily64@gmail.com
Irshad Ahmad
irshadahmad.sp@gmail.com
1
Department of Psychology, Islamabad Model College for Boys, H-9, Islamabad, Pakistan
2
Department of Psychology, International Islamic University, Islamabad, Pakistan
123
J Relig Health (2017) 56:2297–2307
DOI 10.1007/s10943-017-0413-1
Content courtesy of Springer Nature, terms of use apply. Rights reserved.
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... Many studies have researched the notions of meditation and mindfulness in Salah and their benefits with regard to reducing stress as well as enhancing mental health (Bilican, 2016;Carey et al., 2022;Callender et al., 2022;Ijaz et al., 2017;Isgandarova, 2012;MahdiNejad et al., 2020). Other studies conducted over the past 50 years have examined the impacts of meditation on the human brain (Cahn & Polich, 2006;Doufesh et al., 2016;Schneider et al., 2022). ...
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... (H.R Muslim) Salat dengan tenang dan penuh kesadaran dapat diartikan sebagai salat yang penuh dengan mindfulness. Seseorang yang salat secara teratur dan dnegan penuh kesadaran (mindfulness) memiliki kesehatan mental yang lebih baik dibanding mereka yang tidak menjalankan salat secara teratur dan penuh kesadaran (Ijaz, et al., 2017). ...
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1422 Hijri) Sahih al-Bukhari. Vols. 1, Kitab Al-Iman (Book on Faith) Hadith No. 50
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The Oxford Handbook of American Islam
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