Muraqaba as a Mindfulness-Based Therapy in Islamic Psychotherapy

Religious and Existential Determinants of Affective Response to a Brief Mindfulness Intervention

Mindfulness-based interventions (MBIs) are often promoted in the Western world as being "secular" in nature, despite the religious/spiritual (R/S) roots of mindfulness itself. Relevant individual characteristics such as R/S, however, have yet to be examined thoroughly in relation to treatment response. Using pre-post experimental designs, we examined the interaction of participant religiosity and different religious framings (Buddhist, secular, spiritual) of a brief MBI as determinants of affective responses to the MBI using regression in two online samples (Study 1: N=677; Study 2: N= 157). Aspects of religiosity (existential quest, scriptural literalism) had differential effects on affective responses to MBIs dependent on the framing of the condition. Participants' R/S, as well as the R/S attributes of an MBI, may impact affective responses to MBIs. Further research is needed to ascertain how, and to what extent, MBIs might be optimized in order to maximize benefits for participants with diverse religious and existential commitments.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s42761-022-00139-0.

Epigenomic impacts of meditative practices

Meditative practices (MPs) are an inherent lifestyle and healing practice employed in Eastern medicine and spirituality. Integrating MPs into world mainstream medicine (WMM) requires effective empirical investigation of psychophysiological impacts. Epigenomic regulation is a probable mechanism of action that is empirically assessable. Recently, WMM-styled studies have screened the epigenomic impacts of MPs with early encouraging results. This article discusses the variety of MPs extant across three major Eastern religio-spiritual-healing traditions and their integration into WMM via the lens of epigenomic modulation. MPs unanimously report positive impacts on stress-reduction pathways, known to be epigenomically sensitive. Early high-resolution assays show MPs are potent in altering the epigenome - dynamically and by inducing long-term changes. This suggests the importance of integrating MPs into WMM.

Islamic Spiritual and Emotional Intelligence and Its Relationship to Eternal Happiness: A Conceptual Paper

This paper discusses the relationship between spiritual and emotional intelligence and eternal happiness, from an Islamic perspective. In Islam, achieving spiritual intelligence first requires a close relationship with God-established, for example, through consistent purification of the soul, repentance, acts of worship, performing good deeds and avoiding evil. Through such action, the light of God-which comes with Divine guidance and the knowledge of truth-touches the hearts of believers, causing them to experience pure contentedness. This study takes a qualitative approach, using the NVivo text analysis tool to analyse texts from 43 references, comprising  31 journal articles and 12 books or chapters. The three most frequently used words were 'Islamic', 'spiritual' and 'happiness', while 'intelligence' was the fourteenth most-used. This finding highlights the fear of God due to the love of God as the highest obedience, as it is the purest and sincerest degree of worship (i.e. for God's sake completely). Spiritual intelligence trains the soul from its prone-to-evil state to become more angelic or serene, thereby increasing emotional intelligence. This will be reflected in a believer's attitude, emotion and behaviours aligning with the conduct commended in Islam, to whom God promises an afterlife of eternal happiness in Heaven. This paper draws on the Qur'an and Sunnah as well as prominent Islamic scholarship to support the Islamic concepts discussed, enriching our understanding and perspective on the Islamic concept of spiritual and emotional intelligence and its role in attaining eternal happiness in Islam. This study also highlights several key concepts pivotal to Islamic spiritual and emotional intelligence as pre-requisites for obtaining eternal happiness, therefore advancing current knowledge on the subject.

Prayers and Mindfulness in Relation to Mental Health among First-Generation Immigrant and Refugee Muslim Women in the USA: An Exploratory Study

The goal of our study was to explore how first-generation immigrant/refugee Muslim women experience prayer and mindfulness in relation to their mental health. Participants were nine women from an urban city in the Midwestern USA. The women completed a structured demographic survey and a virtual semi-structured interview in a focus group. Using qualitative thematic analysis, we obtained four overarching themes from the data: (a) Prayer helps to build community, (b) Prayer promotes wellbeing, (c) Prayer increases faith, and (d) Prayer encourages intentional awareness. The findings demonstrate that prayer involves awareness and has a strong influence on the mental health of the women participants.

Religion, Health, and Life Satisfaction Among Somali and Gambian Women in Norway

This article describes and analyses the religious justifications for the life satisfaction reported by two groups of Muslim women. Approximately, twenty Somali women and twenty Gambian women, living in Norway, who had experienced trauma and pain due to female genital mutilation/cutting as well as other traumas and hardships, were interviewed. While the Somali women adhere to conservative Islam and try to cope with their life through endurance and patience, the Gambians belong to a Sufi tradition and verbalise their dissatisfaction in order to receive help from Sufi saints. Therefore, there are two religious codes, here called emotionologies, within the Muslim tradition that have different impacts on the expression of life satisfaction and women's ways of coping with pain and suffering.

Kabul ve Kararlılık Terapisiyle Maneviyat/Din Arasında Köprü Kurmak

Bu çalışmanın amacı Kabul ve Karalılık Terapisi (Acceptance And Commitment Therapy- ACT) ile ilgili bir çerçeve sunmak ve ACT’ın manevi/dini gelenekler ile ortak olan noktalarına dikkat çekmektir. Çalışmada ilk olarak sırasıyla kuramın tarihçesine, insan doğasına bakışına, kullandığı temel kavramlara, ACT’ın ortaya çıkışına yer verilmiştir. Devamında ACT’ın kuramsal temellerini oluşturan; Davranışın İşlevsel Analizi, İlişkisel Çerçeve kuramı ve İşlevsel Bağlamsalcılık kuramları tablo halinde sunulmuştur. Ardından ACT’ın manevi/dini yaklaşımlarla ortak noktalarına değinilmiştir. ACT ile Manevi/dini geleneklerin ortak yönleri arasında ilişkiler kurulduktan sonra ACT temel süreçleriyle manevi/dini uygulamalar birleştirilip sunulmuştur. Devamında ACT’ta kullanılabilecek manevi/dini yönelimli yöntem ve tekniklerden bahsedilmiştir. Sonuç kısmında ACT’ın diğer terapi yaklaşımlarından farklılaşan noktalarına, manevi/dini yaklaşımlarla olan ortak temalarına değinilmiştir. Bu çalışmanın devamında ACT temel felsefesinden yola çıkılarak kültürümüze özgü İslam inanç sistemini dikkate alan yeni modellerin geliştirilebileceği düşünülmektedir.