Albert Einstein once said that science without religion is lame, and religion without science is blind. A Tel Aviv University researcher is one of the first to explore the link between these two realms in the Muslim world.
Clinical psychologist Dr. Hisham Abu-Raiya of Tel Aviv University's Bob Shapell School of Social Work is investigating how various Islamic beliefs and practices impact the psychological well-being of its adherents. Among American Muslims, he's attempting to scientifically quantify perceived after-effects of the 9/11 attacks and if they have affected mental well-being and what therapeutic role Islam plays, hoping to identify a clinical path for recovery. It is the first study of its kind, the researcher says.
Since the Islamic terrorist attacks on 9/11, he claims all U.S. Muslims have faced an increasing number of security checks, harassment, and verbal abuse so via an online questionnaire, Abu-Raiya surveyed 138 American Muslims, asking how they coped with these new stressors and reported his findings in Psychology of Religion and Spirituality in October.
The God response
During his post-doctoral studies at New York University, Abu-Raiya says he witnessed firsthand how the 9/11 Twin Towers attacks impacted the Muslim community. For this study, he investigated the high volume of negative events claimed by American Muslim participants. The large majority reported experiencing at least one stressful interpersonal event after the 9/11 attacks, including anti-Muslim insults, special security checks in airports, and verbal harassment - though Jewish grandmothers were also subjected to special security checks and self-reported verbal harassment is too vague to be a valid term outside the social sciences.
Muslims who created support groups or became more active at their local mosques, where they found strength in communal support, had what were considered positive responses and included a sense that they were experiencing "a test from God." Participants in general reportedly increased religious practices such as prayer, fasting, mosque attendance, and Quran reading following the 9/11 attack.
Those who described feeling isolated from others and their community were more likely to report feelings of anger and depression, were more likely to doubt God or their faith, and to express the possibility that God was punishing them.
A tool to assess Islam
To interpret the questionnaire responses, Abu-Raiya used a tool he developed during his Ph.D. studies at Ohio's Bowling Green State University, the Psychological Measure of Islamic Religiousness (PMIR) –– a tool for studying the psychological aspects of Islam. This assessment is similar to measures that quantify faith among other religious groups.
"Religion can offer an immense amount of support to the individual and community," says Dr. Abu-Raiya. "My findings can help clinicians identify the kind of behavior that leads to positive responses –– and how to help patients better reach their goal of healing."
Religion can be used explicitly in the clinical setting as an important coping tool for life stressors, he adds, noting that the story of Job from the Jewish and Christian Old Testament, which is copied in the Quran, was particularly useful in guiding one patient through a long-term depression. Because all religions share certain universal values, Abu-Raiya says his study of Islam on the emotional well-being of patients in a clinical setting can be applied to other religions, including Judaism and Christianity.
He hopes that his research can also be used to increase awareness of the impact of the 9/11 attacks on Muslims living in the United States.