Spiritual Jihad among U.S. Muslims: Preliminary Measurement and Associations with Well-Being and Growth

Seyma Saritoprak,Julie Exline,Nick Stauner

doi:10.3390/rel9050158

Abstract

Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles entail tension and conflict regarding religious and spiritual aspects of life. R/s struggles relate to distress, but may also relate to growth. Growth from struggles is prominent in Islamic spirituality and is sometimes referred to as spiritual jihad. This work’s main hypothesis was that in the context of moral struggles, incorporating a spiritual jihad mindset would relate to well-being, spiritual growth, and virtue. The project included two samples of U.S. Muslims: an online sample from Amazon’s Mechanical Turk (MTurk) worker database website (N = 280) and a community sample (N = 74). Preliminary evidence of reliability and validity emerged for a new measure of a spiritual jihad mindset. Results revealed that Islamic religiousness and daily spiritual experiences with God predicted greater endorsement of a spiritual jihad mindset among participants from both samples. A spiritual jihad mindset predicted greater levels of positive religious coping (both samples), spiritual and post-traumatic growth (both samples), and virtuous behaviors (MTurk sample), and less depression and anxiety (MTurk sample). Results suggest that some Muslims incorporate a spiritual jihad mindset in the face of moral struggles. Muslims who endorse greater religiousness and spirituality may specifically benefit from implementing a spiritual jihad mindset in coping with religious and spiritual struggles.

Highlights

Numerous studies have investigated the beneficial effects of religion and spirituality on health and well-being (Seybold and Hill 2001; Miller and Thoresen 2003)
The goal of the present study was to investigate the process of approaching moral struggles with a spiritual jihad mindset among Muslims living in the United States, and the outcomes associated with incorporating such a mindset
One aim was to create a new measure to assess the construct of spiritual jihad

Summary

Introduction

Numerous studies have investigated the beneficial effects of religion and spirituality on health and well-being (Seybold and Hill 2001; Miller and Thoresen 2003). While religious and spiritual involvement can yield various benefits, they can be a source of struggle. Religious and spiritual (r/s) struggles transpire when a person’s beliefs, practices, or experiences regarding r/s matters cause conflict or distress (for reviews, see Exline 2013; Exline and Rose 2013; Pargament 2007; Stauner et al 2016). There are several forms of general r/s struggles (Exline et al 2014). Moral struggles involve concerns about obedience to moral principles and guilt surrounding violations of those principles. Doubt-related struggles involve concerns about religious doubts and questions. Ultimate meaning struggles involve concerns regarding a perceived absence of meaning or purpose in life (Exline et al 2014)

Objectives

Methods

Results

Conclusion