Muslim Verbal and Active Prayer (MVAP): Measurement and Psychological Functioning of Supplications in Islam

Abstract

ABSTRACT Prayer is an important aspect of many religions. Existing measures of prayer have mostly originated from the Christian West and emphasized various “verbal” aspects of making a supplication. An “active” aspect of prayer, in which the supplicants strive for what they pray, has not received sufficient attention despite being crucial to Muslim belief. Based on the Islamic scholar Said Nursi’s conceptualization, the current study developed and validated a 7-item, 2-factor measure of Muslim Verbal and Active Prayer (MVAP). The measure showed good construct validity in two independent Muslim samples (N = 297 and 179) in exploratory and confirmatory factor analyses. It demonstrated not only convergent validity, but showed incremental validity predicting religious and psychological adjustment over and above Muslim religiosity and spirituality. In addition, the Muslim prayers invigorated and integrated Muslim religious spirituality in its expression of religious and psychological adjustment. This brief measure has potential to deepen empirical studies of Muslim psychology, and prayer research in general.