An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani Muslims
The present study employed a mixed-method approach to explore Muslims’ experiences of the role of attention and mindfulness during the Islamic prayer (i.e. salah). A total of 78 Muslim participants took part in the online study, of which 38 were UK-based and 40 were based in Pakistan. Four themes we...
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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Taylor & Francis Group
2025-12-01
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| Series: | Cogent Psychology |
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| Online Access: | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2456335 |
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| author | Khadeeja Ahmed Omar Yousaf |
| author_facet | Khadeeja Ahmed Omar Yousaf |
| author_sort | Khadeeja Ahmed |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | The present study employed a mixed-method approach to explore Muslims’ experiences of the role of attention and mindfulness during the Islamic prayer (i.e. salah). A total of 78 Muslim participants took part in the online study, of which 38 were UK-based and 40 were based in Pakistan. Four themes were generated from the qualitative results: (1) Salah is used to build and nurture a relationship with Allah; (2) Salah as a reminder of the big picture; (3) Salah helps lighten the burdens of everyday life; (4) Paying attention enhances the experience of salah. The quantitative results showed that prayer frequency, importance of paying undivided attention to prayer, and the religious orientation of quest scores positively predicted 36% (adjusted R2) of the variance in mindfulness during worship scores, F (3, 76) = 14.94, p < .001. The study has identified a number of psychological functions of the salah. The implications of these findings for research and theory within the field of the psychology of prayer are discussed. |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj-art-06cddb27c8434820a0a8521d7558c9f7 |
| institution | Kabale University |
| issn | 2331-1908 |
| language | English |
| publishDate | 2025-12-01 |
| publisher | Taylor & Francis Group |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Cogent Psychology |
| spelling | doaj-art-06cddb27c8434820a0a8521d7558c9f72025-01-22T12:04:03ZengTaylor & Francis GroupCogent Psychology2331-19082025-12-0112110.1080/23311908.2025.2456335An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani MuslimsKhadeeja Ahmed0Omar Yousaf1Department of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UKDepartment of Psychology, University of Hertfordshire, Hatfield, UKThe present study employed a mixed-method approach to explore Muslims’ experiences of the role of attention and mindfulness during the Islamic prayer (i.e. salah). A total of 78 Muslim participants took part in the online study, of which 38 were UK-based and 40 were based in Pakistan. Four themes were generated from the qualitative results: (1) Salah is used to build and nurture a relationship with Allah; (2) Salah as a reminder of the big picture; (3) Salah helps lighten the burdens of everyday life; (4) Paying attention enhances the experience of salah. The quantitative results showed that prayer frequency, importance of paying undivided attention to prayer, and the religious orientation of quest scores positively predicted 36% (adjusted R2) of the variance in mindfulness during worship scores, F (3, 76) = 14.94, p < .001. The study has identified a number of psychological functions of the salah. The implications of these findings for research and theory within the field of the psychology of prayer are discussed.https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2456335IslamsalahworshipmindfulnessMuslimsCross Cultural Psychology |
| spellingShingle | Khadeeja Ahmed Omar Yousaf An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani Muslims Cogent Psychology Islam salah worship mindfulness Muslims Cross Cultural Psychology |
| title | An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani Muslims |
| title_full | An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani Muslims |
| title_fullStr | An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani Muslims |
| title_full_unstemmed | An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani Muslims |
| title_short | An exploration of mindfulness during the Islamic prayer in British and Pakistani Muslims |
| title_sort | exploration of mindfulness during the islamic prayer in british and pakistani muslims |
| topic | Islam salah worship mindfulness Muslims Cross Cultural Psychology |
| url | https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/10.1080/23311908.2025.2456335 |
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