PRINSIP PENGUKURAN RELIGIOSITI DAN PERSONALITI MUSLIM

Abstract

Muslim religiosity and personality measurement is a growing need in the study of human development and psychology. The question is, can Muslim religiosity and personality be measured? If so, what are the basic principles to ensure that such a measurement is aligned with Islamic teachings and able to measure the attributes that we want to measure? Thus, the main objective of the current research was to identify the principles of Muslim religiosity and personality measurement. A qualitative study using a Grounded Theory approached was conducted to answer the research questions. Data were collected through semi-structured interviews with six well-known Muslim scholars in Malaysia. Findings from the interviews indicated that religiosity and personality from the Islamic perspective can be measured based on seven principles: 1) judgment or evaluation is limited to outward/external/behavioral aspects only, 2) the perfect measurement is only from Allah, 3) the basis of measurement is the manifestation of three religious pillars, which is Iman (Islamic belief), Islam (Islamic syariah) and Ihsan (Islamic ethics of conduct), 4) Iman must be measured by deeds, 5) the perfect internalization of Islamic syariah bears good ethics of conduct 6) symbols related to religiosity may not reflect Muslim religiosity and personality, and 7) the standard of Muslim religiosity and personality measurement are the Quran and Sunnah. Thus, the principles are suggested as a guideline in developing, evaluating and utilizing religiosity and personality measurement across countries and cultures.