Advances in Environmental Biology

Advances in Environmental Biology, 9(18) August 2015, Pages:163-171

AENSI Journals

Advances in Environmental Biology ISSN-1995-0756

EISSN-1998-1066

Journal home page: http://www.aensiweb.com/AEB/

DEVELOPMENT AND INITIAL VALIDATION OF INTEGRATIVE ISLAMIC PERSONALITY INVENTORY Nik Ahmad Hisham Ismail 1, Mustafa Tekke *1 1

Institute of Education, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100, Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia

ARTICLE INFO

ABSTRACT

Received 5 August 2015 Accepted 28 August 2015 Available online 15 September 2015

Background: The measures related to personality in Islam have yet extended their domains to Nubuwwa (prophethood) and self component. In addition, these measures are solely Islamic sources, not studied the integration with Western perspective. Objective: The purpose of this study is to identify the major domains of Islamic personality using the Western and Islamic sources. Results: it is to describe the development and factor structure of a measure used to assess them, and to test the internal consistency (Study 1), the retest reliability (Study 2), and convergent and discriminant validity of this research (Study 3) in three samples of university students from ten Turkish universities. Conclusion: The combined findings from three studies reported here provide initial evidence that Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory (IIPI) is reliable, valid, and can be used in further studies.

Keywords: Integrative Islamic personality, self, Islamic psychology, Muslim

© 2015 AENSI Publisher All rights reserved. To Cite This Article: Nik Ahmad Hisham, I., Tekke, M. Development And Initial Validation Of Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory Adv. Environ. Biol., 9(18),163-171, 2015

Introduction Testification (Shahadah) in Islam is commonly known as the testification of the oneness of Allah and the Muhammad as the Messenger of Allah, stated in Hadith "I bear witness that there is no god except Allah and I bear witness that Muhammad is the messenger of Allah" (ash hadu anlaa ilaha illallahu wa ash hadu anna muhammadar-rasulullah) and also widely exploited by Muslims. This phrase highlights the Tawhidic (Divine Unity) and Nubuwwatic (Prophethood) paradigm, which are first and most importantly rooted in Islamic personality [1]. Nursi [2] developed a systematic description of testification on which both constructs of testification in Islam are inevitably interconnected to each other. In his phenomenological explanation of testification, Nursi asserted that a person who believes in Allah (SWT), also should believe in Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and follow him. Nursi also clarified “If you love God, you will follow the Prophet. If you don’t follow him, it points to the conclusion that you don’t love God” [3, p.84]. This love of God and following the practices of the Prophet indicates fully testification. Testification has long been valued and exploited in religious and spiritual instruments [4]. Among instruments, Tawhidic paradigm has been greatly used by researchers [5, 6]. Accordingly, Tawhid (Divine Unity) is viewed by many as an important paradigm which shape the Islamic personality [7, 4, 8], which refers psychological construct grounded in “beliefs, behaviour, attitudes and social manners taught by the Qur`an and Prophet`s sayings and actions (Sunnah)” [9]. In fact, it is accurately acceptable by Muslim scholars that Tawhid consists of main component of Islamic personality. However, Nursi argued that Tawhid and Nubuwwa (Prophethood) are inseparable based on Islamic testification, follow each other relatively. In this regard, the construct “Nubuwwa”, followed by “Tawhid”, was introduced by Nursi, becoming the doctrine that overshadowed the belief in Islamic personality measurement. *Corresponding Author: Mustafa Tekke ([email protected] -0060188730772) Institute of Education, International Islamic University Malaysia, Jalan Gombak, 53100, Kuala Lumpur/Malaysia

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Ismail and Tekke,2015 Advances in Environmental Biology, 9(18) August 2015, Pages: 163-171

In addition, to adequately capture such a dynamic notion of Islamic personality, conceptualization of Islamic personality should begin with a comprehensive understanding of the self-examination of inner ideas and experiences [10] due to the individual differences. In Islamic psychology, Haque and Mohamed [11] grounded the self in the concept of fitrah (nature), which was defined as the “innate and natural disposition of man to believe and worship God”. As a further basis for relationship with God, they asserted, “the key to knowledge of God is knowledge of one’s self both inwardly and outwardly”. On the other hand, Western scholars and philosophers studied the feelings, attitudes and behavior of man compared to the meaning of self studied by Muslim scholars [12, 13, 14]. In this perspective, integrating both Western and Islamic studies on personality is a vital element of scientific research of Islamic personality phenomena and such study would be much useful to help the Muslims to know their personality very well. Arguably, Islamic personality and similar religious-spiritual measurements merits empirical investigation to clarify their effects on the day-to-day of lives of Muslims. This can reveal the apparent differences between the ways people think and act in Muslim and Western countries. Therefore, both testification and self integrated in Islamic and Western perspective serve as a necessary constructs for religionhuman studies. Regrettably, as far as can be established, no empirical investigation from Islamic measurements has been carried out as yet to examine the nature or function of testification and self and their impacts these have had on the behavior and thought of Muslims. Additionally, no such scale has been developed so far assess Islamic personality and self in Islamic and Western contexts. To redress this gap, the three studies reported here have sought to develop such a scale. Identifying Domains of Islamic Personality The theoretical framework of this study rested on a basis of conjunction with the Islamic and Western understanding to the nature of human referring to the development of human personality, testification, and self. It is an integration process of one whole view of Islam, which includes the impact on human behavior. From the Islamic notion of personality, personality clearly highlights the Tawhidic and Nubuwwatic paradigm, called testification which is essentially playing a major role in a Muslim life and behavior. As a foundational of Islamic personality, from this understanding, the striving can be included in order to reach to the level of awareness of Tawhid and Prophethood. According to Western psychologist, Emmons [15], striving represents the typical ends or purposes that people seek in their daily lives, to goals that are oriented toward the sacred. Islamic personality is thus a personality assessment dimension based on striving assessment approach [16]. Because it deals with the inner life of the person, the striving approach is ideal for evaluating the process of spiritual formation across the life span [17]. The self is viewed as the essence of man [18, 19], accordingly, the self is integrated whole of biological, psychological, and spiritual domains of life granted by God [20, cited by 21]. Schnitker and Emmons [22] elaborated that the self relationship with a higher power should reflect spiritual strivings. In other words, an approach to understanding Islamic belief goals must be concerned with commitment to a higher power, or a seeking of the Divine in daily experience [23]. Because it deals with the inner life of the person, the striving approach is ideal for “examining the process of spiritual formation across the life span, as well as across different religious traditions” [17, p.23]. The study on strivings of human nature and its potentialities considering self will facilitate to understand the personality in depth. In addition to this, Rogers' personality theory is basically focusing on the notion of self or self-concept [24]. The self-concept is defined in a wide way as the individual`s tendency to act in ways which actualize himself, lead to his differentiation and a group of experiences, accordingly, are differentiated and symbolized in conscious awareness as self experiences, the sum of which establishes the individual`s self concept. To Rogers, healthy persons are individuals who can assimilate experiences into their self-structure. They are open to experiences rather than interpreting events in a defensive manner. It is such persons who experience a congruence between self and experience. In contrast, the neurotic person’s self-concept has become structured in ways that do not fit organismic experience. They deny awareness of significant sensory and emotional experiences [25]. Taken all together, integrative Islamic personality was operationalized through item statements relating to two main category of personality manifestation .The first category is called the striving in belief, “Tawhid” and

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“Nubuwwa”. This includes completely: the testification of the oneness of Allah and the Muhammad as the Messenger of Allah (shahadah). The second category is called “spiritual striving” and refers to self was incorporated into mind, body, heart, soul and spirit. Strivings, in general, are consciously accessible and personally meaningful objectives that people pursue in their daily lives [23]. Strivings, in this study, are line with the virtuous behavior. In summary, personality from Islamic perspective is integration of Tawhid, Nubuwwa, and self dimensions need to be harmonized and balance in an individual daily life. It is the need for reconciling life with God, self, and others constitutes the overreaching need and the primary purpose by which all other motives are ordered by the individual to achieve personal integration, actualization and growth. In this article, researchers describe the development and initial validation of an Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory (IIPI) based on the belief, self and practice domains adapted from the extensive Islamic and Western literature. In study 1, researchers developed an inventory of Integrative Islamic Personality and evaluated psychometric populations. Study 2 practiced test-retest reliability. In study 3, researchers assessed convergent and discriminant validity through examining between IIPI domains. Study 1: Development of the Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory and Preliminary Examination of its Psychometric Properties The purpose of Study 1 is to develop an Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory and to evaluate its factor structure and reliability. Method Item Development Prior to the development of the Integrated Islamic Personality Inventory, the conceptualization stage has been done accordingly based on Western and Islamic perspective. In so doing, the researchers have made extensive review of literature from various resources and previous researchers related to both Western and Islamic sources, which have substantial and relevant dimensions of personality in Islam. The construction of the Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory initially began with a collection of statements covering views on the concept of personality in the belief, self, and strivings of Islam. Concepts of construction were drawn as indicative of the concept of Islamic personality. Researchers developed a list of 71 items potential items, positively and negatively worded, to assess the Islamic personality domains. In order to establish that the items in the set were representative of potential items from the universe of possible relevant items, Consistent with this guide, five experts, associated with the field of psychology, Islamic studies, and psychometric measurement were contacted through personal correspondence and electronic mail. They received a preliminary copy of the Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory and explanations of domains of IIPI. The panel determined face and content validity, and returned their comments and suggestions. Experts reviewed the items and, after some minor alterations, found them acceptable. This process was completed to assure that the items have an acceptable level of content validity. Given the unanimity of the expert reviewers’ endorsement of the items, 64 items mapped on the core domains of integrative Islamic personality. Therefore, the seven irrelevant items were omitted and the remaining items were employed in the validation studies. Participants and Measures A total of 730 participants completed the survey for the purposes of this study. The sample was 35% female and 65% male, with a mean age 21.40 from four different universities in Turkey. The composition of the sample was all Muslims. Participants responded in their native language (Turkish) to the 64 items considering Islamic personality items. English translation of these items is presented in Table 1. Items scored as a five point Likerttype scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Results With sound evidence of data factorability, a principal axis factoring followed by oblimin rotation was conducted. Five factors with remained 16 items emerged with eigenvalues >1. Furthermore, parallel analysis indicated that five factors would offer the best solution. This resulted in 5 items loading exclusively onto Factor 1, 5 onto Factor

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2, three onto Factor 3 and three onto Factor 4, respectively. According to Hair, Black, Babin, Anderson, and Tatham [26], factor loadings are the correlation of each variable and the factor. Higher loading implies that the variable is a good representative of the factor; and this further indicates the evidence of convergent validity of the component [27]. The present result was achieved after a few cross-loading cases noticed were treated. The factors altogehether explained 64.42% variance of the total variability in the pooled data. The first factor’s eigenvalue was 5.30, accounted for 27.91 % of the total variance; the second factor’s eigenvalue was 2.38, accounted 12.55% of the total variance; and the third, and fourth's, eigenvalues were 1.81, and 1.12 respectively. They accounted for 9.53%, and 5.94% of the total variance explained, respectively, as presented in Table 1. Table 1. Pattern Matrix for Factor Analysis of 16 IIPI Items M

No

Item

1

I believe that Allah (SWT) is eternal.

4.86

2

I believe in the Oneness of Allah and there is no resemblance to Him.

3 4

SD

Factor 1

2

0.37

.740

0.56

4.83

0.43

.727

0.55

I strongly believe Allah`s presence at all time.

4.82

0.43

.689

0.47

I believe that Allah (SWT) is Almighty.

4.81

0.44

.688

0.46

5

I know that Allah (SWT) loves all of us and his creations regardless of race, ethnicity and colour.

4.74

0.54

.560

0.47

6

I am certain that all Prophets are both bringer of good news and a warner.

4.79

0.44

0.59

.836

7

I am aware that all Prophets follow the path of humanity.

4.75

0.57

0.47

.746

8

I am very sure that all Prophets used the pleasantest ways to tell people about God.

4.78

0.46

0.51

.716

9

I strongly believe that the moral of Prophet Muhammad (SAW) is in total harmony with the Qur'an

4.82

0.42

0.55

.623

0.44

10

I love all prophets sent by Allah (SWT).

4.82

0.44

0.53

.574

0.41

11

I work meticulously to live all my life according to Islamic teachings.

4.09

0.84

12

My whole approach to life is based on Islam.

4.12

0.85

13

I follow the Prophet Muhammad`s teachings and traditions all the time.

3.88

0.84

14

I feel that I have positive feeling towards myself

3.96

0.90

0.47

0.44

.640

15

On the whole, I am happy with myself

3.94

0.96

0.41

0.42

.631

16

I feel that I possess good personal characteristics.

3.84

0.90

% of Total Variance Eigenvalue Note. Loadings of Factors are shown in boldface.

3

4

.821 .756 .503

.529 27.91

12.55

9.53

5.94

5.30

2.38

1.81

1.12

Based on theoretical framework of the study, the items belonging to each factor were studied and assigned names. This study followed Pallant’s [28] advice in determining names for factors. According to him, the item with highest loading on each component should be identified and used to generate name for the factor. Based on this guide, Factor 1, “Tawhid”, consisted of 5 items. Factor 2, “Nubuwwa”, contained 5 items. For the rest factors, there was a clear distinction in the nature of the items that loaded the strongest on each factor. Therefore, it was determined to develop the scale based on items loadings: Factor 3 was named “Self-striving” consisted of 3 items, and Factor 4 were named “Self-regard”, contained 3 items each, relatively. Upon analyzing the item loadings on a various number of factors, there was a clear distinction in the nature of the items that loaded the strongest on each factor.

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Study 2 Retest Reliability A 4-week test—retest reliability sample of 37 university students from the University of Istanbul was used. This sample consisted of 19 female and 18 male students. The mean age was 21.90 (SD = 1.80). Thereafter, a construct reliability assessment using both Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability techniques was conducted to examine the internal consistency of the set of items that loaded on each factor. The internal consistencies are within an acceptable range. The 4-week test—retest stability was highly significant (Pearson correlation = .77; p < .01) for the 16-item scale. Taken together, these results indicate an acceptable reliability. Hair et al. [26] stressed that evidence of construct reliability must be established before construct validity can be assessed. The results of this test, as displayed in Table 2, show that each of the five components has a high degree of internal consistency, with CR valued greater than the preferred cutoff (.7) proposed by Hair and his colleagues [26]. Study 3: Validation of the IIPI The concern of Study 3 is to provide insights on the additional steps applied to establish an evidence of convergent and discriminant validity for constructs of this study. This was achieved by applying a widely utilized statistical technique, confirmatory factor analysis (CFA). It is an indispensable analytic tool for construct validation; well equipped to address some types of research questions often asked by researchers in applied research [29]. He argued further that CFA results can provide convincing evidence about convergent and discriminant validity of theoretical constructs. Convergent validity test produces evidence denoting that different indicators of theoretically similar or overlapping constructs are strongly interrelated. Meaning that, different approaches to measure a construct produced the same results [30] and that each construct is unique and captures some phenomena which other constructs do not [26]. Method Participants and Measures Participants were 505 undergraduate students from six different universities in Turkey. The sample consisted of 32% female and 68% male. The mean age was 21.10. The composition of the sample was all Muslims. Participants responded in their native language (Turkish) to the 64 items considering Islamic personality items. English translation of these items is presented in Table 1. Items scored as a five point Likert-type scale ranging from strongly disagree (1) to strongly agree (5). Results The purpose of Study 3 is to provide preliminary validity estimates for the scale. Moreover, the evidence indicates that the four-factor model of IIPI is valid and reliable. Different approaches to measure a theoretically distinct factor produce not only same results (convergent validity), but each factor is essentially unique and obtains some phenomena which other factor do not (discriminant validity); and that the latent constructs present some degree of reliability and internal consistency in their measures (construct reliability). Thus, the measurement model of IIPI was tested for evidence of convergent and discriminant validity, as well as construct reliability. As can be seen in Table 2, the results provided adequate supports for the fit of the measurement model to the sample data. For discriminant validity, CFA procedures to test by comparing the square roots of the AVE (average variance extracted). A preliminary exploratory analysis of the data found that the AVE for the one factor ranged from .37 to .54 (see Table 2), indicating that the discriminant validity was supported and the measurement model assessment was satisfactory. Correlation between IIPI and its subscales were moderate. Most of the inter-correlation coefficients among constructs were statistically significant and not excessively too high or small (mostly 0.2 and 0.5). The latent factor correlations were significant and positively correlated with, except r = 0.05 (TawhidSelfregard), r= 0.45 (TawhidNubuwwa), r =0.13 (TawhidSelfstriving), r =0.11 (NubuwwaSelfregard), r =0.25 (NubuwwaSelfstriving), and r = 0.52 (SelfregardSelfstriving), as shown in Table 2.

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As for convergent validity, the results of convergent validity indicated that all the AVE estimates except Self-striving (.54), were lower than .50 recommended by Hair et al. [26]. Concerning the factors of Tawhid, Nubuwwa, and Self-regard indicate the latent factors are not well explained by its observed variables. However, AVE is a strict measure of convergent validity. Malhotra and Dash [31] noted that "AVE is a more conservative measure than CR. On the basis of CR alone, the researcher may conclude that the convergent validity of the construct is adequate, even though more than 50% of the variance is due to error.” (p.702). Therefore, researchers remained the factors of Tawhid, Nubuwwa, and Self-regard due to the fact that the model fit and construct reliability were adequate and reasonable. To examine the internal consistency reliability of the observed items questionnaire, Cronbach`s alpha was assessed. The resulting alpha values ranged from .71 to .82, which were above the acceptable threshold, as shown in Table 2. Moreover, the construct reliability estimates obtained for each construct were higher than 0.7 suggested by Hair et al. [26]. Thus, the proof of internal consistency existed for all the constructs of the IIPI and the measures were consistent in representing same latent construct. With these results, it was evidently clear that the four factors of the measurement model of the IIPI were statistically valid and reliable. However, there are some low inter-correlation coefficient, more particularly Tawhid on Self-regard (.05).

Table 2. Result of Convergent and Discriminant Validity α

CR

AVE

MSV

ASV

Selfstriving

Self-striving

0.82

0.78

0.54

0.27

0.11

0.74

Tavhid

0.81

0.74

0.37

0.20

0.07

0.13

0.61

Nubuvva

0.73

0.74

0.37

0.20

0.09

0.25

0.45

0.61

Self-regard

0.71

0.71

0.46

0.27

0.09

0.52

0.05

0.11

Tawhid

Nubuwwa

Selfregard

0.68

Note. α = Cronbach’s alpha; CR= Construct Reliability; AVE= Average Variance Extracted; MSV= Maximum Shared Variance; and ASV= Average Shared Variance Conclusion and Discussion The main purpose of this study was in part, to develop and validate the constructs of the integration of Islamic and Western perspective; examining the adequacy of the four-construct personality model in predicting Islamic personality of the undergraduates from Turkish public universities. Overview of the literature leads to the discovery of the proposed constructs, namely Tawhid, Nubuwwa, Self-striving, and Self-regard which act as indicators for the measured personality. List of item statements were validated in terms of their content by several experts. Their reliability was tested using Cronbach’s alpha and composite reliability test. Prior to the construction of the Integrative Islamic Personality Inventory instrument, the Exploratory Factor Analysis (EFA) was used to assess the strength of relationship variables, to identify the number of factors present in the data and to identify items that did not load on a factor or loaded on more than one factor. The results of the EFA revealed the existence of several factors or dimensions generated from each construct of the developed instrument. Finally, Confirmatory Factor Analysis (CFA) was used to establish a model with the closest fit to the data. The CFA results imply that all the factors generated by EFA were valid indicators for the Integrative Islamic Personality. Thus, this inventory has fulfilled the psychometric properties in terms of its reliability and construct validation. All the factors loading strongly defined their respective factors. Factor Tawhid was represented by those questionnaire items related to the dimension of an individual’s belief in one Allah (SWT) and affirmation of Divine Unity. The factor of Nubuwwa was represented by those questionnaire items related to the dimension of one’s belief in Nubuwwa to reach Allah’s instructions and guidance. The factor of self-striving was depicted by intrinsic and natural Islamic goals in one's being. The factor of self-regard was represented by dimension of strong organismic valuing, initiated by the actualizing tendency. These concepts formed the basis of the Islamic personality model illustrate how the model and concepts translated into measurement indicators for the IIPI.

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The personality concepts developed in the study translated into measurable constructs rooted in Western personality theory and Islamic traditional knowledge. In the model, integrative Islamic personality is shown as the peak, and is comprised of four dimensions that the IIPI and survey items were formed. Although the construct of Tawhid is initially validated by Muslim scholars [32, 33, 34], the importance of Tawhid has never been overlooked because of the view that the oneness of Allah (Tawhid) is the essence of Islamic spirituality [8]. As for items assessing the level of Tawhid in this study, loading items are such: I believe in the Oneness of Allah and there is no resemblance to Him; I believe that Allah (SWT) is eternal; I believe that Allah (SWT) is Almighty; I strongly believe Allah`s presence at all time; and I know that Allah (SWT) loves all of us and his creations regardless of race, ethnicity and colour. Similarly, other Islamic measures exploited the items within the construct of Tawhid: I believe that there is no other God but Allah [5]; I believe in the existence of Allah [35]; Allah/God is very real to me [36]. As these items of Islamic measurements including this inventory, complete utility of recognizing and knowing Allah in its instrumentality, which might be the reason these similar meaning items were exploited again accordingly. More specifically, this study took advantage of the notion of testification including Nubuwwa. As for the concept “Nubuwwa”, followed by “Tawhid”, Nursi argued that Tawhid and Nubuwwa are inseparable based on Islamic testification (shahadah), follow each other relatively. In other words, a person who believes in Allah (SWT), also should believe in Prophet Muhammad (SAW) and follow him. This indicates it is fully shahadah verification. That construct of Nubuwwa was implied as behavioral practices ([37, 38, 32] or social transactions (Mua’amalat) [33] with other Islamic measures. Exploited items for this construct are also consistent with those of several researchers [35, 8] who found strong supports for the use of Nubuwwa model to predict Islamic personality. For the similarity of items, as a sample: I love all Prophets sent by Allah (SWT) (item of IIPI); I make continuously effort to internalize the conducts of Rasulullah in my daily life [39]; I make sure all my family members are following the teachings (Sunnah) of Rasulullah [4]; I believe in all the Prophets that Allah sent and in the sacred texts that were revealed to them [35]. Analyses also provide support for the difference statements within the same context of Nubuwwa from other related measures. Therefore, the construct of Nubuwwa is inevitably main construct of Islamic measurements and applied in this study accordingly. As with the emergence of the new factors related to the self (self-striving, and self-regard), it was interpretable in light of the existing literature. Personality’s original concept of Islamic life was essentially that of self theory, Stephenson [40] further discussed self as “inner experience” or “immediate experience” depicting the humans’ emotions, desires, wishes, and intentions. Inner experience can be distinguishable from human conducts such as: What do you think of yourself; what others think of you; and the part or role you play in life [Cicero (106-43 B.C.) cited in 40]. This cursory comparison revealed how common essences were emphasized among Western and Islamic perspective in terms of content and focus. Therefore, this self aspect of personality served as a necessary construct for religion-human studies. Regrettably, as far as can be established, no empirical investigation from Islamic measurements has been carried out as yet to examine the nature or function of self as self-striving, and self-regard. Thus, this study of self has produced a well validated measurement model which can be employed by researchers in the field to further understanding the underlying self factors shaping personality. Finally, as the vast majority of existing religious personality studies for Muslims are based on attitudes, practices, beliefs, worldview, moral values/ethical principles, altruism, doctrinal orthodoxy, afterlife motivation, coping methods (positive and negative), conversion, struggle, obligation, identification, exclusivism, and mysticism [16], so too are their conceptualizations of personality upon which their scales are based. The present study, therefore, identifies and clarifies the integrative Islamic personality and develop a deeper insight into the nature and purpose of personality by working both at the theoretical and practical levels in the Islamic perspective, as suggested by Haque [41]. In other words, this study put forth a multi-dimensional concept of Islamic personality that begins with the personality theory, Tawhidic Islamic understanding and ends with the notion of self or the manifestation of Western view in daily life that is consistent with traditional and authentic Islamic knowledge (i.e., the Qur’an and Sunnah). As a result, the prevalence of Islamic personality is a phenomenon well documented in this present study. However, as Abu-Raiya [42] and Hogan and Smither [43] noted, empirical studies into the matter was largely confined within the Western world. More importantly, most studies so far conducted were not guided by sound theoretical frameworks, nor supported by well validated measurement tools. The present research has filled part of the vacuum by examining Islamic personality from the Islamic standpoint and well established

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theories from Western psychology. The findings of this study have confirmed the use of an existing Rogers’ theory of self and Emmon's striving as a model to understand the Islamic personality shaped on undergraduates when they are confronted with daily life (whether or not to engage in acts of social problems). The efficacy of the variables of this model, in predicting behaviors in acts of Islamic personality, has undoubtedly increased our understanding of the comprehensive nature of undergraduates’ attitude on Islamic personality. As for limitation of the study, it would have been ideal to examine societal influence in a wider perspective by conducting series of interviews with selected individuals among stakeholders of higher education in a selected country. In order to suggest for future research, the authors attempted to create an Islamic personality inventory that could be used universally with other Muslim communities. Finally, this study presents preliminary psychometric data. It is recommended that further evidence of validity be gathered in the form of placing this instrument in a nomological net by comparing its results with other psychological instruments to establish convergent and discriminant validity [44]. Acknowledgements The authors would like to thank Dr Syarifah Hassan, and Dr Nooraini Othman for their assistance with this project. References [1] Haque, A., and Kamil, N. 2012. Islam, Muslims, and mental health. In S. Ahmed and M. M. Amer (Eds.), Counseling Muslims: Handbook of Mental Health issues and interventions (pp. 3-14). London: Routledge. [2] Nursi, S. 2002. Mektubat (The Letters). Istanbul: Sozler(Originally work published 1934). [3] Nursi, S. 2004. Lemalar (The Flashes). Istanbul: Sozler(Originally work published 1932). [4] Krauss, S. E., Azimi, H., Rumaya, J., and Jamaliah, A. H. 2006. Exploring regional difference in religiosity among Muslim youth in Malaysia. Review of Religious Research, 47, 238–252. [5] Ji, C. H. C., and Ibrahim, Y. 2007. Islamic doctrinal orthodoxy and religious orientations: Scale development and validation. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 17, 189–208. doi:10.1080/ 10508610701402192. [6] Joshanloo, M., and Rastegar, P. 2012. Development and initial validation of a scale to assess Sufi beliefs. Archive for the Psychology of Religion, 34, 115–135. [7] Haque, A. 2006. Soul Searching: Bearing Witness, Psychotherapeutically, to One God. Psychoanalytic Perspectives, 4(1), 49–58. doi:10.1080/1551806X.2006.10472981. [8] Nooraini, O. 2011. Exploring the Ummatic Personality Dimensions from the Psycho-spiritual Paradigm. International Journal of Psychological Studies, 3(2), 37–47. doi:10.5539/ijps.v3n2p37 [9] Tekke, M., Ismail, N. A. H., Adnan, M. A. M., and Othman, N. 2015. Students ` Islamic Personality On Amanah : A Structural Modelling Approach. Social Sciences and Humanities, 23(1), 1–10. [10] Smither, R., & Khorsandi, A. 2009. The implicit personality theory of Islam. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1(2), 81–96. doi:10.1037/a0015737 [11] Haque, A. and Mohamed, Y. (Eds.). 2009. Psychology of Personality: Islamic Perspectives. Singapore: Cengage Learning. [12] Aisha, R. 2011. Psychology from the Islamic perspective. Kuala Lumpur: International Islamic Publishing. [13] Khosravi, Z. 2006. Towards an Islamic Psychology: An Inroduction to Remove Theoretical Barriers. Psychological Studies, 1(5), 161-172. [14] Sennels, N. 2010. Muslims and Westerners:The Psychological Differences. Retrieved, 8 th Jan2015,http://www.newenglishreview.org/Nicolai_Sennels/Muslims_and_Westerners%3A__The_Psychologic al_Differences/ [15] Emmons, R. A. 2005. Striving for the sacred: Personal goals, life meaning, and religion. Journal of Social Issues, 61(4), 731–745. doi:10.1111/j.1540-4560.2005.00429.x. [16] Abu-Raiya, H., and Hill, P. C. 2014. Appraising the state of measurement of Islamic religiousness. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 6(1), 22–32. doi:10.1037/a0035082. [17] Emmons, R. A., and Paloutzian, R. F. 2003. The Psychology of Religion. Annual Review of Psychology, 54(1), 377–402. doi:10.1146/annurev.psych.54.101601.145024. [18] Rogers, Carl R. 1951. Client-centered Therapy: Its Current Practice, Implications and Theory. Boston: Houghton Mifflin. [19] Umaruddin, M. 1991. The Ethical Philosophy of Al-Ghazali. Lahore: Lahore Institute of Islamic Culture. [20] Asad, M. 1984. The message of the Qur’an. Lahore:Maktaba Jawaharul Uloom. [21] Ansari, Z. 2002. Islamic psychology. In R. P. Olsen (Ed.), Religious theories of personality and psy- chotherapy: East meets West (pp. 325–357). New York: Haworth Press.

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