Islamic spirituality vis-à-vis Asia Pacific Muslim populations: A resource for Western social work practice

Abstract

Among Asia Pacific Muslims who migrate West, spirituality is fundamental. The implications include the need for Western social workers when appropriate to apply Islamic-specific spiritual criteria. The dampening effects of Western social work absent Islamic spiritual resources will impair the potential of the profession. Effective social work practice involving Asia Pacific Muslim populations must necessarily incorporate knowledge of Islamic spirituality and if necessary apply it. The ability of Western social workers to accurately perceive, conceptualize, and interact therapeutically with Asia Pacific Muslim populations is a necessity where such populations have recently migrated West.

The Effects of Spirituality and Religiosity on the Ethical Judgment in Organizations

“…Spirituality is also an intuitive and experiential aspect of human nature that expresses personal, internal and non-communal relationships (Hyman and Handal 2006;Zimmer et al 2016). It therefore plays a central role in the lives of many people, and religious adherents specifically (Hall 2012).…”

“…In examining levels of spiritual belief, we suggest that researchers may have missed a different, and possibly more potent, aspect of spirituality and religiosity. This is because spiritual belief plays a central role in the lives of many religious adherents (Faulkner and De Jong 1966;Hall 2012) and is a prime indicator of individuals' religiosity (Angelidis and Ibrahim 2004;Cornwall et al 1986).…”

Validation of the Intrinsic Spirituality Scale (ISS) with Muslims.

“…Spirituality plays a critical role in the lives of many Muslims (Hall, 2012). As implied above, submission to God is perhaps the central tenant in Islam (Kobeisy, 2004).…”

Social work, family welfare, and Muslim personal law in South Africa

“…Hall (2011b) argues that in order to assist Muslim clients competently, social workers need to be cognisant of Islamic spirituality and educate themselves on its principles, and, where necessary, be in a position to apply them to assist clients adequately. This has relevance for South Africa.…”

“…Information on Islam and Islamic religio-cultural life provides guidelines for social workers towards this goal (Al-Krenawi and Graham 1999, 2000, Hodge and Nadir 2008 while familiarity with Islamic spirituality and its expression amongst different ethnic Muslim groups is encouraged to advance the helping relationship (Hall 2011a(Hall , 2011b. The relevance of Islamic-based intervention in therapeutic services with Muslim couples and families is acknowledged (Springer et al 2009) as is support for the integration of Islamically relevant curricula into the education and training of social work students (Crabtree andBaba 2001, Holtzhausen 2011).…”