RELIGIOUS PRACTICES AS PREDICTORS OF HAPPINESS IN MUSLIMS: A CASE STUDY IN SOUTHERN PUNJAB, PAKISTAN

Abstract

The present study examined religious practices and subjective happiness among Muslim university students in Southern Punjab, Pakistan. The study used a quantitative survey design with a convenience sample of 200 Muslim university students from the Bahawalnagar campus of The Islamia University of Bahawalpur. Religious practices were assessed using a 15-item Religious Practices Scale adapted from the rituals subscale of the Muslim Religiosity-Personality Inventory, and subjective happiness was assessed with the four-item Subjective Happiness Scale. The original study examined descriptive levels of religious practice and happiness, gender differences, associations with age, and the predictive contribution of religious practices to happiness. The sample showed a mean religious-practice score of 48.73; when divided by the 15 items, the mean item score was 3.25, which the thesis classified as moderate. Gender differences in religious-practice scores were not statistically significant, F(1, 198) = 0.43, p = .513, and the gender difference in happiness was also not statistically significant, F(1, 198) = 3.03, p = .084. Age was not significantly associated with happiness, r = −.04, p = .552, or religious practices, r = .09, p = .189. Regression analysis indicated that religious practices explained 1.3% of the variance in happiness, R² = .013, F(1, 198) = 2.56, p = .111. Thus, the data did not provide statistically significant evidence that religious practices predicted subjective happiness in this sample. The findings are discussed in relation to Islamic religiosity, subjective well-being, measurement, and the cultural context of Southern Punjab.