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Investigations into Muslim psychology sometimes rely on measures emphasizing religious attitudes, with the Muslim Attitudes toward Religion (MAR) scale being an example. To capture the experiential aspects of Islamic religiosity, a recently developed Muslim Experiential Religiousness (MER) scale recorded an experienced submission to, love of, and closeness to God that define an ideal in Muslim religious consciousness. In a sample of 299 students from the University of Tehran and the Qom Islamic Seminary School, this study administered the MAR and MER, along with scales assessing mysticism, religious orientations, depression, anxiety, and satisfaction with life. Results demonstrated incremental validity of the MER over the MAR in predicting most of these religious and psychological adjustment variables. The MER also mediated and moderated some MAR relationships with religious and psychological outcomes. These data pointed toward a dissociation of the attitudinal and experiential features of Muslim psychology and confirmed the MER as a valuable index of Muslim religious experience. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This investigation analyzed Islamic spirituality as measured by a Muslim Experiential Religiousness Scale. Iranian university and seminary students (N = 351) responded to this instrument along with the Psychological Measure of Islamic Religiousness (PMIR) and Perceived Stress and Self-Esteem scales. Muslim Experiential Religiousness correlated predictably with all PMIR subscales, Perceived Stress, and Self-Esteem, and mediated almost all relationships of the PMIR Islamic Beliefs subscale with religious functioning. When evaluated by participants, Muslim Experiential Religiousness items proved to be "rational" relative to their Muslim religious ideals. Women in an Islamic seminary scored higher on Muslim Experiential Religiousness than Islamic women in a more general university, and Muslim Experiential Religiousness also mediated the many other religious differences observed between these two student groups. These data most importantly identified the Muslim Experiential Religiousness Scale as a useful instrument for testing hypotheses about the dynamics of Muslim spirituality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]