Although the beliefs that Sufis (Sūfī) have introduced and promoted in the Islamic world seem to have had far-reaching influence on the way Muslims think and act, neither theorizing nor empirical research in the psychological literature has as yet focused on such beliefs and their impact on Islamic societies. Furthermore, although intellectual controversies about the functionality of Sufi beliefs abound, there is no instrument to address the existing issues empirically. The purpose of the three studies presented here is to identify major domains of Sufi belief, to describe the development and factor structure of a scale used to assess them, and to test the internal consistency, temporal stability (Study 1), and the convergent validity of this scale's scores (Studies 2 and 3) in three samples of Iranian Shi'ite university students. The combined findings from the three studies reported here provide initial evidence that the Sufi Beliefs Scale is reliable, valid, and can be used in further studies.
Abu-RaiyaH.PargamentK.I.MahoneyA. & SteinC. (2008). A psychological measure of Islamic religiousness: Development and evidence of reliability and validity. International Journal for the Psychology of Religion, 18(4), 291–315.
2.
AhmadiN. & AhmadiF. (1998). Iranian Islam; The Concept of the Individual.UK: MacMillan Press.
3.
AhmedS. (2008). What is Sufism?Forum Philosophicum, 13, 233–251.
4.
AlMarriT.S.K.OeiT.P.S. & Al-AdawiS. (2009). The development of the short Muslim practice and belief scale. Mental Health, Religion and Culture, 12(5), 415–426.
5.
BadalamentiA. (2010). Mysticism and Psychotherapy. In: LeemingDavid A.MaddenKathryn & MarlanStanton (Eds.), Encyclopaedia of Psychology and Religion (pp. 596–598). USA: Springer Science+Business Media.
6.
ChittickW.C. (2008). Sufism: a Beginner's Guide.Oxford: Oneworld.
7.
DelaneyC. (2005). The Spirituality Scale: development and psychometric testing of a holistic instrument to assess the human spiritual dimension. Journal of Holistic Nursing, 23(2), 145–167.
8.
DowlingE.GestsdottirS.AndersonP.Von EyeA. & LernerR.M. (2003). Spirituality, religiosity, and thriving among adolescents: Identification and confirmation of factor structures. Applied Developmental Science, 7(4), 253–260.
9.
EdwardsA. & LowisM. (2008). Construction and validation of a scale to assess attitudes to mysticism: the need for a new scale for research in the psychology of religion. Spirituality and Health International, 9, 16–31.
10.
FakhryM. (2004). A History of Islamic Philosophy, 3rd edn. New York: Columbia University Press.
11.
FrancisL.J. & LoudenS.H. (2000). The Francis-Louden Mystical Orientation Scale (MOS): a study among Roman Catholic priests. Research in the Social Scientific Study of Religion, 11, 99–116.
12.
FrancisL.J. & LoudenS.H. (2004). A Short Index of Mystical Orientation (SIMO): a study among Roman Catholic priests. Pastoral Psychology, 53, 49–51.
13.
GeorgeL.K.EllisonC.G. & LarsonD.B. (2002). Explaining the relationships between religious involvement and health. Psychological Inquiry, 13(3), 190–200.
14.
GhaniGh. (1987). A Discussion of Sufism.Tehran: Zavar [in Farsi].
15.
HappoldF.C. (1963). Mysticism: A Study and an Anthology.Harmondsworth: Penguin.
16.
HaslamN.BastianB.BainP. & KashimaY. (2006). Psychological essentialism, implicit theories, and intergroup relations. Group Processes & Intergroup Relations, 9, 63–76.
17.
HatchR.L.SpringH.RitzL.BurgM.A. personal communication 1 February 2008.
18.
HillP.C. & PargamentK.I. (2003). Advances in the conceptualization and measurement of religion and spirituality: Implications for physical and mental health research. American Psychologist, 58, 64–74.
19.
HoodR.W.Jr. (1975). The Construction and Preliminary Validation of a Measure of Reported Mystical Experience. Journal for the Scientific Study of Religion, 14, 29–41.
20.
HudaQ. (2006). Sufism and Sufis: South Asia. In: MeriJ.W. (Ed.), Medieval Islamic Civilization: An Encyclopedia (Vol. 2., pp. 773–775). New York: Taylor & Francis.
21.
JoshanlooM. (2011). Investigation of the contribution of spirituality and religiousness to hedonic and eudaimonic well-being in Iranian young adults. Journal of Happiness Studies, 12(6), 915–930.
22.
JoshanlooM. (2012). Investigation of the factor structure of religiousness and spirituality in Iranian Shiite University students. International Journal of Psychology, 47(3), 211–221.
23.
JoshanlooM. & NosratabadiM. (2009). Levels of mental health continuum and personality traits, Social Indicators Research, 90, 211–224.
24.
JoshanlooM.NosratabadiM. & Jafari KandovanGh. (2007). Social well-being, the Big Five factors and self-esteem. Journal of Psychological Science, 21, 66-88 [in Farsi].
25.
KaramustafaA.T. (2007). Sufism: The Formative Period.Edinburgh: Edinburgh University Press.
Mansouri LarijiE. (2009). Islamic mysticism.Tehran: International Publication Company [in Farsi].
28.
MascaroN. & RosenD.H. (2006). The role of existential meaning as a buffer against stress. Journal of Humanistic Psychology, 46(2), 168–190.
29.
MascaroN.RosenD.H. & MoreyL.C. (2004). The development, construct validity, and clinical utility of the Spiritual Meaning Scale. Personality and Individual Differences, 37, 845–860.
30.
MillerW.R. & ThoresenC.E. (2003). Spirituality, religion, and health: An emerging research field. American Psychologist, 58, 24–35.
31.
NafisiS. (2006). Sources of Sufism in Iran.Tehran: Asatir [in Farsi].
32.
NelsonJ.M. (2009). Psychology, Religion, and Spirituality.USA: Springer.
33.
NurbakhshD. (1978). Sufism and Psychoanalysis: Part One: What is Sufism?International Journal of Social Psychiatry, 24, 204–212.
34.
ParkC.L. (2005). Religion and meaning. In: PaloutzianR.F. & ParkC.L. (Eds.), Handbook of the Psychology of Religion and Spirituality (pp. 295–314). New York: Guilford Press.
35.
PiedmontR.L.CiarrocchiJ.W.Dy-LiaccoD. & WilliamsJ.E.G. (2009). The empirical and conceptual value of the Spiritual Transcendence and Religious Involvement scales for personality research. Psychology of Religion and Spirituality, 1(3), 162–179.
36.
PlanteT.G. & BoccacciniM. (1997a). Reliability and validity of the Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Pastoral Psychology, 45, 429–437.
37.
PlanteT.G. & BoccacciniM. (1997b). The Santa Clara Strength of Religious Faith Questionnaire. Pastoral Psychology, 45, 375–387.
38.
RahimianS. (2009). Basic Principles of Islamic Theoretical Mysticism, 2nd edn. Tehran: Samt [in Farsi].
39.
RenardJ. (2009). The A to Z of Sufism.UK: The Scarecrow Press.
40.
RidgeonL. (2006). Sufi Castigator: Ahmad Kasravi and Iranian Mystical Tradition.New York: Routledge.
41.
RyffC.D. (1989). Happiness is everything, or is it? Explorations on the meaning of psychological well-being. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 57, 1069–1081.
42.
RyffC.D.SingerB. & PalmersheimK.A. (2004). Social inequalities in health and well-being: The role of relational and religious protective factors. In: BrimO.G.RyffC.D. & KesslerR.C. (Eds.), How healthy are we?: A national study of well-being at midlife (pp. 90–123). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
43.
SimpsonJ.A. (2002). The ultimate elixir?Psychological Inquiry, 13, 226–229.
44.
SolbergE.C.DienerE. & RobinsonM. (2004). Why are materialists less satisfied? In: KasserT. & KannerA.D. (Eds.), Psychology and Consumer Culture: The Struggle for a Good Life in a Materialistic World (pp. 29–48). Washington, DC: American Psychological Association.
45.
StaceW.T. (1960). Mysticism and Philosophy.Philadelphia, PA: Lippincott.
46.
StegerM.F. & FrazierP. (2005). Meaning in life: One link in the chain from religiousness to well-being. Journal of Counseling Psychology, 52(4), 574–582.
47.
TabachnickB.G. & FidellL.S. (2001). Using Multivariate Statistics.Pearson: MA.
48.
YasrebiY. (2008). The Philosophy of Mysticism: An Analysis of the Principles, Fundamentals, and Issues of Mysticism.Tehran: Bustan-e Ketab Publishers [in Farsi].
49.
ZarrinkoobA. (1970). Persian Sufism in the historical perspective. Iranian Studies, 3, 139–220.
50.
ZarrinkoobA. (1999). The Value of the Heritage of Sufism.Tehran: Amirkabir Publications [in Farsi].
