Tawakkul Mediates Between Personality Traits, Depression, and Anxiety in Pakistani Muslim Adults.

Tawakkul in Islam is defined as the belief in the sufficiency of Allah (God) that invokes patience and efforts to achieve goals while accepting the outcomes unconditionally. The present research intended to investigate the mediating role of tawakkul between personality traits and mental health (anxiety and depression) in a purposive sample of (N = 350) Muslim adults. Urdu versions of three instruments, namely the Tawakkul Scale (Gondal, et al., 2021), Depression, Anxiety Stress Scale of (DASS 21; Aslam, 2018), and Neuroticism-Extraversion-Openness Five-Factor Inventory (NEO-FFI; Chishti & Kamal, 2002), were used to measure the variables. Path analysis revealed that extraversion had no association with tawakkul and anxiety, but it was inversely related to depression. Neuroticism was inversely related to tawakkul and positively related to both depression and anxiety, and these relationships were partially mediated by a low degree of tawakkul. Implications of the study and recommendations for future research are discussed.

Development and Validation of Tawakkul Scale for Muslim Adults in Pakistan.

As a fundamental value in the Islamic belief system, tawakkul is defined as the belief in the sufficiency of God that involves positive efforts to achieve one's goals while accepting the outcomes unconditionally. The present research intended to develop a psychometrically sound measure of tawakkul and it comprised two studies. In study I, an initial item pool of 60 items was developed based on the content analyses of Quranic verses with the root word 'w-k-l' and the findings of two focus group discussions with psychologists, Islamic scholars, and common Muslim adults. This item pool was reviewed by a committee of experts resulting in a 40-item initial draft of the Tawakkul Scale, which was administered on a purposive sample of (N = 300) Pakistani Muslim adults. The findings of the exploratory factor analysis revealed a four-factor structure (loadings ranged from .56 to .96) of the Tawakkul Scale that cumulatively explained 76.67% variance. The factors included belief in the sufficiency of God (11 items), unconditional acceptance of God's will (6 items), efforts (4 items), and annihilation of one's own will (3 items). All factors were moderately related to each other with good values of Cronbach's alpha (α ≥ .83). Study II replicated the factorial structure of the Tawakkul Scale through confirmatory factor analysis and established its construct validity in an independent sample of (N = 350) Pakistani Muslim adults. Tawakkul had a positive relationship with secure attachment to God and a negative relationship with insecure attachment to God that affirmed its construct validity. Overall, the findings indicated that the Tawakkul Scale is a psychometrically sound measure that needs to be further studied in Muslim populations across the globe.