The Muslim Religiosity-Personality Measurement Inventory (MRPI)s Religiosity Measurement Model:Towards Filling the Gaps in Religiosity Research on Muslims

Since the advent of re ligiosity as a field of scientific inquiry, it has been under the d omain ofpsychologists of religion . The approach taken toward conceptualizing religiosity, therefore, hasalways been one purported to be of religious universalism. However, the overwhelming majorityof religiosity instruments to date have fallen under the rubric of Christianity and the study ofChristian people. As the desire to learn more about the re ligious life of the non -Ch ristian traditionsand people spreads, there is an increasing need for religiosity concepts and instruments to reflect these particular religious traditions. The role of religious worldview, therefore, is a majorco nsid e ra t io n in the instrumentation of religiosity, as worldview provides an underlyingphilosophical foundation for the operationalization of religiosity concepts, constructs and items.As the preponderance of religiosity instrumentation to date has been grounded in the JudeoChristianreligious worldview, existing religiosity instrumentation is also reflective of it, and assuch, does not adequately represent the uniqueness of other non:Judeo-Christian worldviewssuch as the Islamic tawhidi c worldview. As such, the current study aimed to provide a generaloverview of religiosity conceptualization in general, along with some of the major gaps in religiosityresearch for Muslims. In response, the paper concludes with the presentation of a basic religiositymodel rooted in the tawhidicworldview oflslam, upon which the Muslim Religiosity-PersonalityInventory (MRPI) was based.