About the Author(s)


Tatyana N. Ivanova Email symbol
The Sociology Department, Togliatti State University, Tolyatti, Russia

Natalya A. Yushchenkо symbol
Department of Legal Disciplines, Kazan Federal University, Kazan, Russia

Aygul Z. Ibatova symbol
Humanities and Social Sciences Department, Industrial University of Tyumen, Russia

Akbar Bahmani symbol
Department of Public Administration, Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran

Citation


Ivanova, T.N., Yushchenkо, N.A., Ibatova, A.Z. & Bahmani, A., 2021, ‘The role of Islamic lifestyle on social security in Russia’, HTS Teologiese Studies/Theological Studies 77(1), a6637. https://doi.org/10.4102/hts.v77i1.6637

Note: Special Collection: Faith Seeking Understanding, sub-edited by Seyed Mehdi Mousavi (Payame Noor University, Tehran, Iran) and the Dean’s Office of the Faculty of Theology and Religion of the University of Pretoria.

Original Research

The role of Islamic lifestyle on social security in Russia

Tatyana N. Ivanova, Natalya A. Yushchenkо, Aygul Z. Ibatova, Akbar Bahmani

Received: 22 Mar. 2021; Accepted: 09 July 2021; Published: 19 Nov. 2021

Copyright: © 2021. The Author(s). Licensee: AOSIS.
This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Abstract

Despite the historical realm of security, this concept has been proposed as a social issue only in the modern era and has been tried to be studied empirically. In fact, Islam has considered social security as an important principle in human life and has made other issues dependent on social security. Therefore, the most important issue of urbanisation is social security. Those who commit social offences often do not have a positive view of their society and sometimes of the whole creation and regard social systems and sometimes the universe unhealthy and deviating. In addition, they think that they cannot obtain their true right in an acceptable and natural routine. Islam, along with warning and fear, which can eliminate the root and origin of sin and deviation, has emphasised and encouraged the heavenly reward and worldly happiness. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine the role of Islamic lifestyle in social security in Volga Region in Russia. Hence, 10 000 citizens were selected as the statistical population by simple random sampling method. The data have been analysed by Linear Structural Relations (LISREL) software. The participants’ opinions indicated that the Islamic lifestyle plays a significant role in improving social security (P = 0.756; T = 12.453). Therefore, by implementing Islamic teachings in their lives, one will not only have a balanced and meaningful personal life but also security, order and participation will establish social life and society.

Contribution: This article contributes to the role of Islamic lifestyle in social security in Volga Region in Russia.

Keywords: religion; Islam; Islamic lifestyle; social security; Russia.

Introduction

Islamic lifestyle refers to a set of issues accepted by Islam in the field of life, according to which the standard of human behaviour should be based on Islam and Islamic teachings. The concept of lifestyle is one of the philosophies of the social sciences, which has recently received much attention. Humans have tried for thousands of years to know and manage their way of life and even governments strive to influence the lifestyle of their people but defining and conceptualising lifestyles are relatively new topics. Lifestyle means a specific way of life of an individual, group or community. Lifestyles embrace a set of values, behaviours, moods and tastes in each subject and can refer to the interests, opinions, behaviours and behavioural orientations of an individual, group or culture. People’s lifestyles and the path they choose for themselves are deeply related to their success in life. In fact, lifestyles are patterns of action that differentiate people. Lifestyles help us understand what people do and why and what they mean to them and others (Estagi et al. 2006). In other words, the term lifestyle is a complete reflection of social values, attitudes and activities. In the psychological, sociological and medical sciences, which study lifestyles, they study the individual’s behaviours objectively rather than in terms of cognitions and emotions as mental structures (Rohrer, Pierce & Blackburn 2005), but the Islamic lifestyle is somewhat different because it is a style, which deals with behaviour, and it has no direct connection with cognitions and emotions and it cannot be indifferent to intentions because it is Islamic. Paying attention to lifestyle is one of the issues that have been raised and gained significance in recent years. Lifestyle and especially Islamic lifestyle has been considered by researchers and professors and numerous researches on this subject have been conducted so far. For Islamic societies, which have made the realisation of religious life one of their goals, the content reform of lifestyle categories alone cannot have the desired outcome, but new categories need to be redefined for lifestyle because if we take the religious view as a principle, consumption and diversity will lose their value. The main matters of life, which play a pivotal role and with which all the components of life are regulated are very different from the categories dealt with as the main matters of lifestyle today.

According to the Qur’an, absolute security is a desirable goal that human beings naturally strive to achieve. Among these, providing social security is one of the most important types of security that has always been considered by human beings, communities and leaders because a society grows and flourishes economically and comfortably wherein social security is ensured. Moreover, when social security is provided, the rights of the people and citizens of the society are not naturally violated and the social classes do not oppress each other. In this case, society even enjoys security such as economic security. Every human being seeks security, including social security, in order to achieve comfort and peace and to experience happiness and bliss. Hence, Prophet Yusuf promises his family that ‘God willing’ they will be safe in Egypt (Surah Yusuf, Ayat 99). He considers taking refuge in a place as a condition of providing security because man instinctively wants security and considers it the most important issue. Therefore, he answers the natural question of the family and says that if God wills, this important issue will be provided in Egypt and you will live there in lasting security. Emphasis on sustainable security is because of the fact that cross-sectional and unstable security is not desirable for human beings. Therefore, all efforts are made to achieve lasting security. Given the importance of the issue, the present study was conducted to investigate the role of Islamic lifestyle on social security in Russia in 2020.

Characteristics of religious lifestyle

Given some religious minimums, some speculations can be made about some features, dimensions and components of a religious life. Religious life follows a grand plan of behaviour according to which all life is a movement to draw closer to God; this programme, of course, is a dynamic programme and therefore constantly needs to be modified; hence, thinking about how and why this programme and setting its general form requires direct attention. Although there is no title about the totality of life and its movement in the categories of the common lifestyle, here the totality of moving towards the destination and setting a dynamic plan requires time and attention, and it is necessary to open a chapter in life for this issue. Self-conditioning, meditation, calculation and spending time to achieve self-awareness of one’s present and position can be considered as part of this category that is directly addressed, although this totality dominates other components, parts and dimensions (Fathi Ashtiani & Jafari Kandovan 2010). The general movement and the behavioural plan correspond to the times, and it is very important to pay attention to the characteristics of the times. In fact, the daily, weekly, monthly and annual programme of religious life is performed on the basis of times with its own characteristics. Every hour of the day, every day of the week and month and every month of the year and every stage of age, man has special characteristics, which are commensurate with a part of man’s movement and activity. For example, one cannot talk about the daily routine of life without mentioning dawn and zodiacal light, because dawn and zodiacal light determine the fate of other human hours during the day. A very important part of the religious life that is addressed in the behavioural programme is to pay attention to one’s moral characteristics. The basic level is the ability to control behaviours based on criteria, and the other level is dedicated to evaluating and changing moral, psychological or spiritual characteristics. In fact, one of the pillars of religious life is that man constantly, with a lot of time, attention and effort, tries to destroy some characteristics and create other characteristics. Instead, the precedence and latency of these traits are discussed in terms of existence and in terms of reform (Aghili & Venkatesh Kumar 2008).

Although thinking should flow throughout life, a specific chapter in life needs to be opened for it and a specific time should be devoted to it. Thinking about creation, divine blessings, divine attributes, resurrection, death, etc. requires opening a chapter in life called thinking as a voluntary action. Time must be devoted to it and a plan must be made for it. In religious life, practice is clearly relevant to some ‘memories’. There are teachings in religion in which thinking and contemplation are an important part of human life. The Islamic way of life refers to a set of accepted issues of Islam in the field of life, according to which the standard of our behaviour should be based on Islam and Islamic teachings. God-centeredness and the rule of Islamic values in life are among the most important criteria of the lifestyle approved by Islam. In fact, the individual and social life of people in this lifestyle should be based on Islam and the guidelines of Qur’an. Islam, with its eternal rules, has proposed an idealistic and at the same time realistic style, which is based on a transcendent view of existence and man, and introduces man as a responsible and autonomous being whose destiny is decided by him. In this lifestyle, the goal of religious teachings is to get rid of the non-Islamic lifestyle and achieve a good life, so that faith, righteousness and living a good life are the basic criteria of the Islamic lifestyle. In this lifestyle, man naturally finds the model that has the most harmony to achieve nearness to God, which is desirable in his personal and social life and sees closeness and reaching God as his ultimate goal. Hence, he puts all aspects of his life, from prayer and worship to business, education, recreation, socialising, health, food, architecture, art, speaking, production, consumption, physical appearance and others on the path to this goal. The Islamic way of life is based on the three axes of beliefs, ethics and practical duties (worship), but beliefs mean faith and belief in monotheism (Tawhid), prophecy and resurrection (Akhirah).

These three principles form the foundation of Islam. Ethics means that a Muslim must construct his inner and psychological characteristics in such a way that the concept is in harmony with the whole system. Perhaps the strongest interpretation of the Qur’an in this regard is piety, which can be interpreted as ‘fear with respect for God’. The next point is practical duties and worship. As Tawhid is the main message of Islam, and one of its stages is Tawhid in worship, after heartfelt acceptance and verbal confession of the above principles, the practice of the pillars should be considered as a complement to the existence. Worship or practical duties constitute an important part of the set of actions and behaviours (Salmabadi et al. 2015).

Accordingly, Islamic teachings cover all the duties of life and the related lifestyle is the ideal one in accordance with the nature of humanity. Finally, it can be said that the Islamic lifestyle is comprehensive and involves various components, including the social component, the devotional component of the beliefs in ontological concepts, the moral component, the material component, the thinking and science component, so that definitions have been given for each. For example, the social component refers to the tasks that a person performs in relation to others, beyond himself and his nuclear family. Worship components refer to the duties that show the relationship between the individual and God as Abdullah and Mola and include specific acts of worship, such as prayer, fasting, recitation of the Qur’an, recommended dhikrs, Hajj, etc., and behaviours that are not officially called worship, but one does it with the intention of obeying God. Another component is belief in ontological, anthropological, theological concepts; this component also indicates that they are internalised in the person and are present in his emotional and cognitive lower layers and play a decisive role in behaviours, consciously or unconsciously (Kaviani 2011).

Social security and justice guarantee the survival of society

The revelatory teachings of the Qur’an emphasise that disbelief and polytheism are examples of oppression, but also great oppression (Surah Loqman, Ayat 13). However, if there is justice and social security in a society, that society will naturally remain stable and on the path to growth of comfort and well-being. Hence, infidel societies such as the tribes of ʿĀd and Thamud, in spite of their blasphemous beliefs, were able to remain in rank and level not only because of the observance of justice and social security but also to achieve economic growth and prosperity. In verses 15–18 of Surah Saba, God reports that the people of Sheba kingdom enjoyed complete social security and that was the reason for their prosperity and economic progress. Verses 141 and 146 of Surah Ash-Shu’ara also mention the existence of social security among the people of Thamud and consider it as the cause of prosperity and economic well-being of the society and the survival of that society until a certain time. If a society lacks social security and justice that society will not be able to be sustainable and will disintegrate with an internal crisis.

According to the Qur’an, the management and leadership of society must predispose the realisation of all kinds of security, including social security. Social security must be provided through the implementation of just laws, so political security must be provided through the repulsion of enemies, aggressors and oppressors.

The Qur’an refers to the Gog and Magog as a people who threatened political and social security through oppression and aggression against other communities. Security threat means a fundamental threat and corruption on earth, because the lack of security means the lack of the necessary basis for the performance of the divine caliphate of man in the form of the development of the earth (Surah Hud, Ayat 61). When there is no security, it is impossible to carry out activities in the direction of land development and even the existing structures and settlements are destroyed. Thus, such behaviour is considered ‘corruption on earth’ according to the Qur’an, and individuals and societies that behave in this way will be recognised as ‘corruptors on earth’ and will be doomed because these individuals or communities have destroyed the blessing of security that has been bestowed by God on human beings (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayat 94–98). In other words, security, which is a symbol of divine mercy, is destroyed by the behaviour of individuals or society. Therefore, such people should be punished as the destructive agent of divine mercy and as corruptors on earth. However, the elimination of various security threats must be performed according to the circumstances and the relationship. Therefore, no mere procedure is used to eliminate these factors; instead, a hardware or software security wall is sometimes needed to provide security. For example, a society that is unable to eliminate the threat altogether and cannot remove the threatening society can build a hardware and software defense wall to ensure its political and military security. As a result of this inability, the strategy of creating a defensive wall against Gog and Magog was implemented because it was not possible to destroy these aggressors (Surah Al-Kahf, Ayat 94–98).

According to the verses of the Qur’an and Islamic hadiths, the most important dangers that threaten the security of human society are oppression and injustice, political and social divisions and disputes, violation of the rights of others and ingratitude for divine blessings. These are intra-social factors. This would mean that social security has a complex structure that cannot be achieved by providing only one or more sectors. In addition, governments must recognise that the social security of society cannot be achieved solely by relying on intelligence and military power and external security. Governments who want their society to be completely secure should try to reduce internal and external differences, spread justice and encourage people to be thankful for divine blessings because the less differences and violations of the rights of others and the more gratitude for divine blessings, the more secure and peaceful the society will be. Social security must be provided not only for the people with a common goal but also for all citizens, that is, those who are intellectually and practically with the government and the political system and those who are intellectually and behaviorally opposed to the government and the political system but do not make an elimination move. Therefore, everyone living in the society should enjoy social security as long as there is no violent behaviour and elimination movement and no threat to the political system. Therefore, Prophet Ibrahim (AS) in the form of prayer pays attention to the fact that providing social security is not only within the people but also within the framework of citizenship. Prophet Ibrahim prayed for social security in Mecca, even for the disbelievers, to show that the provision of social security must be comprehensive and unrestricted (Surah Al-Baqarah, Ayat 126). The reason for our claim is that although Prophet Ibrahim (AS) has assigned the benefits to the believers but he has brought absolute security of Mecca. According to this distinction by Prophet Ibrahim (AS), it can be concluded that he wanted the security of Mecca for everyone and even for the infidels. However, social security is even for the infidels in a situation where they do not have destructive and corrupt activities and conspiracies and elimination movements against the political system.

The role of people in establishing social security

It should be observed that social security opens up the field of behaviour between people and among citizens’ relations with each other. Although some have generalised it to the way people treat the government or the way government treat the people, it seems that the part that explains the area of citizens’ relationship with the government and the government’s relationship with citizens is the area of political security, which has two parts: external and internal. Social security in the form of inter-citizen relations must be provided in such a way that no citizen should infringe, distort or disrupt the rights of other citizens in social relations, but each should be able to experience living in peace and security within the framework of citizen security. If people behave in a society that violates the law and do not respect each other’s citizenship rights, such a society will face a crisis of social insecurity and its citizens will lose their sense of security. In addition to the role of the government to ensure social security as a legislator and provider of security, more attention should be paid to the role of people and citizens in creating and maintaining social security because it is the citizens who are in fact the founders and guardians of social security. Direct and indirect socialisation education plays a key role in ensuring social security in human societies. Therefore, children, adolescents and young people must be taught that they must respect the citizenship rights of others as they demand their citizenship rights. Life, dignity and honour security are in the context of social security. Hence, society must be such that a person is in complete safety and no one is threatened with death; at the same time, moral security must be provided in that society and the honour and dignity of individuals must not be threatened (Asmaddy & Rusmawati 2012).

If the situation in a society is such that the dignity of individuals is endangered or people are threatened with kidnapping and violent behaviour that society lacks social security. The government should try to ensure social security by using tools and facilities, including law enforcement and not allow citizens or their dignity to be endangered.

According to the Qur’an, social security in the form of dignity, moral and life security is very important and fundamental. Therefore, in describing the security of Mecca, the Qur’an refers to the social security of the citizens of Mecca and with the rule of ‘things are known by their opposites’ pays attention to the lack of security outside Mecca and the existence of security in Mecca (Surah Al-‘Ankabut, Ayat 67).

In verse 26 of Surah Al-Anfal, God pays attention to the value of life security and its provision and considers it a divine blessing and worthy of gratitude and asks people to always be thankful for the blessing of life security that God has provided for them. Social security must be provided in the city and at home, so that the citizen feels safe in his city and home and is not afraid of rape, loot and murder. According to the Qur’an, maintaining the security of others’ homes is in the best interest of all (Surah An-Nur, Ayat 27) and individuals should strive to provide this security for all. However, this security deserves to be provided especially by the citizens for those who leave their homes for work and jihad reasons and the like, not to put economic activists, businessmen and Mujahideen in a tight spot by creating an insecure environment in the home environment, so that they cannot travel and jihad for fear of home insecurity. God Himself has guaranteed the security of the believers’ homes (Surah Al-Ahzab, Ayat 13). However, citizens must act on their social responsibility, and they must not disrupt security with inappropriate behaviour. In this regard, God emphasises in verse 27 of Surah An-Nur the need to avoid depriving the security of others’ homes by entering suddenly and without permission and greetings to ensure the security of citizens in the home and family environment. In other words, every citizen must act in a way that does not deprive the security of the home environment. Ogling through the window of a building, entering without permission and sudden entry and the like, which deprives security, should be avoided by citizens. In fact, what is said is an example; otherwise the main purpose is to provide security in any form and to avoid all factors of deprivation of security from the environment of homes.

Road safety is also defined in the structure of social security. In other words, the police force is responsible for ensuring the security of the roads so that the property, lives and dignity of the people are not looted and destroyed by the thieves (Surah Saba, Ayat 15–18; Surah Al-A’raf, Ayat 85–86). Road safety provides not only social security but also economic security.

The security of holy places and the holding of religious ceremonies and rituals also make sense in the structure of social security. If the security of religious places and the organisers of rituals are ensured, it can be said that social security is fully provided (Surah Al-Baqarah, Verses 191, 195; Surah Al-Ma’idah, Verses 2; Surah Saba, Verses 15–18; Surah Al-Qasas, Verses 57). It is also clear from these verses that providing social security leads to the growth and prosperity of tourism, science and knowledge, cultural exchanges and the like. Therefore, social security cannot be considered in a closed framework. According to the theoretical foundations of the research, the following hypothesis is proposed:

H: Islamic life style has positive role on social security in Russia.

Research method

The present study is applied in terms of purpose and descriptive-correlational in terms of data collection method. In other words, this research is practical because it was performed in line with the practice and needs of society. This study is also in the field of descriptive studies because it examines the current situation and because it evaluates the role of Islamic lifestyle on social security in the Volga Region of Russia, it is of correlation and field type. The statistical population in this study included 10 000 Muslim citizens of Volga Region in 2020, who were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using 20 questions from the Islamic Lifestyle Questionnaire proposed by Kaviani (2011) and the 11-item Social Security Questionnaire by Gilbert et al. (2009). After distributing the questionnaires, 9612 questionnaires were completed correctly. The descriptive information of the statistical population is as follows: 100% of the selected individuals are Muslims; 5610 are men and 4002 are women; 7978 people are married and 1634 people are single and 15% were under 30 years old, 48% were between 45 and 30 years old and 37% were over 45 years old. The mean score of Islamic lifestyles in the study population was 4.124 out of 5, and the mean score of social security perceived by the statistical community was estimated to be 4.318 out of 5. To measure the reliability of the questionnaires, composite reliability was used, the coefficient of which was 0.840 for the Islamic lifestyle questionnaire and 0.847 for the social security questionnaire; the values above 0.7 are approved. The validity of the questionnaires was also confirmed by some university professors in this field.

Results

Data collected through questionnaires were analysed using Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS) and LISREL software. Kolmogorov–Smirnov test was performed to examine the normal distribution of data. If the test statistic is greater than or equal to 0.05, then there is no reason to reject the null hypothesis that the data are normal; in other words, the data distribution will be normal (Table 1).

TABLE 1: Results of Kolmogorov–Smirnov test.

Figure 1 shows the results of the LISREL output model and Table 2 presents the results of the research hypothesis test. As the P is greater than 1, there is a positive relationship between the variables and because the T is greater than 1.96, this relationship is significant.

FIGURE 1: LISREL output model.

TABLE 2: Hypothesis test.

Discussion

The present study was conducted to investigate the role of Islamic lifestyle on social security in Russia. According to the results of our study, the citizens surveyed in Russia enjoy an acceptable level of Islamic lifestyle (Mean = 4.124) and consequently enjoy an appropriate level of social security (Mean = 4.318). Importantly, this study concluded that many Islamic teachings are related to social security and it became clear that one of the blessings of religious faith is the security of the believer or society. Many of the moral precepts and recommendations of religion, such as good mood, kindness, optimism, etc., can be evaluated in this regard. The religious government is obliged to provide security in one of its main axes in its planning and to spare no effort to achieve it. Religious teachings as a comprehensive tool of human guidance in many cases govern the beliefs, values and norms necessary to guide and model human behaviour and action. In fact, not limiting religion to a specific time, understanding, believing in cultural evolution and participating human will in it and correctly explaining the relationship between varied culture and fixed religion lead us to the view that religion and its revelatory teachings can form an important part of the origins of human culture. Thus, in a longitudinal relationship, religion shapes the culture of society and culture in turn defines a particular system and structure for individual and social life. It should be noticed that lifestyle also helps to develop and influence the epistemological system based on religious teachings and completes the desires and preferences arising from religious culture.

Conclusion

Security is an important and vital issue for the survival of human beings in any society. Meanwhile, a society that relies on God and its people believe in God and obey the commands of God will never suffer from social disorders. This increases the bond of hearts, the closeness between members of society, and their unity, thereby doubling the trust and belief in each other; in such a situation, when a person steps into society, he will not be worried and anxious about the consequences of surrounding factors. Therefore, Islamic lifestyle not only provides worldly and other-worldly happiness but also causes individual and social security of the society in the age of development and gives dynamism to the society. As a result, a society that has embraced Islam and adhered to the Islamic lifestyle will enjoy high social security. As the findings of the present study showed, the Islamic lifestyle with a coefficient of 0.756 has a positive and significant relationship with social security among 10 000 Russians.

Acknowledgements

Competing interests

The authors declare that they have no financial or personal relationships that may have inappropriately influenced them in writing this article.

Authors’ contributions

T.N.I., N.A.Y., A.Z.I. and A.B. contributed to the design and implementation of the research, to the analysis of the results and to the writing of the manuscript.

Ethical considerations

This article followed all ethical standards for research without direct contact with human or animal subjects.

Funding information

This research received no specific grant from any funding agency in the public, commercial or not-for-profit sectors.

Data availability

Data sharing is not applicable to this article as no new data were created or analysed in this study.

Disclaimer

The views and opinions expressed in this article are those of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the official policy or position of any affiliated agency of the authors.

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