Various verses in the Quran have mentioned the factors of the Islamic lifestyle. In different places, Quran reminds us that human beings are responsible for each other. For instance, in a verse, we read: ‘And if they seek the help of you for the religion, then you must help’ (Surah Al-Anfal, Ayat 72). Another verse says: ‘The believers are but brothers’ (Surah Al-Hujurat, Ayat 10). Based on these verses, it seems that human beings have social responsibilities in life, such that community is considered a larger family for the person. Saying prayers positively affects life in this world and the hereafter. In a Quranic verse, we read: ‘Those who believe, and whose hearts find satisfaction in the remembrance of Allah’ (Surah Ar-Ra’d, Ayat 28). This shows that people can experience peace by remembering God, which can help them make better decisions. Another verse states:

In other words, self-knowledge and ontology can be used to identify one’s abilities and skills, and achieve success in life. In another verse, we read: ‘And do not walk on the earth arrogantly’ (Surah Al-Isra, Ayat 37). This means that man should be moral in life. The modern world has created bottlenecks for human beings despite releasing them from the restrictions of tradition. In order to have an identity among their fellowmen, human beings turn to phenomena such as fashion, style and lifestyles that would distinguish them from others (Malek Makan & Ali Akbari 2013). Lifestyle is one of the concepts that is used aplenty in today’s world. With a simple search, it is possible to show how general this concept is and in what wide context it is used. This wideness of concept and wide field of use has caused its real content to remain imprecise and unclear. Lifestyle is the part of life that is actually realised. It applies to the full range of activities that people do in their daily lives and features such as having a role model in their relationship (Estagi et al. 2006). In Islamic societies, since all sociological components are influenced by Islamic teachings, we see a lifestyle that is mixed with Islamic teachings. Taking into account this important issue, this study aims to evaluate the role of Islamic lifestyle in communication skills of Muslim couples in 2022.

Lifestyle means the specific way of life of an individual, group, or society; lifestyles include a set of values, ways of behaving, moods and tastes in anything, and can refer to the interests, opinions, behaviours and behavioural orientation of an individual, group or culture. People’s lifestyle and the path they choose for themselves has a deep connection with their success in life (Fazeli 2003). In fact, lifestyles are patterns of action that distinguish people from each other. Lifestyles help us understand what people do, why they do it, and what it means to them and others. In other words, lifestyle refers to people’s way of life and is a complete reflection of social values, attitudes and activities (Bani Amerian et al. 2015). In the sciences of psychology, sociology and medicine, which study lifestyle, rather than considering a person’s cognitions and emotions as mental constructs, they study a person’s behaviour objectively and visibly, but the Islamic lifestyle is somewhat different; because it is light, it deals with behaviour and is not directly related to cognitions and emotions, and because it is Islamic, it cannot be indifferent to intentions (Berzano 2011). With complete frankness, Quran introduces the lifestyle of the Prophet of Islam, as follows: ‘Indeed, in the Messenger of Allah you have an excellent example for whoever has hope in Allah and the Last Day, and remembers Allah often’ (Surah Al-Ahzab, Ayat 21). Therefore, it could be expressed that Islam and Islamic teachings have been mentioned in the form of Quranic verses and words and the behaviour of the beloved Prophet of Islam and the infallible leaders to guide people towards the desired perfection. It is clear that if a person does not choose their leader correctly in life, they will suffer deviation or wandering.

Religious life is under a grand plan of worshipful behaviour, based on which all life is a movement to get closer to God. Of course, this is a dynamic programme and therefore it needs to be constantly adjusted. For that reason, thinking about how and why this programme and adjusting its general form needs to be addressed directly. Therefore, we note that despite the fact that in the categories of common lifestyle, there is no topic about the whole life and its movement. Here, the whole movement towards the destination and setting its dynamic programme requires time and attention, and it is necessary to open a chapter in life for it. In the ideal religious life, all actions and situations can be called worship, but there is a more basic and fundamental part that is known as specific worship rituals. If the whole life of a believer is worship, these components form the pillars of this devotional life; therefore, it can be mentioned as an independent pillar in life, which is in the ranks of the most important and important things in life (Fazel Ghaneh 2013). Prayer, fasting, Hajj, pilgrimage, prayer, going to the mosque and participating in the ritual are examples of religious rituals that form an important chapter of life. A very important part of the religious life that is addressed in the worshipful behaviour programme is paying attention to one’s moral qualities. Its primary level is the ability to control behaviours based on rules, and its other level is dedicated to evaluating and changing moral, psychological or spiritual characteristics. In fact, one of the pillars of religious life is that a person constantly tries to destroy certain characteristics and create certain characteristics in himself by spending a lot of time, attention and energy (Tabibi & Afshari 2017).

Over the course of history, all humans have been trying to answer the question of what the purpose of life is and what must we do in life. It is also a mystery why this world and human beings have been created. These questions are asked to determine human beings’ goals and perfection. In other words, human nature must be determined so that we could choose a suitable lifestyle for human beings in this world. In fact, the lifestyle introduced by Islam to the people is based on monotheism, which is associated with safety and peace (Pour Amini 2013).

Although thinking should flow throughout life, it is necessary to open a specific chapter in life for it and dedicate a specific time to it. Thinking about creation, divine blessings, divine attributes, resurrection, death, etc., requires opening a chapter in life called thinking as a voluntary act. Time should be allocated to it and a plan should be made for it. In religious life, practice is obviously important for certain ‘rememberings’. There are teachings in religion that thinking and meditation on them are an important part of human life (Noor Mohammadi 2019). Lifestyle from the perspective of Islam refers to a set of issues accepted by Islam in the field of life, based on which, the standard of our behaviour should be based on Islam and Islamic teachings. God-centredness and the rule of Islamic values in life are among the most important lifestyle criteria approved by Islam. In fact, in this lifestyle, individual and social life of people should be based on Islam and Quranic guidelines. With its eternal rules, Islam has proposed an idealistic and at the same time realistic style, which is based on a transcendental attitude towards existence and man, and considers man as a responsible and independent being whose destiny is determined by his own hands. In this lifestyle, the goal of the religious teachings is to get rid of the non-Islamic lifestyle and achieve a good life, which is faith and righteous action, the basic criteria of the Islamic lifestyle and achieving a good life (Tabibi & Afshari 2017).

In this respect, an important issue mentioned in the family environment is couples’ communication skills. Effective communication with others is one of the most important skills in social life. This ability helps a person to be able to express himself verbally and non-verbally, and appropriate to the culture, society and situation. This means that a person can express his opinions, ideas, desires, needs and emotions, and can ask for help and guidance from others when needed. The skill of asking for help and guidance from others, when necessary, is one of the important factors of a healthy relationship. Despite the increased importance of attaining proper communication skills in today’s world, there are still many people who have failed to understand these skills and show no interest in learning them (Sillars et al. 2014). This has prevented these individuals from transferring their thoughts and ideas, and establishing proper communication with others, which ultimately results in the permanent closing of the door to their professional development. In order to create positive communication, it is crucial to receive others’ messages clearly, accurately and successfully (Shearman & Dumlao 2008). Communication skills are processes in which both the sender and receiver play a role in the transfer of a message and the proper establishment of communication. The process might be associated with several problems, one of the most prevalent of which is an inaccurate interpretation of the sender’s message by the receiver (Schrodt & Phillips 2016). In this situation, the receiver becomes confused, and the sender’s opportunity for communication is lost. In general, communication between two people is successful when the senders are able to get their message across and the receiver is able to receive a favourable result from the sent message by having sufficient knowledge of the sender. More simply put, communication skill is a process in which information is transferred from the sender to the receiver in such a way that the message is clear and understandable for both people (Schrodt, Ledbetter & Ohrt 2007). Furthermore, a lack of adequate ability to get a message across will result in communication failure and will negatively affect the personal and professional life of the person. In fact, communication skills are used by an individual to communicate in a way that positive behaviours could be generated in the receiver and negative reactions could be prevented (Parker, Haytko & Hermans 2009). The message must be properly selected and recognised in order to achieve communication skills. Moreover, it must be reviewed and the reaction of the audience must be assessed before sending the message. In addition, the audience must be recognised, based on which one must decide how to mention the message so that it could be understood by the audience accurately. To establish proper communication, the situation, cultural conditions, and environmental conditions that cover the conversation space must be assessed properly before sending the message (Schrodt, Witt & Messersmith 2008).

The growing increase in marital disputes and conflicts and the risk of separation of couples has caused family researchers to provide solutions in this area. These solutions can help couples strengthen their bond. In this regard, an important solution mentioned in scientific resources is equipping couples with communication skills. In fact, interpersonal communications are the primary basis for bonding with others (Orrego & Rodriguez 2001). While effective communications could lead to prosperity and improvement of the quality of life, ineffective communications prevent prosperity and peace of mind. It could be explicitly stated that interpersonal relationships are one of the basic aspects of human happiness. Meanwhile, communication made to increase peace in a marriage will be turned into an integral part of life, and will play a determining role in the marital life quality (Koerner & Fitzpatrick 2006). Concurrently, being equipped with communication skills will increase satisfaction and compatibility, whereas a lack of knowledge of these skills will result in misunderstandings, conflicts and tension in couples. An assessment of successful and failed marriages shows that communication is an important factor in distinguishing these two groups from each other (Horstman et al. 2018). A marriage is affected by multiple factors, some of which may lead to conflicts, emotional separation and even divorce. Therefore, couples can provide the highest levels of each other’s needs, such as the need for a sense of belonging, the need for respect and self-actualisation in the shadow of respect, and providing comfort to each other if they are equipped with communication skills and can utilise them in their marriage (Hesse et al. 2017). This can be justified with the help of the Islamic lifestyle. With this background in mind, the following research hypothesis was made: