Religiosity and holistic development in Muslim societies : a case study of South Kalimantan, Indonesia

Abstract

The discourse concerning the role of religion in development has revealed two contrasting views among scholars. Some emphasize that religion has a positive relationship with development while others assume it as an impediment to development. In Islamic perspective, religion functions as the driving force for development and plays a significant role for human life. The Qur’an (al-A’raf: 96) pronounces that the faith and piety to Allah (Islamic religiosity) would bring about development for the society. However, so far there is always an issue regarding the measurement of religiosity and development. Religiosity in most literature is measured using the Christian perspective and conducted at a macro level and as cross-country analysis, while studies at a micro level are rare. Similarly, the measurement of development has also experienced some changes from using purely economic indicators to socioeconomic indicators and other indicators. As far as the relationship between religiosity and development is concerned, there is a lack of studies on Muslim societies compared to other religious counterparts. Moreover, the specific concept of religion in Islam as a multifaceted religion that is different from other religions makes such a study more attractive to be conducted. Thus, the purpose of this study is to investigate how religiosity is related to development with the focus on the Muslim society of South Kalimantan, Indonesia. The society seems to have a contradictory situation. In one hand, it is considered as highly religious, but on the other hand, it experiences unfavourable level of development seen from conventional measurement particularly the Human Development Index (HDI). The objectives of this study are as follows: (1) to assess the level and dimensions of Islamic religiosity of South Kalimantan society; (2) to explore the relationship between the Islamic religiosity of South Kalimantan society and their level of development viewed from the conventional perspective; and (3) to examine the relationship between the Islamic religiosity of South Kalimantan society and their level of development seen from the Maqasid al-Shari’ah perspective. Maqasid al-Shari’ah is the basis upon which the Islamic measurement of development was constructed. This study uses primary data collection by means of a survey on South Kalimantan province. The data is then analyzed using principal component analysis and confirmatory factor analysis. Subsequently, structural equation modeling and t-test are employed for testing the hypotheses. The findings of this study show that the Muslim society in this province has a high level of religiosity and their religiosity is positively related to development as measured both from the conventional and Islamic perspectives. Nevertheless, the correlation coefficient between religiosity and development from an Islamic perspective is higher than the conventional suggesting the use of a more comprehensive Islamic measurement can provide better support in showing a stronger relationship between religiosity and development. Finally, this study proposes recommendations for policymakers to further enhance the level of religiosity in the society and to take a greater advantage from it towards improving the level of development in all areas of development.