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Abstract—Anxiety is form of psychological condition that can
cause serious harm to human mind and overall well being.
Today’s stressful and highly demanding work setting has
intensified the pressure and expectations felt by the
professionals in Malaysia. The intensity of stress may affect
general safety, health and even lifestyles or relationships of a
normally working persons. There are some people who turn to
God and religion as alternative to heal or cope with their
psychological discomfort. Thus, this study was conducted to
discuss the level of anxiety and other psychological discomforts
experienced by group of Muslim working people in several
sectors and examined how God consciousness and religiosity
could influence as a mechanism to control their anxiety. The
data was collected through random sampling of 38 working
citizens of Malaysia from several working sectors. This study
utilised two main instruments to measure the outcome: first,
‘Depression, Anxiety and Stress scale’ or ‘DASS’ to gauge the
level of anxiety and ‘Brief Religious Coping’ (BRCOPE) to
investigate religious coping performed by respondents in
dealing with their anxiety.
Index Terms—Anxiety, stress, religious act, God
consciousness.
I. INTRODUCTION
Anxiety and fear are basic human emotions that can be
seen as normal internal or external reactions in dealing with
stressor that were deemed crucial for survival of the species
[1]. Anxiety can be explained as the feeling of lack of control
related to future of things that are uncertain, which may lead
to negative results [2]. According to Diagnostic and
Statistical Manual of Mental Illness (DSM IV), anxiety is a
feeling that is illogical but the person who experienced it felt
unable to control their worries [3]. When the feelings of
illogical fear become so overwhelmed, it may escalate which
leads to anxiety disorder [4]
In Islamic point of view, anxiety is considered as spiritual
disease which develops from unhealthy spiritual beliefs
deep-rooted in the human heart [5]. Al-Ghazali, a prominent
Islamic figure in spiritual field has characterized anxiety as
Manuscript received July 15, 2013; revised October 5, 2013. This work
was supported in part by the Ministry of Higher Education of Malaysia under
Grant LRGS USIM/LRGS (UUM)/FKP/ULUM/34/50112. The Influence of
God Consciousness and Religiosity in coping with Anxiety at Workplace
among Malaysian Muslim Professionals.
Husni Mohd Radzi, Sapora Sipon, and Khatijah Othman are with the
Faculties of Leadership and management, Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia,
Bandar Baru Nilai, 71700, Negeri Sembilan (e-mail: husnimr@gmail.com,
sapora@usim.edu.my, khatijahothman@usim.edu.my).
Lilie Zahara Ramly is with the Universiti Tenaga Nasional, KM 7 Jalan
Ikram-UNITEN, 43000, Kajang, Selangor (e-mail: lilie@uniten.edu.my).
„fear towards certain things which leads to restlessness and
frustrated feelings‟ [6]. Fear towards inevitable
environmental factors such as old age, poverty, losing status
quo and job can sometimes lead a person to experience
breakdown and lose their self-esteem. The pressure of
dealing with life issues such as divorce, death of loved ones,
health and financial problems can be very stressful that it
eventually leads to anxiety [7]. It is common that many
people cope with their anxiety by consumption of alcohol and
other substances or recreational drugs which quickly lead
them into severe problem which may have long term effects,
such as addiction. The problem may then affect their
functioning and relationship with family, friends and at the
workplace.
The Islamic faith believes that anxiety is developed within
a person‟s spiritual and psychological outlooks, which
includes the weakness in asserting control through one‟s
heart and mind, faith or believe system attached with the
influence of worldly or narcissistic desires [8], [9]. Being in
this state has opened the door to Satan‟s domination over the
human spirits as a result of diminishing religious beliefs and
insufficient submissions to Allah SWT [10]. Therefore in the
Islamic point of view, a person who succumbed to worldly
temptations or narcissistic desires indicates lacking in self
control and poor attachment to the spiritual aspects or
religious practices and faith.
II. ANXIETY EFFECT AND TREATMENT
A. The Effects of Anxiety
In dealing with the demands of life, anxiety may interferes
with daily functioning of an individual by reducing focus in
thinking, causing inability to sleep and eat, unstable emotions
and fatigue [2]. Psychologically anxious person would feel
constant worries, feeling upset and fearful without any real
reason to the extent of staring blankly, crying or losing their
self-esteem [5]. Person afflicted with anxiety and other
related mental health problem may exhibit decreased
perception of their own self-worth [11]. This can lead to
another serious psychological disturbance which is
depression [12]. Depression is serious psychological
disturbances that have caused millions of suicides cases
every year [13].
B. Treatment of Anxiety
In collective Western perspectives, anxiety is commonly
treatable through psychotherapy, pharmacology and
sometimes, a combination of both [14]. Drugs such as
Husni Mohd Radzi, Lilie Zahara Ramly, Sapora Sipon, and Khatijah Othman
The Influence of God Consciousness and Religiosity in
Coping with Anxiety at Workplace among Malaysian
Muslim Professionals
International
Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 4, No. 4, July 2014
316
DOI: 10.7763/IJSSH.2014.V4.371
Buspirone, Benzodiazepine and Imipramine to name a few,
are meant to calm the patient by acting as antidepressant
agent. These drugs however may cause side effects such as
constipation and unstable mind [15]-[17]. „Cognitive
Behavioural Therapy‟ (CBT) is the most commonly used
therapy to help patients suffering from anxiety [18] The
effectiveness of CBT however has been debated till today
because it does produce positive results but patient are not
entirely healed [19], [20]. According to Malik Badri [21],
patients who undergo western psychotherapy treatment
would feel less painful but the depression, anxiety and guilt
would remain.
C. Treatment in Islam
Muslim scholars and moralists such as Miskawayh (1030
AD), Al-Tusi (1274 AD) and Al-Ghazali (1111 AD) had long
acknowledged that health is about maintaining balance
between the human body and the human soul. If the soul is
weak, it needed treatment and attention just like the physical
body and thus therapy and counselling type of treatment are
required [22]. Al-Razi (925 AD) in his book „El-Mansuri‟
and “Al-Tibb Al-Ruhani‟ suggested that a physician or
medical practitioner must be knowledgeable in matters
pertaining to mental and body health in achieving total well
being and complete health for the patient during treatment
[23]. Ibnu Sina in his book „As-Syifa‟ had strongly
emphasized about the importance of cleanliness and the
purification of the soul which is the key to happiness. By
working towards purification of one‟s soul, all mental
diseases will go away [24].
The Islamic teaching believed that healing can only begin
by devoting strong faith in Allah S.W.T. Having strong faith
or „tawakkal‟ in Allah may have tremendous power that can
prevent any psychological disease from invading human
mind and soul. When a person has submitted his or her self to
Allah, the person would gain Allah‟s blessing and peace of
mind and soul can be achieved [25]. „Solat‟ or prayer is also
an effective known way to treat anxiety. By performing
„solat‟ it will purify the heart and calming the soul. It also
teaches discipline and patience [26]. „Solat‟ also is believed
to be able to generate the feeling of compassion, spirituality
and God consciousness [27]. „Solat‟ also can cure anxiety
because it promotes endurance, contentment and
perseverance that will be useful when the person facing
difficulty in life [28].
Beside solat, „zikir‟ (chanting the name of Allah) is
thought to help clean and protect human heart from the devil.
Through zikir, human mind is directed towards remembrance
of Allah and towards all positive elements in life; hence
anxiety is reduced [29]. Combining „solat‟ and „zikir‟ will
activate the mind and open human hearts reaching for
peacefulness. It also strengthens a person‟s relationship with
Allah SWT that in return will release all the fear and anxiety
from the person‟s mind [30].
III. RELIGIOUS COPING
Religious ritual such as prayers, meditation and reading
sacred text are reported to lower anxiety and depression and
reduction in the consequences of stressful life event [31]. The
use of spirituality and religiosity practice in the form of
adaptive manner can be helpful to individual who have series
of psychological distress [32]. Thus, person who utilizes any
religious act such as praying or reading sacred text to address
the anxiety is known as religious coping [33].
Krauss [34] posited that Islam is a religion that denotes a
comprehensive religious way of life. Ad-Din in Islam implies
the sanctification of all daily living into worshipful acts that
unify life consistent with „tawahidic‟ principles (oneness of
Allah) of the divine unity. Al-Quran 4: 125.
Who is better in religion than he who surrendereth his
purpose to Allah while doing good (to men) and followeth
the tradition of Abraham, the upright? Allah (Himself) chose
Abraham for friend. (125).
The Islamic teaching and practice or Ad-Din should be
able to make Muslim maintain this dynamic and moving
forward. An ideal Muslim is progressing in their quest of
self-purification, self-perspective through worship, ongoing
acquisition of knowledge and performing selfless act.
Therefore, this study was designed to distinguish the level of
anxiety that can be altered or influenced by a person‟s
understanding and application of Islamic teaching and
worldview.
IV. METHODS
A. Sample
The study was done on two known working sectors,
private organization and government offices within Klang
Valley. The sampling procedure used was convenient
random sampling where a total of 38 participants answered
the survey distributed. The questionnaires were collected and
analyzed using descriptive and inferential measure. Criterion
for enrolment was being a working professional Muslim.
B. Instruments
The participants had to respond to two set of inventories.
The first survey used was „Brief religious Coping‟ (BRCOPE)
by Pargament [35]. The BRCOPE objective was to gauge the
religious coping used by respondents in managing anxiety.
The second instrument used was „Depression Anxiety and
Stress Scale‟ (DASS) by Lovibond & Lovibond [36] meant
to measure the severity of depression, anxiety and stress that
respondents have experienced in the past weeks. For this
study, only anxiety will be given attention to. The BRCOPE
emphasizes on sample‟s coping behavior during anxious
situations. The response showed will indicate the type of
coping behaviors that are frequently used or most effectively
used in managing anxiety. Using BRCOPE alone is not
sufficient in measuring the severity of the anxiety level. Thus,
DASS is used to determine the level of anxiety experienced
with the coping behavior used by the study sample.
V. RESULTS
A total of 38 respondents have participated in the study.
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 4, No. 4, July 2014
317
Male respondent were 17 (44.7%), while female participants
were 21 (55.3%). The respondents were further distinguished
by their working sectors being from the government sector
comprises of 20 respondents(52.6%), private sectors with 11
participants (28.6%), 3 respondents from NGO (10.5%) ,and
the rest were 4 respondents who were either self-employed or
on free-lance terms (10.5%).
The mean score for BRCOPE indicated male respondents t
(3.03) p<0.001, applied more religious coping than female t
(2.89) p<0.001. This finding was different from several
previous researches where female participants were reported
to have higher religious coping score [4]. However, this
coincided with the mean score for anxiety for male
respondents t (0.764) p<.001 which is slightly higher than
mean score for anxiety from female respondents t (0.700).
This result is different with previous studies where female
were reported to have higher anxiety levels compare to male
and higher religious coping applications [4], [5], [37].
Mean score for anxiety from working sector showed that
government officers had higher score t (0.821) p<0.001 while
private sector had lower anxiety mean score of t (0.506)
p<0.001. This result, again coincided with mean RCOPE
mean score which were also higher t (3.07) p<0.001 while
private sector had lower mean score of t (2.74) p<0.001. It is
however a relieving information where all of the
respondents‟ anxiety level falls in normal category only.
Pearson correlation indicates that there exists negative
relationship between religious coping and anxiety level. The
correlation point at r = -0.154 (p<0.001) is considered low
compared to the mean score obtained by both Muslim
professionals t (0.821, government sector) and t (0.506,
private sectors) in both genders (male 0.764, female 0.700).
This indicated that the higher the religious coping used by
respondents, the lower the anxiety level they are
experiencing.
VI. LIMITATIONS
The study however has several limitations. The first one is
the sample size of the study need to be widened to a bigger
number. Working sectors should also be broaden not only
from the two main sectors discussed earlier but other sectors
such as NGO, self employed and academic or services. The
findings obtained from the study also may only represent the
two sectors and gender in Klang Valley. The results in this
study may be different if the study includes all the different
regions in Malaysia.
The study also gathered its data using one method only
which is survey method. Future researcher may need to
combine with interview and observation as to gain more in
depth and thorough understanding about the concept and
application of god consciousness and religious coping among
Muslim people in Malaysia and maybe other Muslim
countries as well.
VII. DISCUSSION AND SUGGESTIONS
Government officer were reported to have higher anxiety
because their fear of being taken action by immediate
superior. They applied religious coping also as a result of
complying with the code of conduct of the ministry [38]. The
security of job, post and ranking were crucial in
government‟s officer‟s thought. The ideas of being
transferred, demoted or fired were barely acceptable and it
can affect a person‟s dignity throughout their service (The 12
Pillars, Institute of Malaysian National Governance (INTAN)
[39].
The private sector had being aware and learned to adapt to
the uncertainties and challenges. Thus, they will use their
skills to survive the corporate world. They have low religious
coping practice because they behaviour in and outside work
setting were not bound under formal code of practice as the
government officers. Changing and quitting from job is
another way of climbing the corporate ladder in private sector.
In government, seniority is more important in determining
one‟s fate.
Thus, from this study alone it can be said that there exists
negative relationship between anxiety levels with religious
coping. The result indicated that the higher the religious
coping the lower the anxiety level experienced. This showed
that religious coping have major influence on respondents‟
anxiety level. New finding suggested that male respondents
were having higher anxiety levels compared to female. The
higher anxiety levels experienced by government officer
compared to the non-government professionals also indicated
the uniqueness of the research‟s result. Therefore, future
studies need to investigate this area to explain and elaborate
on this factor further more.
Attaining God Consciousness as Religious Coping
In Islam, god consciousness is known as „taqwa‟ from the
Arabic word of „Waqa yaqi, ittaqa yattaqi‟ which mean to
shield and to protect one self. „Taqwa‟ is a process where it
involves consistency, commitment and responsibility to be
fulfilled by a Muslim [40]. Stress and anxiety are viewed by
god fearing people as test and opportunity to improve and
become better Muslims. „Taqwa‟ promotes constance god
consciousness and fearing in every Muslim‟s mind. As a
result, Muslim will be careful in guarding their mind, thought,
behaviour and tongue from committing the forbidden (haram)
and disliked (makruh) behaviour that can weaken and pollute
the heart. By having a strong faith and fear of Allah, Muslim
will be blessed and protected by God from disease of the
heart such as anxiety, stress and depression.
„Taqwa‟ plays a large role in Islamic morals and ethics
because it is truly what makes people ethically aware of their
actions in relation to God. „Taqwa‟ gives people a reason to
do the right thing. The awareness of God's power makes
people want to please him, making „taqwa‟ a moral and
ethical base for their actions. Because of this construct,
„taqwa‟ is one of the "ideal ethical values" of the religion of
Islam [41]. Thus, „taqwa‟ is an effective religious coping
strategy for Muslim to manage stress and anxiety.
ACKNOWLEDGMENT
This study is done by LRGS Grant of USIM/LRGS
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 4, No. 4, July 2014
318
(UUM)/FKP/ULUM/34/50112.
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Husni Mohd Radzi is a postgraduate student from
Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia (USIM) Selangor ,
Malaysia. In 2011, she was awarded with M.Ed in
Guidance and Counseling from University Putra,
Malaysia. She is currently pursuing her PhD in
Counseling in Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia, Negeri
Sembilan Malaysia. She had several years experienced
as student counselor and teaches counseling and
psychology for undergraduates in Universiti Tenaga
Nasional, Selangor, Malaysia.
Lilie Zahara Ramly is a fulltime lecturer currently on
secondment basis at the International Office as
International Liaison Coordinator in UNITEN. She
was conferred Master of Education (TESL), from
Universiti Putra Malaysia in 2010. She has several
years‟ experience teaching in various education
backgrounds. A certified „Train of Trainers‟ instructor
and has consulted students from all walks of life,
conduct professional development courses for
multinational companies such as TNB and Sime Darby for professional
training in language, communication, management and soft-skills. Besides
being an academician and researcher, she also manages student mobility
programmes, as well as students‟ academic, co-curriculum, motivational
programmes as well as social community projects.
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 4, No. 4, July 2014
319
Sapora Sipon is a senior lecturer in USIM. She is an
active columnist in a local newspaper and participating
in numerous research, paper presentation and
conferences locally and internationally. She has
published several books related to her field of
counseling and psychology. She has won several
innovation and invention awards in her years with
USIM. She is currently the project leader for this
research grant under Ministry of Education.
Khatijah Othman
is a senior lecturer from USIM.
Before she joined academic world, she has a vast
experienced as a professional in finance industries.
She has published several books and numerous
academics papers related to her field of Islamic
finance and management which she has presented in
both international and local arena.
She is also
actively involved in several researches under
Ministry of Education.
International Journal of Social Science and Humanity, Vol. 4, No. 4, July 2014
320
