Recent attention to eco-education and environmental education reveals a gap in comprehending the interconnection between religion, spirituality, and eco-education. This paper explores the intersection of Muslim spirituality and environmental education, highlighting interconnectivity, coexistence, and spirituality's role in understanding humanity's place, stewardship of natural resources, and regulation of ecological footprints. It delves into the cultivation of awareness, values, and attitudes for environmental preservation, exploring motivations, engagement, and skills vital for sustaining the learning process and promoting conservation. The study scrutinizes how Muslim spirituality shapes the core concepts and methodologies of eco-education, impacting global challenges like climate change and sustainability. It stresses the necessity of exploring environmentally focused educational programs guided by spiritual principles, urging an investigation into barriers hindering the translation of theoretical principles and frameworks into practical applications. The study calls for further exploration of strategies sustaining the symbiotic relationship between spirituality and evolving literature, as well as practical experiences in eco-education.

This study examines the concept and practice of scholarly writing among Muslim scholars, with a special reference to 'Abdul Rahman Ibn Khaldun (d.1406). The research draws on a textual analysis of Ibn Khaldun’s Muqaddimah and other early Muslim works regarding the craft of writing while addressing the broader, wider context of writing ethicality and its influence on social consciousness. This study discusses the worldview and ethics of writing, concepts, and terminologies, sources and objectives, investigation, and styles of presentation according. This research demonstrates that Ibn Khaldun’s writing methodology and style continue to stand as a prime example for scholarship in the social sciences and that his spiritual beliefs and value system served to further enhance the originality and rigor of his writing and conceptual schemes. Further inductive research conducted across a larger body of Muslim literature will bring about interesting insights on the relationship between spirituality and research writing, as well as the historical contribution of Muslim authors to the advancement of universal knowledge.

The Islamic spirituality permeating the practice of Muslim religious beliefs, values, and norms, is positioned to play a pivotal role in addiction prevention, treatment, rehabilitation therapy and recovery of Muslim addicts. This study seeks to explore potential interconnections between spirituality, addiction treatments, recovery, and the ways and means with which Islamic spirituality may assist addicts in coping with inner urges, relapse, and recovery. This study seeks to lay the groundwork for future theoretical and empirical research on spirituality and addiction, development of spirituality-based addiction programs, and the assessment of related current spiritual philosophies, methods, and strategies. This inquiry discusses spirituality as a source of meaning-making and purpose cultivation, self-discipline, motivation, support, reintegration, and related issues arising in these regards, and highlights the need for utilizing spirituality as a critical instrument in addiction treatment programs. Islamic spirituality however is neither – and should not be considered - a sole treatment scheme, nor does it appreciate absolute reliance on non-spiritual means of recovery in favor of positivistic empirical methods. [Spiritualitas Islam meresap ke pelbagai praktik keberagamaan, nilai dan norma, yang mana hal ini juga berperan penting pada pencegahan, pengobatan, terapi rehabilitasi dan pemulihan kecanduan pada umat muslim. Artikel ini mengeksplorasi potensi keterkaitan antara spiritualitas, penyembuhan kecanduan, pemulihan dan cara serta sarana spiritualitas Islam dalam membantu pecandu mengelola kondisi batin, ketika kambuh dan pemulihan. Studi ini berusaha meletakkan dasar bagi penelitian teoretis dan empiris dimasa depan tentang spiritualitas dan kecanduan, pengembangan program kecanduan berbasis spiritualitas, dan penilaian filosofi, metode, dan strategi spiritual terkait. Artikel ini membahas spiritualitas sebagai sumber pembentukan makna dan penggalian tujuan, disiplin diri, motivasi, dukungan, reintegrasi, dan isu-isu terkait yang timbul dalam hal ini, dan menyoroti kebutuhan untuk memanfaatkan spiritualitas sebagai instrumen penting dalam program perawatan kecanduan. Spiritualitas Islam bagaimanapun juga bukan–dan tidak boleh dianggap–satu-satunya skema pengobatan, tapi juga tidak tergantung mutlak pada sarana pemulihan non-spiritual yang mendukung metode empiris positivistik.]

Muslim life on the individual, family, and community levels continues to revolve around fundamental spiritual principles, themes, and values with corresponding meanings that impact purpose of life and even lifestyle. Muslim parents pursue ways and means to nurture their children’s spirituality, strengthen their moral resilience, and shape their identity as effective members of society. This theoretical study explores Islamic insights into spiritual parenting, addressing questions around what defines spiritual parenting and constitutes its core tenets, characteristics and approaches, and principles and guidelines used by Muslims to raise spiritual children. This study identifies a rich Islamic conceptualization and theoretical approach to holistic spiritual parenting that engages with modernity and allows room for adaptation, creativity, and intercultural experience. Further empirical research is needed to shed light on the current dynamics of Muslim spiritual parenting, parents’ struggles, accommodations, adaptations, as well as caregiver resistance in practices of spiritual parenting, which would help us better understand the needs and challenges facing Muslim families today and further enrich our understanding of comparative and cross-cultural parenting in multicultural societies.

The COVID-19 pandemic has been a global phenomenon defined by uncertainty, fear and grief which has resulted in record high levels of stress and anxiety in the first half of 2020. It also led to an increased interest in the study of the role of belief, religion, and spirituality as responses to coping with and responding to the pandemic throughout different societal domains. This study explores the impact of anxiety and stress caused by the pandemic on Muslim academics' subjective well-being. It also explores correlations between coping and spirituality by assessing Muslim academics' coping strategies in overcoming stress and anxiety. To this end, this study sampled 480 Muslim academics ages 25-60 years residing in Muslim countries. The findings show a negative yet significant correlation between anxiety and well-being while also showing a positive and significant correlation between coping strategies and subjective well-being. The research also points to the role of coping strategies in reducing anxiety and stress, the resulting improvements in well-being for Muslim academics, and the mediating effect of coping strategies between anxiety, stress, and well-being for Muslim academics.

Today, the COVID-19 pandemic has, among many other things, tested the resilience of higher education institutions, but profoundly reshaped the management of learning, education and skills development, leading to a rethinking of perspectives and approaches within the education business as a whole. This is in addition to prompting transformation systems to better adjust to the devastating effects and implications of this pandemic or other possible potential crises. This study seeks to provide a general descriptive and analytical overview of the various responses of higher learning institutions in the context of Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) amid seismic changes, with particular emphasis on the ways and means through which respective institutions have adopted to survive in the business of education, salvage the careers of its students’ population, all while challenged to protect their community well-being. While events continue to unfold, this study also seeks to highlight the extent to which universities demonstrated their roles in preserving the standards of quality education and social responsibility in general, across the GCC countries during the pandemic of the COVID-19 and to draw attention to responses and coping mechanisms showcasing resilience, creativity, and re-imaginations of future educational business. This study shows that institutions of higher education in the GCC, in their response to COVID-19, have implemented online learning effectively thanks to their already established distance education and digital transformation. Through close coordination with their respective governments, GCC institutions of higher learning demonstrated good governance, showing due attention to the safety and welfare of their students, faculty, and staff, while giving attention to their roles in community service, whether in the form of promotion of awareness campaigns, volunteering, research support, and initiatives. More research should explore the future of higher institutions in the post coronavirus world as well as the inter-communication and cooperation for better learning and education in the region.

Current research acknowledges the unprecedented effects of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) on socio-economic development, human interpersonal relations, and day-to-day life.It is worth scrutinising how this shift may cost infrastructural development, economic growth, and human development worldwide, shaping the planet's future.Within the scope of maintaining human's centrality in the era of 4IR, it is critical to draw serious attention to the relevance of spirituality in developing new and existing technologies.This study examines the Muslim framework of spirituality and its proposed pathways for 4IR.This study further concludes that for Muslims, spirituality adds meaning and value to the ethical design, production, and management of 4IR and enables it to better serve the composition of human societies and their emerging needs without harming the well-being of the planet, its resources, or the future of humankind.

This chapter seeks to explore the crossroads between learning in Islam and spirituality, and also the methods according to which Muslim instructors shape students' experiences in a context of piety development. This study also examines questions pertaining to the concept of spirituality in education, methods pedagogic principles that further merge spiritual discipline with knowledge acquisition. The theoretical research draws on the textual analysis of early works of Muslim scholars, more specifically on Abdul Ibn Khaldun and Abu Hamid al-Ghazali, given their prominent positions in the history of Muslim education. This study shows that the Islamic learning has always taken students' spiritual growth for granted and has, despite differences of practices across Muslim regions, always maintained the refining of learners' spiritual character.

Bridging widening socioeconomic gaps calls for a paradigm shift and the use of effective strategies such as Waqf banks to develop and provide basic services and such as education, shelter, employment opportunities and social amenities to the poor, while reducing the state’s burden and working to constructively address the reasons for the gap. Waqf banks are set-up through the use of cash waqfs and would operate multiple waqf funds alongside an assortment of financial instruments. Their earnings however are issued as low-cost credits to the poor, economically disadvantaged and the underprivileged regardless of their financial status, instead of focusing exclusively on generating shareholder profits. This would significantly aid the economy in steady, sustainable growth; effectively raising the lower bar on per capita income and lifting untold multitudes out of poverty. This study explores how interest-free and affordable loans can be provided to the poor or lower income demographics, while further discussing bank structures such as Shari‘ah compliance, services rendering, investment and waqf distribution. This study shows that there is a need for Shari’ah compliant waqf banks which in addition to providing services for beneficiaries, would also effectively manage investment and waqf funds that contribute to overall national development and economic growth. This inquiry would be of high relevance to experts, financial managers, regulators and policy makers in the fields of waqf, banking and finance.

Bridging widening socioeconomic gaps calls for a paradigm shift and the use of effective strategies such as Waqf banks to develop and provide basic services and such as education, shelter, employment opportunities and social amenities to the poor, while reducing the state’s burden and working to constructively address the reasons for the gap. Waqf banks are set-up through the use of cash waqfs and would operate multiple waqf funds alongside an assortment of financial instruments. Their earnings however are issued as low-cost credits to the poor, economically disadvantaged and the underprivileged regardless of their financial status, instead of focusing exclusively on generating shareholder profits. This would significantly aid the economy in steady, sustainable growth; effectively raising the lower bar on per capita income and lifting untold multitudes out of poverty. This study explores how interest-free and affordable loans can be provided to the poor or lower income demographics, while further discussing bank structures such as Shari‘ah compliance, services rendering, investment and waqf distribution. This study shows that there is a need for Shari’ah compliant waqf banks which in addition to providing services for beneficiaries, would also effectively manage investment and waqf funds that contribute to overall national development and economic growth. This inquiry would be of high relevance to experts, financial managers, regulators and policy makers in the fields of waqf, banking and finance.

Bridging global economic inequalities calls for effective financial alternatives such as awqāf banks to better attend to the needs of the poor and underprivileged. This is expected to address the root causes of poverty and ensuing economic gaps, improving much of the living standards whether pertaining to education, health, shelter, employment or basic social services while reducing the state’s economic and financial burden. We envision awqāf banks as institutions which are established through cash awqāf and which operate multiple awqāf funds alongside an assortment of financial instruments. The main use of their awqāf funds are the issue of low-cost credit to the poor, economically disadvantaged and underprivileged, instead of focusing solely on generating and maximizing shareholder profits. This is to support the economy through of steady and sustainable growth, effectively raising the lower bar on per capita income and lifting multitudes out of poverty and need. This paper explores how low-cost credit can be provided to the poor or lower income demographics through awqāf banks, while addressing relevant issues such as Shari’ah compliance, services rendering, investment and awqāf distribution. This paper also examines current studies on awqāf in relation to finance and banking, the basic functions, and characteristics of the Shari’ah-compliant awqāf bank, as well as evaluations of awqāf banks. Current studies show that there is a legitimate need for Shari’ah-compliant awqāf banks which not only providing services for its beneficiaries but also manage investments and awqāf funds that contribute to overall national development and economic growth. This study would be of high relevance to experts, practitioners, financial managers, regulators, and policy makers in the fields of awqāf, banking and finance.

This study explored the impact of using makerspaces in higher education. The paper sought to investigate the effects of constructionism approach on students learning outcomes in the setting of makerspaces which allows community members to design, prototype and manufacture items using tools that would otherwise be inaccessible or unaffordable such as 3-D printers, laser cutters, CNC machines, and CAD/CAM software. The case study involves students in the Design Program at Effat University, Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. In such a makerspaces environment, results based on course learning outcomes in product design showed that students perform better learn creative ways to problem-solving, and engage effectively through creative experimentation. Further empirical research into the effectual relations between design and 3D constructions may further demonstrate the vital importance of makerspaces on students' learning performance and mastery of skills in the context of higher learning.

The majority of the population in the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) lives in urban areas. In the year 2030, the percentage of the rural population is expected to be 14% in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, 11% in the United Arab Emirates, 10% in Oman, 9% in Bahrain, 1% in Qatar, and will remain 0% in Kuwait. Like many other countries, however, GCC countries continue to invest efforts and resources toward their national agendas aimed at sustainable development. In this context, smart villages are of special interest as, increasingly, they serve as the crossroads between urban living and rural life embracing history, culture, tradition, spiritual values, and human capital. The objective of this chapter is to explore actions taken toward the development of smart villages in the GCC countries, with a comparative overview on pertaining approaches and strategies; challenges related to the implementation of these actions are identified. It is demonstrated that despite GCCs’ tremendous efforts toward developing infrastructure in urban centers, more infrastructure investment is needed with regard to key issues related to developing remote areas – including their smart networks, digital facilities, and e-governance. It is also highlighted that more research is needed, especially on issues related to the transformation of villages into smart villages, including the need for holistic approaches, policies, and strategies toward smart villages.

The increased interest in understanding the influence of spirituality on the diverse domains of life, and alongside, the inherent pathways with science continues to draw the interest of both academicians and professionals. In the context of Muslim communities, however, and in view of their struggle for educational reforms, this issue is considered as highly critical, given Muslim active spiritual and religious take on life. This preliminary study explores the linkages associating Muslim spirituality to science and its instruction. This research shows that for science instruction, spirituality is naturally interconnected with science, helps broaden the horizon of exploration, nurtures Muslims’ connection with the divine, and helps refine their ethical responsibility towards society and nature. Further empirical research on the effects of spirituality on students’ learning attitudes to sciences and instructors’ delivery would bring to light how Muslim spiritual values shape current personal and educational developments.

Mahdara educational institution continues to play significant role in the shaping of Mauritania’s religious and cultural identity. As nomadic entity, it could maintain key position over the course of hundreds of time, and develop a unique African Muslim model of education, culture and mass religious thinking. However, following independence from the French colonial, the rise of Mauritania as nation state, alongside other serious problems associated with climate, modernity, and globalization, the fate of deterioration was inevitable. Today, the intense debate of Mahdara reform continues to sharpen between those proponents of the traditional religious education, modernists, and seekers of middle ground. This paper explores the struggle of Mahdara with those problems to better understand the factors causing its slow decline. This study concludes that Mahdara may even be vulnerable to extinction in the near future should there not be rescuing approach of reform which would blend modernity with tradition system.

The argument inherent in this study is that the Islamic framework on social coexistence and harmony stipulates moral capital as a bridge for community’s inter-connectivity, interaction, and development, and that, for Muslims, morals act as an effective catalyst for constructing social coexistence and harmony. This study discusses the concept of Islamic social ethics and moral development in the context of society, followed by an inquiry into the ways and means according to which Muslim ethics may contribute and sustain social rapprochement, mutual support and social justice. The study aims to identify the prevalent framework for Muslim social morality, which can be of benefit to effective social policy, increasing civic engagement, developing an inclusive universal moral education, or furthering multicultural tolerance. Using textual approach, this study shows how Islam capitalizes on individual and collective morality towards the effective engineering of sustainable communities’ relations and development. Further empirical studies on the contribution of Muslim morals in lieu of fortifying community development and social harmony would contribute to the way of elucidating the Muslim projection of theoretical moral ideals in real life conditions as well as tracing the convergences and divergences between Muslim theory and practices with regards to the application of morals to personal and communal settings, and more importantly in our context the shaping of communities’ rapprochement, co-existence and harmony.

The argument inherent in this paper is that the religious beliefs and values system deeply shape Muslims' breastfeeding culture and that mapping the religious ideals of Islam is essential given the potential inroads it offers toward enhanced neonatal, prenatal and pediatric practices, as well as the mitigation of malpractice or cultural inhibitors. This paper discusses the Muslim religious, moral and spiritual understanding of breastfeeding as a basic natural right while exploring the peculiar perspectives of Islamic law and ethics on the matter, in an effort to present a relevant coherent overview. This research shows that for Muslims, breastfeeding is intertwined with Islam's system of beliefs and values and hence continues to play a vital role in improving health education and increasing rates of exclusive breastfeeding. Further empirical studies on Muslims' perception and practices of breastfeeding shall highlight the extent to which Muslims adhere to religious and spiritual teachings, the response to cultural, secular and liberal models of child upbringing, and how a Muslim religious discourse may further support and celebrate human lactation and breastfeeding as a basic right.

The inherent argument in the study is that spirituality helps refine Muslims' introspective and extrospective awareness and conception towards earth stewardship, extending the capacity for development and environmental sustainability. This study examines the pathways through which spirituality contributes to cultivating and promoting deeper awareness of sustainability and responsibility towards nature among Muslims, with inherent potential for catalyzing action on declining environmental conditions. This conceptual paper draws on the Muslims sources to discuss the framework according to which spirituality re-wires Muslims' perceptions, attitudes and decision-making vis-a-vis the management of natural resources. This study concludes that Muslim spirituality brings forward relevant prospects to re-conceptualizing and re-packaging environmental sustainability and sustainable development in a multicultural and global context. Further research is essential to investigate potential added value by Muslim spiritual capital to a global agenda of sustainability and to cross-cultural environmental development.

This study explores the Muslim perspective on human interaction, relationships and prejudice.A survey of the literature recognises Islam's fundamental acknowledgement of human diversity, drawing on a dynamic theological, moral, spiritual and legal philosophy revolving around the preservation and sustainment of non-prejudiced human contact.This study discusses the Muslim perspective of human contact, non-prejudice, and accordingly, revisits Gordon W. Allport's "Theory of Contact Hypothesis" in an effort to compare and contrast it with the Muslim perspective on related issues such as racial prejudice, gender inequity, age prejudice, disability discrimination, social status and classism.This research concludes that Islam has developed a framework necessary for cultivating religiosity and morality without risking the value of effective and harmonious human relations.Further empirical studies on the interplay between Muslim theory and practice on contact hypothesis and prejudice are required to further interpret the dynamics of Muslim values in working settings, and the viability of translating religious ideals into reality.