Abstract
Islamic religious leaders (IRLs) have the potential to influence health education, health promotion, and positive health outcomes among their own communities. This study aims to examine the role and effectiveness of Arab Muslim religious leaders, in Israel, as social agents for change on health-related issues, focusing on reduction in infant mortality, prematurity, and congenital malformations attributed to consanguineous marriage. A self-administrated questionnaire was distributed to 127 IRLs, in 2012, to gain insights into practice, attitudes, and perceptions of IRLs toward their role as social agents for change on health-related issues. The results indicate that two-thirds (58%) of the surveyed IRLs have provided frequent advice on issues related to preventing infant mortality, congenital malformation, and prematurity over the past two years. Most IRLs indicated that they have keen interest in their communities’ health matters (97%) and regard dealing with them as part of their job (85%). The study identified three enabling factors that had significant influence on the IRLs’ attitude. These influences are: awareness and knowledge of the health issues, the perception that these issues and their impact on the community are part of their responsibility, and the empowerment they felt through the participation in the Ministry of Health (Northern Region Health Office) educational seminar series, in the year 2000. The main conclusion from this study indicates that IRLs are effective social agents for change and that the educational interventions can be a useful and effective strategy to encourage IRLs to cooperate with health providers and promote public health among their own communities.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Ahmad, N. M. (2004). Arab-American culture and health care, public health management and policy. http://www.cwru.edu/med/epidbio/mphp439/Arab-Americans.htm.
Ali, O. M., Milstein, G., & Marzuk, P. M. (2005). The IRL’s role in meeting the counseling needs of Muslim communities in the United States. Psychiatric Services, 56(2), 202–205.
Al-Khayat, M. H. (2004). Health as a human right in Islam. The right path to health: Health education through religion series. Geneva: World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Anshel, M. H., & Smith, M. (2014). The role of religious leaders in promoting healthy habits in religious institutions. Journal of Religion and Health, 53, 1046–1059.
Bagby, I., Perl, P., & Foehle, B. (2001). The mosque in America: A national portrait. A report from the Mosque Study Project. Washington, DC: Council on American-Islamic Relations.
Chand, S., & Al-Kabir, A. (2009). Muslim khutbah guide to save the lives of mothers and newborns: A toolkit for religious leaders. Retrieved July 21, 2014 http://www.imaworldhealth.org/images/stories/technicalpublications/Muslim_Khutbah_Sermon_Guide.pdf.
[CBS] Central Bureau of Statistics. (2012). The social survey Israel, 2009–2010. Accessed on 10/5/2014, http://www.cbs.gov.il/statistical/seker-chevrati-e124.pdf.
Freij, L. S. (2010). ESD model: Mobilizing Muslim IRLs and religious leaders as ‘‘champions’’ of reproductive health and family planning. Washington, DC: Extending Service Delivery.
Haddad, Y. Y., & Lummis, A. T. (1987). Islamic values in the United States: A comparative study. New York: Oxford University Press.
Hinz, A., Michalski, D., Schwarz, R., & Herzberg, P. Y. (2007). The acquiescence effect in responding to a questionnaire. GMS Psycho-Social Medicine, 4, Doc07.
Hutchinson, M. K., & Baqi-Aziz, M. (1994). Nursing care of the childbearing Muslim family. Journal of Obstetric, Gynecologic, and Neonatal Nursing, 23(9), 767–771.
IMANA Ethics Committee. (2005). The position of Islamic Medical Association of North America on issues of medical ethics. http://hhlf.org/the-position-of-islamic-medical-association-of-north-america-on-issues-of-medical-ethics/.
Kjeilen, T. (2010). Imam. looklex encyclopaeida. http://looklex.com/e.o/imam.htm.
Knesset Research and Information Center. (2015). Data on Arab, Druze and Circassian Employees in Public Service in 2007–2015. Accessed on 7/22015/. https://www.knesset.gov.il/mmm/data/pdf/m03578.pdf (in Hebrew).
Laird, L. D., de Marrais, J., & Barnes, L. L. (2007). Portraying Islam and Muslims in MEDLINE: A content analysis. Social Science and Medicine, 65(12), 2425–2439.
Maghnisawi, A. I. M. (2007). Imam Abu Hanifa’s Al-Fiqh Al-Akbar explained. California: White Thread Press.
Markens, S., Fox, S. A., Taub, B., & Gilbert, M. L. (2002). Role of Black churches in health promotion programs: Lessons from the Los Angeles Mammography Promotion in Churches Program. American Journal of Public Health, 92, 805–810.
Messick, S. J. (1966). The psychology of acquiescence: An interpretation of research evidence. In I. A. Berg (Ed.), Response set in personality assessment (pp. 15–145). Chicago: Aldine.
Rifat, M., Rusen, I. D., Mahmud, M. H., Nayer, I., Islam, A., & Ahmed, F. (2008). From mosques to classrooms: Mobilizing the community to enhance case detection of tuberculosis. American Journal of Public Health, 98(9), 1550–1552.
Stansbury, K. L., Harley, D. A., King, L., Nelson, N., & Speight, G. (2012). African American clergy: What are their perceptions of pastoral care and pastoral counseling? Journal of Religion and Health, 51(3), 961–969.
Toni-Uebari, T. K., & Inusa, B. P. (2009). The role of religious leaders and faith organisations in haemoglobinopathies: A review. BMC Blood Disorders, 9, 6–10.
The right path to health: Health education through religion series. Geneva: World Health Organization, Regional Office for the Eastern Mediterranean.
Underwood, C., Kamhawi, S., & Nofal, A. (2013). Religious leaders gain ground in the Jordanian family-planning movement. International Journal of Gynecology & Obstetrics, 123, 33–37.
UNICEF. (2012). Partnering with religious communities for children. Accessed 28 January, 2014. http://goo.gl/ZLkTMS.
Vander Weele, T. J. (2016). Religion and health: A synthesis. In M. J. Balboni & J. R. Peteet (Eds.), Spirituality, religion and the culture of medicine. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Webb, B., Bopp, M., & Fallon E. A. (2013). A qualitative study of faith leaders’ perceptions of health and wellness. Journal of Religion and Health. doi:10.1007/s10943-011-9476-6.
[WHO] World Health Organization. (1986). The Ottawa charter for health promotion. In First international conference on health promotion, Ottawa, 21 November. http://www.who.int/healthpromotion/conferences/previous/ottawa/en/.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Ethics declarations
Conflict of interest
Both authors declare that they have no conflict of interest.
Ethical Standards
The study was performed in accordance with the ethical standards of the 1964 Helsinki Declaration and was approved by the Ethics Committee of the Faculty of Social Welfare and Health Sciences, University. Information about the study was given by the researchers to the IRLs who were informed that participation in the study was voluntary, that they could withdraw their participation at any time, and that they were guaranteed confidentiality.
Informed consent
Informed consent was obtained from all individual participants included in the study.
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Cohen-Dar, M., Obeid, S. Islamic Religious Leaders in Israel as Social Agents for Change on Health-Related Issues. J Relig Health 56, 2285–2296 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0409-x
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10943-017-0409-x