Cognitive and quantitative approaches to Islamic studies: Integrating psychological, socioeconomic, and digital‐cultural statistics

Abstract

The past 3 decades have witnessed growing efforts to rethink areas of inquiry traditionally dominated by the humanities. One such area is religion, and, by extension, “Islamic studies” (i.e., the study of Islam and Muslim societies). Recent efforts to rethink religion and Islamic studies draw insights from cognitive science, and also frequently employ quantitative approaches. Such approaches make use of psychological statistics, socioeconomic statistics, and statistical data extracted from massive collections of digitized cultural artifacts (e.g., texts, photos, sound recordings). These types of statistical data make it possible to quantitively describe long‐term global psychological, socioeconomic, and cultural trends; explain how these trends relate to one another; and explain how these trends relate to Muslim societies. This article introduces the emerging lines of research mentioned above. Furthermore, it suggests that these lines of research open the way for a new more ambitious and more interdisciplinary Islamic studies – one which builds on valuable forms of humanities expertise while integrating the best insights from non‐humanities fields.

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“…Rather, they are matters of degree. Different societies strike different balances between values, and these balances shift over time (Nakissa, 2021). For a long time, World Happiness Index has neglected to inquire about the concepts of balance and harmony, whose saliency became evident, particularly through studies from the Global South.…”

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“…To strengthen and maintain relationships with spirit beings (e.g., God), Islam and other traditions prescribe duties of worship and sacrifice. To strengthen and maintain a common identity and form of community (e.g., umma ), Islam and other traditions prescribe distinctive shared practices (i.e., al ‐ shaʿāʾir al‐dīniyya ) such as rituals, forms of dress, and dietary norms (see Nakissa, 2021a,b). Generally speaking, premodern religious traditions value individual freedom and equality to some extent, and eschew random violence.…”

“…Tendencies to value these bonds likely derive, in part, from humans' biologically‐rooted psychology (Curry et al, 2019; Haidt, 2012, pp. 138–141; Nakissa, 2021a; Tomasello, 2016, pp. 85–134).…”