The Construction of an Initial Test Regarding the Presence of Heart While Praying Based on the Islamic Sources

The present research aims at constructing an initial test regarding the presence of heart while praying based on the Islamic sources. To do so, the researcher has attempted to draw upon the Holy Quran and Hadiths so as to explicate the components and signs of heart presence in prayer, presenting a test that evaluates the presence of heart in adults’ prayers. The selected research methods are descriptive and survey. In descriptive method, religious teachings were gathered and the classified signs of that construct were analyzed and evaluate by eight religious experts. In survey method, the validity and reliability of the test were analyzed in a sample of 70 participants including seminary and university students of Qom. For data analysis, we used indicators and statistical methods related to our research questions such as Pearson Correlation, Spearman Correlation, Guttman Split-Half Coefficient, Kendall Coefficient of Concordance, Cronbach’s Alpha, and Chi square. The results of the research showed that the content validity of the test was desirable according to the assessment of 10 experts. Correlation coefficient of the experts’ opinions was positive and significant. Kendall’s coefficient of concordance was 0.369 which is significant at 0.01 level. Furthermore, the basic reliability of the test was calculated as 0.909 in Cronbach’s Alpha, 0.790 in the split-half correlation, 0.883 in Spearman-Brown split half coefficient, and 0.867 in Guttman’s spilt half coefficient. Besides, for the validity of the component, the correlation of individual questions with total score, the correlations of the components with total score and the correlation of components with one another were measured that resulted in desirable validity. Final results indicated that by using the Islamic sources, it is feasible to build a tool for the evaluation of heart presence component in prayer which has a desirable reliability and validity and could be applied for research as well as educational purposes.