<b>Religiosity, health and coping among South African Muslims during the COVID-19 pandemic</b>

The COVID-19 pandemic impacted on individual mental health with elevated levels of stress, depression and anxiety amongst others being reported worldwide. Religion can serve many areas of an individuals’ coping experience that can aid their mental wellbeing. Muslims rely on their on their religious belief as a way to cope with life stressors. Religious coping in particular is often cited in conditions similar to COVID-19 wherein religious adherents view these circumstances as the will of God. As a result, the relationship between religiosity, coping, religious coping and wellbeing was explored in this study in a sample of Muslim South Africans during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021. 277 participants completed the survey during COVID-19 adjusted alert levels in 2021. Results indicated that religiosity was positively associated with religious coping styles, instrumental support coping, wellbeing and mental health. This suggests that those who rated higher in their level of religiosity would more likely utilize religious coping styles and show improved psychological wellbeing. Positive religious coping was positively associated with some domains of wellbeing, while negative religious coping was negatively associated with most domains of wellbeing and with mental health. This result indicates that positive religious coping can be useful in promoting wellbeing, while utilizing negative religious coping can show worsened wellbeing and mental health among the Muslim population. These results are discussed within the Islamic Psychology paradigm where religiosity and religious coping is core to promoting physical and mental health.