Happiness and Spirituality: An Empirical Analysis using Divine Perspectives in Pakistan

Abstract

Happiness is the center of discussion among philosophers, theologians, psychologists and more recently among economists from past few decades. Easterlin (1974) claimed that money alone cannot buy happiness, factors such as social interactions, socio-demographic factors, religion and personal values influence happiness. Abundant literature has been produced on spirituality by philosophers and scholars of different religions, however, spirituality-happiness literature from Islamic point of view and particularly in the case of Muslim society is largely ignored. This study analytically explores and empirically tests the relationship between spirituality and happiness using Divine Economics Framework in case of 5 districts of Azad Kashmir (Pakistan), collected through Divine Economics Survey 2013. Findings of the study show that spirituality intrinsically matters in producing wellbeing and happiness.