This research investigates the rise of youth volunteerism in Brunei Darussalam, which has resulted in young people's contributions to addressing issues such as unemployment, youth skills development, and environmental degradation. To better understand the motivations for and the value of volunteering among youth in Brunei, I conducted interviews with fifteen individuals who had at least two years of volunteering experience. Integrating three sociological concepts, namely Bourdieu's capitals theory, Giddens' reflexivity and Foucault's self-governmentality, the study frames volunteering as a journey of active discovery, reflection and redefinition of the volunteers' experiences. The findings demonstrate that volunteering provides a space for young people to engage in self-exploration, which contributes to their personal development, identity formation and competency enhancement. Participants also express a strong sense of duty and responsibility to give back to their community and the state, viewing volunteering as a means to actualise their desire to be active members of the community. Moreover, as they gain more experience from volunteering, participants seek fulfilling careers. This is due to the fact that volunteering teaches them to and offers them opportunities to pursue impactful and meaningful work, underscoring their aspiration to lead meaningful lives.

The Medinah Charter has been studied from various perspectives. Most discourses on the Medinah Charter revolve around the political dimension. However, the Prophetic actions of the Medinah Charter need to be analyzed in the light of the Maqasid al-Shariah. This paper aims to explore the Medinah Charter from a Maqasid perspective taking into consideration its socio-religious structure. For this purpose, this research identifies some important Maqasid underlying the Medinah Charter and the Prophetic approach toward the people of other faiths. This study argues that the Medinah Charter and the measures taken by the Prophet Muhammad were potential means for materializing universal higher objectives of the Shariah. Based on descriptive and analytical methods, this study sheds light on some universal higher objectives of the Shariah in the Charter such as freedom of faith, peaceful co-existence, and social integrity. All these social objectives were preserved in Medinan society at a collective level. By analyzing those universal objectives, this paper establishes their relevance to fostering peaceful coexistence, freedom of faith, and social integrity between different ethnic-religious communities of the modern world, especially in Muslim minority societies.

The link between economic inequality and individual well-being has been gaining increasing research attention. This study examines this relationship using data from 71 countries with diverse national incomes, addressing three key research gaps: (1) incorporating measures of both perceived and objective economic inequality, (2) extending analysis to multiple components of well-being beyond happiness, including meaning in life, harmony, and spirituality, and (3) assessing levels of both current and ideal well-being. Findings reveal that perceived economic inequality predicts personal well-being more strongly than objective inequality. Additionally, perceived inequality is associated with a wider gap between current and ideal levels of happiness, meaning, harmony, and spirituality, although national income moderates the effects of meaning, harmony and spirituality. We discuss the implications of these results, highlighting the need for more culturally sensitive studies on perceived economic inequality and wellbeing.

This study examines the interplay between relationship status, well-being, and values across 57 countries. We hypothesized that individuals in romantic relationships would report higher well- being (measured as happiness, harmony, and meaning in life) compared to singles. We antici pated that in cultures prioritizing relationships, the benefits of being coupled would be amplified, while in societies emphasizing autonomy, the well-being gap would diminish. Specifically, we posited that values prevalent in WEIRD societies (Western, Educated, Industrialized, Rich, and Democratic)–such as self-direction and achievement–would positively moderate the association between relationship status and well-being, whereas values characteristic of non-WEIRD eties–such as tradition and conformity–would have a negative moderating effect. Our findings support that coupled individuals generally report higher well-being; however, the moderating effects of cultural values were more complex than expected. Cultural classifications of WEIRD and non-WEIRD did not consistently explain the well-being gap. Interestingly, in cultures emphasizing conformity, single and coupled individuals both reported greater meaning, leading to an overall decrease in the well-being gap. Conversely, higher self-direction values were associated with a wider well-being gap, with singles experiencing decreased happiness and meaning. These findings suggest that values such as conformity and self-direction exert domain-specific effects on well- being, influenced by broader social context and individual perceptions. Our research highlights the necessity of integrating cultural and individual factors in well-being research to achieve a more nuanced understanding of the quality of life for singles and those in relationships.