The Role of Islamic Financial Literacy in Strengthening Socio-Religious Resilience among Coastal Women

Abstract

Islamic Financial Literacy (IFL) plays a crucial role in enhancing socio-religious resilience among coastal women who face economic instability, limited financial access, and social vulnerability. This study employs a qualitative, constructivist approach to explore how faith-based financial knowledge and practices contribute to women’s adaptive capacity and spiritual well-being. Drawing from the theoretical lens of maqāṣid al-sharī‘ah and counseling-inflected role theory, the research identifies how IFL shapes women’s moral, social, and religious agency in managing uncertainty within coastal livelihoods. The findings reveal five interrelated mechanisms through which IFL generates resilience: moral budgeting as a ritualized form of discipline; sanctioned borrowing grounded in trust-based networks that avoid riba; ritual giving as social insurance fostering mutual aid; role reframing through joint decision-making and financial stewardship; and religious coping that transforms financial pressure into spiritual meaning and emotional balance. Together, these mechanisms create a continuum linking financial capability, moral accountability, and communal solidarity. Viewed through a Context–Mechanism–Outcome (CMO) framework, IFL functions as a norm-stabilizing and role-clarifying process that enables women to sustain household stability, preserve community cohesion, and internalize religious values in economic behavior. The study underscores the transformative potential of Islamic financial education as both a spiritual and socio-economic instrument for empowerment in marginal coastal settings, while recommending its integration into Islamic counseling and community development programs.