The Role of Theology and Beliefs in Economics

"The role of theology and beliefs in economics" is the topic of the expert sitting held by the group of 'theology and religious researches ' in the path to evolve humanities. Ayatollah Hadavi Tehrani – the lecturer of the setting – has made good efforts by writing the following books: "the theological bases of Ijtihad", "the economical ideology and system of Islam", and "the general structure of Islam's economical system in the Holy Quran". He explained his theory of "the systematic reflection" in this setting. According to this theory, religion has presented universal concepts in all fields, including economical fields, which may be divided into two parts: 1. The propositions which explain "the being" which is the manifestation of Islam's worldview in a special field and observes the concrete and creative realities. We call this part philosophy. 2. "Obligation" propositions which somehow contain subjective consideration. The obligation propositions are divided into two parts as well: "ideology" and "system". The first part – ideology – is formed of bases and purposes. Bases are the presuppositions presented by Islam in a field and purposes are the intentions posed by Islam in a field such as economics. The second part – system – is a collection corresponding with the situation called 'mechanism'. Mechanism is in fact the system of "being" which has a special manifestation in a special situation. The legal form of the worldwide factors are described in the form of constant rights and commands. Explaining the necessity of having a systematic view, Ayatollah Hadavi said we can obtain a 1) consistent collection, 2) a complete pattern, 3) pure concepts, and 4) effective concepts. Economics is a science which studies the human's economical behavior. He explained the different kinds of the effects of theological concepts in economics presenting some examples: 1. If we believe God is all-sustaining, the opposite of Maltos's theory which explains the limitations of facilities and resources, we will have a different plan; 2. The main parameter of development is the development of religious belief which has many effects on economics. For example:1) If we increase the rate of confidence in God, the rate of bank savings will decrease, the rate of economical risking will increase, the rate of insurance will decrease and the rate of reward-less helps will increase. 2) Piety leads to maximal economical efforts and minimal pickup, an increase of the rate of economical activities, increase of reward-less helps and decrease of the rate of consumerism.3) Believing in the hereafter ends up with an increase of the rate of tax payment, the increase of loyalty to economical engagements, the decrease of the rate of economical corruptions, the increase of the rate of paying attention to common benefits, and the increase of the rate of investment in common sections. Over all Islamic beliefs have many economical effects such as: "major economical development", "development of economical security: security of ownership and security of investing", "reducing poverty", "development of economical justice", and "reduction of the power of creating money".