Requirements for Production of Wealth in Shi i Lifestyle

Unlike the traditional views that consider development an economical issue, it is regarded as a consequence of cultural beliefs and approaches in the modern views and it is believed that development has cultural foundations. Therefore, religion can be regarded as the most obvious cultural factor influencing the formation of ideology and interpretation of human’s earthly life. From this point of view, those schools that lead people on monasticism and a mere attention to the afterlife just cause undevelopment and propagation of determinism in the societies while the schools and religions that know the happiness and growth of human in faithful attempts to make a better world can potentially modify the society and hence facilitate national development. In this regard, the Shi’i School always emphasizes on the social responsibility of its followers by picturing the world as a farmland for the afterlife and encourages the to leave a passive lifestyle and seek prosperity in the frame of godliness rules. Moreover, based on the Shi’i teachings, earning legitimate wealth and using it to realize the divine orders has been drastically emphasized. In view of this sensible axiom that “necessity is the premise of the necessary”, this article tries to show that a Shi’i Moslem is obliged to develop his economical power and produce wealth in order to have a faithful lifestyle and reach some of his worshipping positions. Studying some of the faithfulness duties that require producing wealth, the article tries to examine its place in the Shi’i beliefs referring to the lifestyles of the Imams.