The Components of the Religious Lifestyle According to the Supreme Leader of the Revolution (Part 1)

Lifestyle in general

According to the Supreme leader of the revolution, and as mentioned by narratives, the lifestyle is indeed “the knowledge of how to live”. In fact, it is “the software of the Islamic Culture”. He defines two general styles of life: Non-Tawhidi lifestyle, in which secular instructions, consumerism, hedonism and custom-based concepts of religion prevail; and Tawhidi one, within which the heavenly directions are prevalent and they influence policy, culture and economy.

News ID: 443686

Date: 02 March 2019 - 22:39

RNA - The lifestyle encompasses two groups of components explored by different scholars: theoretical (values and identity) and objective elements (consumption and recreation), and here consumption is regarded as the main element. However; whether does a Muslim society, founded on the basis of belief in the Unseen and the Hereafter, follow the same examples followed by the western society?

If no, through what components can Muslim societies be both studied and managed? Lifestyle is tightly knitted with the categories of culture, society, morals, identity, consumption and need, and besides, if Muslims passively choose and maintain the western secular lifestyle within their own societies, it leads to the frustration of their personal identity and independence, accordingly, studying the components of the Islamic lifestyle acquires enormous significance.

In the present research, based on the view of Ayatollah Khamenei, the Supreme leader of the revolution, and through a descriptive-analytic method, the main components of the religious lifestyle fall into five categories of thought, personal creativity, family, societal creativity and business.

This study, emphasizing on the statements made by Ayatollah Khamenei the leader of the revolution, attempts to provide some proper answers to the main questions mentioned above. Therefore, firstly concepts of “lifestyle” and “religious lifestyle” are introduced, and then the main components of the religious lifestyle, according to Ayatollah Khamenei the leader of the revolution, as the director of the Islamic government in the present era, are put into five categories of insights and world-view, individual behavioural patterns, family (values and preferences), social relations and business (objective aspects of lifestyle) and presented. The present papers is co-authored by Norooz Amini and Karim Halalkhor.

Lifestyle

Lifestyle applies to the sets of behaviours, models and examples of individual’s action which are focused on his/her normal, behavioural and semantic aspects of his social life and show the quantity/quality of the system of individual and public beliefs, actions and reaction.

(Ajili and Baygi) scholars such as Max Weber and Georg Simmel, in the late 20 century, mentioned a set of behaviours that an individual or a group has chosen them due to his internal motives and in order to attain a balance between his mental personality and the objective environment.

All in all, regarding a general definition of lifestyle, it can be said that the lifestyle is an almost cohesive and coherent collection, composed of all objective and mental affairs belonging to the individual or public life.

These affairs may include all the assets, behavioural models, social relations, consumption, recreational activities, covering/clothing and management of the body, the manner of eating, decoration of the house and etc., and they are some exterior and palpable affairs and behaviours.

To be continued...