Use of Natural Resources and Mahdism Doctrine

Extension in the Model With Mahdism Perspective

A model of natural resource use under Divine Economics has been presented by Hamdani 2007 and further elaborated in Hamdani and Freeman 2008 based on the above mentioned arguments. The model provides a general framework of natural resource use analysis that can be considered in perspective of Mahdism doctrine. The next section presents the modified empirical model.

The holy books of divine religions contain many commandments regarding the use of God's blessings on earth. There are numerous references to water and related phenomena in the Divine books e.g. Qur'an and Bible such as the word "water" has been mentioned in Qumran 63 times. The other water related words river, fountains, springs, rain, hail, clouds also occur many times in these books causing an influence on the reader's perception and behavior about water use.

As regards, use of natural resources, the following model for pedagogical purpose was presented in the aforementioned studies; The Original Model: Wig =Water Scarcity level, Time cost, Religious human capital, Environment (technology, others' behavior and infrastructure), other conventional economics variables}

This model can be modified and extended as under to incorporate the Mahdvi perspective.

The Mahdvi Model: Wi =Water Scarcity level, Time cost, Religious human capital, Environment (technology, others' behavior and infrastructure), the knowledge about Mahdism, the attachment and devotion with Mahdism, other conventional economics variables} A more elaborate functional relationship can be written as under;

Where Wi is the average consumption of water by ith individual including the water wasted or polluted by individual due to habits and attitudes. The variables used in this model are elaborated below much in the same way as defined in Hamdani (2007);

Ta = Productive Time available with the individual at particular place and time [Total time 24 hrs - committed (biologically needed) time for leisure, volunteering, home and religious activities]

wij = average water consumption need that depends on a number of socioeconomics, demographic and religious variables.

W = Total quantity of water in given space and time that is fixed in the religious sense of Takween and Tashreeh. In other words, it partly depends on Divine will and partly on human deeds, actions, knowledge (or discoveries, renewing formulae, industrial production) etc.

Tp = Time cost of using the water (see footnote above) MPGS = Market purchased intermediate or final goods and services involved in consumption of water e.g

B1 = Belief that some sort of water-use is obligatory (Wajib) or desirable (Mustahab) and some other type of uses is strictly prohibited (haram) or at least un-desirable (Makrooh).

B2 = Knowledge and belief that donating water to a needy person is appreciable and wasting especially when it is so scarce to have life implication for some section of population is prohibited (haram) in Islam Note' 'B1' and B2 implies that price of water is less significant or in some cases insignificant.

SC = Level of spiritual capital i.e personal experience of, say, using legitimate water for ablution (wuzoo) has physical and spiritual benefits thus leading to more consumption of water whereas .

Q = Quality of fellow worshipers (truly religious, hypocritically religious, opportunistically religious, habitually religious, imitatively religious etc.)

C = Knowledge and understanding that religion requires from one to be altruist rather than being greedy and selfish.

E = Environmental factors such as quality of water or intensity of community problems to which non-wasteful or minimal usage behavior may contribute.

MK = Knowledge about Mahdism doctrine (situation before appearance of Mahdi or coming of Jesus, predicted disasters, water crises, wars and violence, earthquakes, accidental deaths, global unrest etc. and situation after the appearance of the saviors i.e. peace, justice, prosperity, and abundance of natural resources etc. as reported in religious books).

MD = Mahdvi devotedness (loving benefits of larger community, believing in justices, benevolence, sacrifice, self-accountability, contentment and other practical aspects of this doctrine).

Z = Other standard variables

For a better understanding of natural-resources-use patterns, the Divine Economics puts forward an example (Hamdani and Freeman 2008) that has been constructed with hypothetical data in table below.

Source: Hamdani,Syed Nisar Hussain and Richard B. Freeman (2008), "Do People Systematically Differ in Natural Resource Usage Behavior?, (Some micro foundations)", discussion draft, London School of Economics (Labor Markets)

Notes and Definitions:

A, b Individuals or households wa , wb Average need of safe water by individual or household a and b respectively.

TW Total water produced in a space and time (around a, b) by Divine and human sources Percentage of total water that becomes unusable due to development and expansion (industrial and technological), wars, violence, explosions destruction of water supply systems etc; is determined, among others, by religiosity levels. Percentage of water that becomes unusable due to household activities, carelessness, and attitude; is determined, among others, by religiosity levels..

SW = (1-a)TW) AW = wSW)

Indicator of Scarcity of water as deviation from nature or intensity of difference from total water and available safe water. It is calculated as ratio of average water needed by 2 household a and b to safe water available for final use. And average consumption of each individual at time period t is dependent on his own average consumption need as well as others' need and the total endowment of available safe water in given space and time. ? = 1 if total safe water available within given space and time is equal to wa+wb; a case of no scarcity f = (wa+wb)/AW

Assumptions If own need and other's need is equal, then wa/wb = 1

For simplicity we assume that in a given space and time, household activities pollute 10 % water, industrial expansion pollutes 20 % water, wars and violence pollutes another 10 % and technological/nuclear advancement pollutes another 30% water.

* World war-1 ** World war-2 # Total (Absolute) quantity of water may be increased by scientific developments ^ Total (Absolute) quantity of water may be increased by supplications, thanksgiving, and repentance on sins (see Qur'an and Bible) ^^ Total (Absolute) quantity of water may be increased by sadaqah (see Qur'an; see …in Bible) Mahdvi religiosity applies to the last three notes above. It is observable among devoted ones in Mahdism that they pray a special form of prayer or Istighasa for solving this type of problems.

There are 12 general and specific phenomenon have been outlined in our earlier paper (Hamdani and Freeman, 2008) that can be explained under the Divine Economics Model of Natural Resource Management. Besides those, with the addition of Mahdism perspective in the model, the following behaviors can also be studied under this framework.

o The data used to elaborate the Divine Model of NRM is hypothetical. The next research can undertake the task of estimating true parameters of this model using the real world data.

o The relationship of natural resource use patterns with parameters indicating knowledge or devotedness with Mahdism doctrine.

o The Effects of Mahdism doctrine on sacrificing behavior of individuals during crises and disasters (A Harvard University research indicates that there exists a significant relationship between these two variables)