Ma`rifat

Contentment is considered as one of the characteristics of the true Shi'a. Contentment means decreasing one’s attention to materialistic life and worldly pleasures. Contentment prevents a believer from wasting what he/she has attained as well as God's blessings provided for him/her, and makes him/her use the blessings only as much as needed. A true believer believes in God and the Hereafter, and does not regard this world as a means for achieving closeness to God. A person who only tries to enjoy worldly pleasure and denies the Hereafter thinks that life ends in this world and the second world does not exist; such people have little faith. Therefore, using the worldly possessions for non-divine purposes or any purpose other than the Hereafter is unwise. A true Shia lives in this world by using the light of reason and revelation and is purified from deviations and aberrations with the guidance of revelation and reason. This is the philosophy of contentment in the world.