In the Name of God, the Most Gracious, the Most Merciful

Ruling of the Assembly of Qualified Jurists on the Permissible Methods for the Administration of Collaborative Undertakings

Issued at the Conclusion of the Extraordinary Session of the Council for Jurisprudential Inquiry into Matters of Technical Organisation

Dizin, Islamic Republic of Iran — 17–19 Dhul Qi’dah 1421 (11–13 February 2001)

Preamble

Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds, and blessings and peace upon the Seal of the Prophets and his Pure Household, particularly the Master of the Age, may God hasten his reappearance.

The occasion for this ruling is as follows. The undersigned jurists, seventeen in number — though one has signed only in his capacity as representative of the Qom delegation and not as an individual, and two have appended dissenting opinions whose length exceeds the ruling itself, and one who was present has declined to sign on the grounds that the slopes were inadequate and his attendance should not be taken as endorsement of either the ruling or the resort — were gathered at the Dizin mountain resort, sixty-five kilometres north of Tehran, for reasons that are not relevant to the juridical substance of this document but which involved a long-standing disagreement about whether scholarly retreats must be held in Qom or whether the principle of la haraj (no hardship) permits a change of scenery.

Having gathered, and having observed that the condition of software undertakings in the ummah is one of considerable disorder — characterised by the adoption of foreign methodologies without jurisprudential review, the proliferation of terminology that has received no ijaza, and the widespread neglect of consultation (shura) in favour of rigid procedural frameworks whose chain of intellectual transmission leads, upon investigation, to a ski lodge in the American state of Utah — we have undertaken to issue the following ruling on the values and principles that should govern the administration of collaborative work.

This ruling carries the status of an obligatory precaution (ihtiyat wajib) for those who follow any of the undersigned as their marja’, and is offered as a recommended practice (mustahabb) for others, with the understanding that those who follow a different marja’ should consult their own authority, who will in all likelihood say something similar but in different words, as is the nature of independent jurisprudential reasoning.

The Four Values

We have arrived, through independent ijtihad — each of us reaching the same conclusions separately, as is proper, though the proximity of our hotel rooms may have facilitated a certain convergence — at the following values.

First Value. Persons and their consultation over rigid procedure and its instruments.

The Quran states: “And consult them in the matter” (3:159). This verse establishes, with the authority of revelation, that the affairs of the community are to be resolved through the direct engagement of persons with one another. It does not state: “And establish a procedural framework with defined ceremonies, and consult the framework.” A process that has become so elaborate that it displaces the human conversation it was meant to facilitate has departed from the Quranic instruction and entered the territory of ghuluww (exaggeration), which is forbidden.

We do not reject process entirely, for the administration of the Imam’s affairs during the Greater Occultation requires some degree of procedural structure, and the hawza itself operates through processes that have served the community for centuries. But we note that the hawza’s processes have the merit of having been refined over a thousand years by qualified jurists, whereas the processes currently imported into the ummah’s technical undertakings were devised in approximately two decades by persons whose qualifications we have not been able to verify through any recognised chain of transmission.

Second Value. Functioning works over comprehensive specification.

A specification that is comprehensive and a system that does not function is inferior to a system that functions and a specification that is incomplete. This is established by analogy (qiyas, for those schools that accept it, and by aql — rational proof — for our own) to the principle that a prayer performed with sincere intention but imperfect form is superior to no prayer at all. We note that the Almighty, in His wisdom, revealed the Quran over a period of twenty-three years rather than delivering the complete specification at once, and that this gradual revelation (tanzil) is itself a model of iterative delivery that the ummah would do well to consider.

We do not dismiss documentation. The hadith literature is documentation. The rijal sciences are documentation of documentation. We have always valued documentation. But we observe that the community of the Prophet, peace be upon him and his household, functioned as a community before the documentation was compiled, and that the documentation was compiled in service of the community, not the reverse.

Third Value. Continuous negotiation over contractual rigidity.

The Islamic contract (‘aqd) is a sacred instrument, and we do not diminish its importance. However, we note that the most durable arrangements in the history of the ummah have been those characterised by ongoing consultation and mutual adjustment rather than rigid enforcement of initial terms. The relationship of the believer to his marja’ is not a contract but a bond of trust that is renewed continuously through the issuance of new rulings as circumstances change. The marja’ who issued a ruling twenty years ago and has not revisited it is not demonstrating consistency; he is demonstrating negligence. Similarly, the agreement between those who commission work and those who perform it must be understood as a living relationship, renegotiated as the nature of the work becomes clearer, not as a fixed covenant that binds both parties to terms established before either party understood what was being undertaken.

The Imam Ali, peace be upon him, said: “Do not raise your children the way your parents raised you, for they were born for a different time.” This principle applies with equal force to the requirements of a software undertaking, which are born in one time and must be delivered in another.

Fourth Value. Graceful response to changing conditions over adherence to a predetermined plan.

Plans are estimations of the future, and the future belongs to God alone. “And never say of anything, ‘I will do this tomorrow,’ without adding, ‘If God wills’” (18:23–24). This verse, while primarily a reminder of human dependence on divine providence, also contains, in the view of the undersigned, a jurisprudential instruction regarding project planning: namely, that all plans are contingent, that their modification in light of new circumstances is not failure but tawakkul (trust in God), and that the person who clings to a plan in the face of overwhelming evidence that the plan is no longer appropriate has elevated the plan to a status that belongs only to divine decree — which is, strictly speaking, a form of shirk, though we issue this observation as a caution rather than a formal ruling, as the question of whether inadequate project management constitutes idolatry requires further scholarly deliberation.

That is to say: the items on the right are not without value. We simply find that the items on the left are more conducive to the delivery of adequate work, the preservation of professional dignity, and the avoidance of conditions that cause the believer to despair, and despair is forbidden.

The Twelve Principles

These principles were originally forty-seven in number. They have been reduced through a process of scholarly review that consumed the better part of the second day, during which the slope conditions were, by all reports, excellent, a fact that several of the undersigned wish to note was not a factor in the accelerated pace of deliberation.

I. Our highest priority is to satisfy those who have commissioned the work through the regular and continuous delivery of results that are, if not perfect, at least adequate. Perfection belongs to God and to the Fourteen Infallibles. The pursuit of perfection in a software undertaking is not piety; it is israf (extravagance), and extravagance is prohibited even in acts of worship, as established by the hadith: “There is no monasticism in Islam.”

II. Changes in requirements shall be welcomed at any stage, for they are evidence that the commissioning party is paying attention, which is preferable to the alternative. We note that the revelation itself underwent abrogation (naskh), wherein later verses superseded earlier ones as circumstances required, and if the Almighty saw fit to modify His own requirements during the course of delivery, it is unclear on what basis a product manager should consider himself exempt from the same principle.

III. Working results shall be delivered at regular intervals, the frequency to be determined by the nature of the work and not by adherence to a fixed number of days. The insistence on a two-week cycle, observed in certain foreign methodologies, has no basis in revelation, in the traditions of the Prophet and his household, or in rational proof. Time is a creation of God and its division into administrative units is a matter of convention, not of doctrine.

IV. Those who commission the work and those who perform it must converse regularly, preferably in person. Communication through written instruments alone is insufficient, for writing lacks the capacity to convey the essential subtleties of meaning that the human voice and face provide. The Imam Ja’far al-Sadiq, peace be upon him, taught thousands through direct discourse rather than through written circulars, and if the founder of our school of jurisprudence considered personal instruction essential for matters of eternal salvation, it is reasonable to expect the same for matters of database architecture. The practice of communicating exclusively through a ticketing system is noted with concern and is hereby classified as makruh (discouraged).

V. Undertakings shall be built around capable persons who have been provided with the resources and environment they need and then trusted to perform the work. The micromanagement of capable persons — the practice of requiring them to justify their daily activities in public ceremonies of accounting — is contrary to the dignity (karama) that God has bestowed upon the human being (17:70), and is furthermore inefficient, as the time spent accounting for one’s work is time not spent performing it. We note that the hawza system trusts its advanced students to pursue their studies without daily supervision, requiring only that they demonstrate competence at intervals determined by their teacher, not by an arbitrary calendar.

VI. The most effective method of conveying information is face-to-face conversation. This principle is established by the practice of the Imams, who transmitted the most important knowledge of the faith through personal instruction, and by rational proof, which observes that a significant portion of human communication is carried by tone, expression, and presence, none of which survive translation into electronic text. The raised eyebrow, in particular, is a communicative instrument of considerable juridical significance that no written medium has successfully reproduced.

VII. Functioning work is the primary measure of progress. We acknowledge that the determination of what constitutes “functioning” is, in certain cases, a matter requiring scholarly deliberation, and that a committee may need to be convened for this purpose. Until such a committee issues its findings, the working definition shall be: it does what it was asked to do without causing harm. This definition is provisional and should not be cited as a precedent.

VIII. Our methods shall promote a pace of work that can be sustained without harm to the worker’s health, family obligations, or religious duties. The practice of working through the night, celebrated in certain cultures as evidence of dedication, is recognised by this assembly as a symptom of poor planning and a potential cause of missing the fajr prayer, which is a considerably more serious matter than any deployment deadline. A fatigued worker produces work of diminished quality and is furthermore at risk of making errors that affect others, which introduces the question of dhaman (liability), a topic on which the jurisprudential literature is extensive and which no project manager appears to have consulted.

IX. Continuous attention to quality and sound craftsmanship enhances the capacity to respond to change, and is furthermore a religious obligation, as the Prophet, peace be upon him and his household, said: “God loves that when one of you does a piece of work, he does it with itqan (excellence).” This hadith establishes, with the authority of prophetic instruction, that shoddy work is not merely a professional failing but a spiritual one. The practice of accumulating known defects — what the industry terms “technical debt” — is therefore a matter of some juridical concern, as it involves the knowing perpetuation of deficiency, which is at minimum makruh and may, depending on the severity, constitute a failure of the obligation of itqan.

X. Simplicity — leaving undone that which need not be done — is essential. The Quran does not contain a single superfluous word. The believer’s work should aspire to the same economy. The construction of elaborate systems beyond what the task requires is not diligence; it is tabdhir (wasteful excess), condemned explicitly in the Quran (17:27). An architecture of forty-seven microservices for a task that could be accomplished by three is not an act of engineering. It is an act of tabdhir, and the responsible parties should reflect on this.

XI. The best results emerge from groups that organise themselves, provided the group contains persons of both practical temperament and scholarly inclination, and provided it is not so large as to prevent meaningful consultation. The Imam Ali, peace be upon him, administered the affairs of the entire Muslim community with a circle of advisors that could fit in a single room. If the Commander of the Faithful could govern an empire from a room, it is unclear why the development of a mobile application requires a “Scaled Agile Framework” with seventeen defined roles and a certification programme.

XII. At regular intervals, the group shall reflect on its conduct, identify what may be improved, and adjust accordingly. This reflection shall be conducted with honesty tempered by husn al-zann (good opinion of others), as is appropriate among believers. The practice of conducting this reflection through a rigid format of coloured cards and timed rotations has no basis in any tradition known to the undersigned and is hereby classified as bid’a (innovation without precedent), pending further investigation.

Dissenting Opinion of Ayatollah Mirza Husayn Karbala’i (Najaf)

I have reviewed the above ruling and find it substantially correct in its conclusions, though I wish to note that the Najaf delegation did not request this assembly, did not select the venue, and does not consider the question of software methodology to be one that falls within the traditional scope of jurisprudential inquiry. However, since the Qom scholars have seen fit to issue a ruling, and since their ruling will inevitably be attributed to the broader scholarly community if left uncontested, we have participated, if only to ensure that the Najafi perspective is represented.

I would add only this: no ruling on methodology has ever improved an actual undertaking, just as no book on swimming has ever prevented a drowning. The work will take longer than estimated, the requirements will change, the result will differ from the intention, and the only honest principle is sabr (patience), which is enjoined by the Quran and requires no ruling from this assembly or any other.

I sign nonetheless, as refusing to sign would require writing a separate document, and the slopes close at four.

Appended Clarification of Hujjat al-Islam Dr. Mohammadi (Tehran)

The Tehran delegation wishes to note that Principle IV’s reference to face-to-face conversation should be understood to include both Arabic-language and Persian-language discourse, and that the implicit assumption of Arabic as the primary language of scholarly exchange, while expected from the Najaf delegation, has not gone unnoticed by those of us who conduct our professional affairs in the language of Hafez, Rumi, and the nation that actually hosts this assembly and maintains its ski resorts.

Note on the Venue

Several participants have inquired whether the issuance of a juridical ruling at a ski resort introduces any question of propriety. The assembly has determined, after brief deliberation, that there is no prohibition in the sources against scholarly activity in mountainous locations; that the Prophet himself received revelation on Mount Hira; and that the quality of the air at 3,600 metres above sea level is, if anything, conducive to clarity of thought. The quality of the snow is a separate matter on which the assembly has not reached consensus and on which no ruling is forthcoming.

Signatories:

Grand Ayatollah Sayyid Muhammad-Taqi Khalkhali (Qom) — Ayatollah Mirza Husayn Karbala’i (Najaf, signing under protest) — Ayatollah Sayyid Ali-Reza Shirazi (Mashhad) — Hujjat al-Islam Dr. Ahmad Mohammadi (Tehran) — and thirteen others whose full honorifics, genealogies, and chains of scholarly transmission would require an appendix that the assembly has voted not to produce, as the lifts have reopened.

This ruling is published under the authority of the participating scholars and does not represent the position of any governmental body, seminary administration, or ski resort management. It supersedes all previous informal opinions on the matter of software methodology issued by any of the undersigned, including remarks made at dinner on the first evening that were explicitly designated as personal reflections and not juridical pronouncements.