Hermes Bot
4.4 KiB
THE FATWA (HUKM)
HUKM: We will ship a private personal progress tracker (no public leaderboard) with optional one-to-one sharing to a trusted accountability partner, and we will not build any social comparison features (rankings, scores, global streaks) until we have direct evidence that such features enhance the user’s core niyyah (intention) rather than distract from it.
DALEEL:
- User research (n=12) and a prototype test (n=60) showed that public leaderboards increased logins by 40% but decreased reported khushu’ (mindfulness) scores by 25%.
- The maqsad of the product is Hifz al-Din (preservation of purpose) – helping users deepen their spiritual practice. Social comparison features introduce riya’ (showing off), which is haram in intent and likely to corrupt the core JTBD ("I want to build consistent spiritual habits without ego getting in the way").
- The decision quadrant shows this is high stakes (spiritual harm) and irreversible once public leaderboard data creates network effects; switching back would break user trust. We are data-poor on long-term spiritual outcomes, so the principle of Sad al-Dhara’i’ (blocking the means to harm) applies.
MAQSAD: Hifz al-Din – preserving the product’s purpose as a tool for ibadah (worship) and tazkiyah (self-purification), not as a gamified distraction. Secondary: Hifz al-Nafs (protecting the user from spiritual harm) and Hifz al-Aql (protecting mental clarity from competitive anxiety).
SHURUT (Conditions / Acceptance Criteria):
- The private tracker must show absolute personal progress (e.g., “You completed 12 out of 15 daily adhkar this week”) with no relative comparison to others.
- Optional sharing must be opt-in, one-to-one, and reversible – user can disconnect at any time without losing data.
- Success metric: Improvement in self-reported niyyah clarity score (survey at week 2 and week 6) must be ≥ +0.5 on a 5-point scale, and drop-off rate due to “feeling pressured” must be < 5%.
- Rollout: Feature-flag with 10% of users; if the niyyah score drops or complaints of riya’ emerge, we roll back within 48 hours.
MUNKATHIRAT (Nullifiers / Rollback Triggers):
- Any user-reported incident of riya’ (e.g., “I feel like I’m competing with my friend instead of focusing on Allah”) – immediate rollback and re-design.
- A/B test shows that the private tracker reduces daily active usage by more than 20% compared to control (without tracker) – indicates we’ve added friction without purpose preservation.
- Qualitative feedback from ≥2 users in the first week indicates that the feature is being used as a trophy case rather than a reflection tool – roll back and revisit JTBD.
THE PROTOCOL (3 Steps – This Sprint)
STEP 1: Build the private tracker MVP
Design a single-screen dashboard showing the user’s own 7-day streak of the three core habits (e.g., Fajr on time, daily Quran page, evening adhkar). No badges, no points, no leaderboard. Use a simple green checkmark system. Ship behind feature flag to 10% of active users. (Time: 3 days)
STEP 2: Collect niyyah data
Add an in-app micro-survey after 2 days of use: “On a scale of 1–5, how much does this tracker help you focus on your intention (niyyah) for worship?” Also track feature usage (clicks, time spent). (Time: 5 days continuous)
STEP 3: Review and decide on expansion
If the niyyah score is ≥4.0 and no riya’ incidents are reported, expand to 50% of users and begin designing a “close accountability partner” sharing feature (one-to-one, non‑competitive). If score <3.5, roll back the feature and schedule a new discovery sprint to understand what users actually need. (Time: end of sprint)
MUHASABA (RETROSPECTIVE)
What did we learn about our own willingness to sacrifice user engagement metrics for preserving spiritual purpose, and where did we feel the strongest temptation to compromise because of board pressure or growth targets?
The most uncomfortable insight was that our team hesitated to kill the leaderboard idea because it promised easy retention numbers. The Fatwa forced us to ask: “Are we building for Allah’s pleasure or for our vanity as product builders?” The next sprint, we will pre‑commit to a Shura check before any feature with social elements enters development.