Is a Pareto Analysis Useful for a Muslim?
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Peace to All,
In the 'Salat-Zakat' section I raised a post on the what is the degree of criticalness of salat for a Muslims to be successful in the eyes of Allah .
There are many contributing elements towards the ultimate success of the individual Muslim and be the triumphant .
There is a long list of elements necessary to be a successful Muslim, e.g. submission , believe , salat , fasting, zakat , remembrance , trust , good works , no Shirk, 3budu . etc., etc.
I wonder whether a Pareto Analysis would be useful for any Muslim generally.
Pareto Analysis is a statistical technique in decision-making used for the selection of a limited number of tasks that produce significant overall effect.
It uses the Pareto Principle (also known as the 80/20 rule) the idea that by doing 20% of the work you can generate 80% of the benefit of doing the entire job.As stated there is a long list of elements for a Muslim to carry out to be a successful Muslim and time is limited. In the Quran, Allah introduce the concept of degrees , thus some elements are critical while others are not.
The Pareto Rule is a very common hypothetical rule and if it applies to Islam and Muslims then it would be very effective if we can recognize that 20% of effort that can produce 80% of the result.
Note Allah stated Dhikr is more important than SLW, thus if one spend too much time, attention and effort on salat than Dhikr, then one effort may not be effective.The above applies to a general situation not special circumstances.
The principle is to be effective in any venture, being a successful Muslim, one must give attention to the critical matters than sweat on the small stuff.
Maybe the Pareto Rule is not applicable to the Muslim-in-general?
Views?
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Peace All.
The number one priority ,the top of any list must be the uniting factor-GOD Alone,our Creator,all of us humans-
Now, GOD places Justice,fairness and good intentions as the most important part of His system. We seem to always concentrate on the trivial matters that are personal and can be overlooked by GOD if we have the right intentions.
Among the many books of religions out there, very few deal with the subject of "justice,fairness and good intentions"i.e the attitude of our mind towards GOD s system to keep the balance for all GOD s creatures.
The most important useful analysis for any human including "Muslims" is to deal with this utmost priority,the attitude of mind towards the one GOD and His just system must be top of the list. Everything else will then follow with GOD s guidance and trust.
My thoughts.
GOD bless.
Peace. -
There is a long list of elements necessary to be a successful Muslim, e.g. submission , believe , salat , fasting, zakat , remembrance , trust , good works , no Shirk, 3budu . etc., etc.
I wonder whether a Pareto Analysis would be useful for any Muslim generally.
Things don't seem to work that way in Islam. There is nothing ritualistic.
You will always know whether you are on the right track.
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Peace All.
The number one priority ,the top of any list must be the uniting factor-GOD Alone,our Creator,all of us humans-
Now, GOD places Justice,fairness and good intentions as the most important part of His system. We seem to always concentrate on the trivial matters that are personal and can be overlooked by GOD if we have the right intentions.
Among the many books of religions out there, very few deal with the subject of "justice,fairness and good intentions"i.e the attitude of our mind towards GOD s system to keep the balance for all GOD s creatures.
The most important useful analysis for any human including "Muslims" is to deal with this utmost priority,the attitude of mind towards the one GOD and His just system must be top of the list. Everything else will then follow with GOD s guidance and trust.
My thoughts.
GOD bless.
Peace.Peace,
Btw, I don't have any determined views on this, I am just exploring.
When we read the Quran it is noted there is so many processes that a Muslim has to carry out and to avoid. Some are obligatory while discretion is allowed for some. Some elements carry tenfold rewards, some twofold, etc.
Given the above, the main point of the OP i.e. Pareto Analysis is a question of efficiency and optimization as with most humans who generally has limited time and resources.
I agree the most critical element in Islam is the belief of Tawhid and no shirk . This is within the category of believe which include believe in the revelation, the angels, the last day, the messenger.
The other critical element is submission which in general is less critical than believe (see 4914) but both mental state must be continually increased and reinforce forever.
The next is to do good. But there are so many categories of doing good which include ihsan , salaha KhYR, ma;ruf , barra and many others.
Justice & fairness , are also part of good righteous works.
If there is limited time, resources and limiting conditions which do we focus on? This is why a Pareto Analysis is useful.Another is to avoid evil & wrong deeds , e.g. munkar , relevant SU, SWA, KhBT derivatives.
There also many other pertinent elements like taqwa , repentance , remembrance , zakat , salat , 3budu etc. etc.
I think if we can rank all the physical and mental process with some sort of weightage and making provision of limiting conditions, it will be a good guide to promote efficiency and optimization to the best one can do.
I think it is the lack of such guidance that drove salat-as-rigid-ritual-prayers* to dominate in the current situation with the majority of Muslims.
- which as intended in the Quran, salat-as-mental-commitment is more critical than the form in terms of rigid ritual prayers.
You did not mention any weightage % in terms of focus within limited time, resources and limiting conditions.
For a start I would roughly give the following weightage %.
• 1. Believe =30%
2. Submission = 20%
3. Do good =15%
4. Avoid evil = 10%
5. Others = 15%•
The above is a very rough estimate.
There should more than 5 items with more details and weightings and prioritizing. -
Things don't seem to work that way in Islam. There is nothing ritualistic.
You will always know whether you are on the right track.
Peace,
I agree there are no rigid rituals such as obligatory prayers at fixed time in fixed rites & procedures relating to salat . There are also no fixed % for zakat in the Quran.
The OP re pareto analysis is about efficiency and optimization within the human default of limiting time, resource and conditions. Such critical thinking exercises are not fixed rituals but rather is an attitude of efficiency.
For 1000++ years those who practice prayers in fixed time with fixed rites and rituals thought they were on the 'perfect' right track.
Since Allah condone and favor those who think & reason and ponder and who are men of understanding , those who are able should try to practice critical thinking and problem solving to find efficient and optimal ways to practice Islam.
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Peace,
I agree there are no rigid rituals such as obligatory prayers at fixed time in fixed rites & procedures relating to salat . There are also no fixed % for zakat in the Quran.
The OP re pareto analysis is about efficiency and optimization within the human default of limiting time, resource and conditions. Such critical thinking exercises are not fixed rituals but rather is an attitude of efficiency.
For 1000++ years those who practice prayers in fixed time with fixed rites and rituals thought they were on the 'perfect' right track.
Since Allah condone and favor those who think & reason and ponder and who are men of understanding , those who are able should try to practice critical thinking and problem solving to find efficient and optimal ways to practice Islam.
God will always help you see your efficiency. He'll also show you signs if you are wrong somewhere. No worries.