Have you ever read a superhero comic? Or, maybe stretch that back a bit. Fantasy books about overcoming great evil. Hell, maybe even just imagining how it'd feel like to have superpowers.

I have. I've read comics, stories, books about heroes with legendary powers. They're awe-inspiring, and they made me feel paradoxically more connected with how human I am. That, even without superpowers, I can still overcome the worst of my life.

But it is nice to have superheroes in real life, right? Some people who we can't verify the reality of their miracles, but we can freely believe that they have that superpower. Just so that we can keep the fantasy that maybe we do have miracles in real life. Maybe life is worth living, because there are role models with amazing heroic capabilities that we can believe in.

If you're a Muslim in Indonesia, you're in luck. We have those superheroes.

The hidden saints

There's this concept. I don't know where Muslims got them. They're never mentioned in the Koran. But, there are these people who are chosen by God as a some kind of saint. They then have these amazing, miraculous powers, which they kept hidden for one reason or another.

It's intrigue that these figures brought. "What if they're hidden among us" or "What if that guy you just pass by is actually a saint". Muslims somehow needs these figures to properly commit to their rituals.

Is it because they need the role model aspect? Is it because they saw too much fantasy and drama involving points system, that they think God's grace and mercy is counted like EXP in a video game? No idea. But it is fun to theorize about hidden saints.

The concept of ziarah

Ziarah is another thing. It's going to the known saints' burial sites and mark it as a pilgrimage. Muslims would find revered figures' burial sites, come to them, read a Surah from the Koran (which is often Ya Seen, a Surah about life), and pray.

Praying for what? No idea. They do pray a lot though. Maybe praying at these pilgrimage sites are like boosts in a video game. I'm sorry, but I can't think of anything else except that these people are treating the religion of Islam like a fantasy novel. Or like those cultivation stories from China.

What difference does it make, praying at home and at the burial sites anyway? Does God hear them more there? Never read any of that in the Koran.

But they do have this concept of Ziarah. And, you know what? Kudos to them, because it's making a sort of silk road-esque condition. The mapped known saints' burial sites usually would mean the road there is maintained, the people there has their economy wheels turning, and the demand-and-supply model of pilgrims and locals are strong.

Defending the rituals using tradition

It's tradition, really. Because our fathers did it, so did we. Never mind that that exact mindset is what the Koran reminded us of.

If our fathers are wrong, we cross that wrongness and return to the light of God.

But, well, as I said, the part that holds on tight is not exactly the aspect of piety. It's wish fulfillment. The saints represented a form of life that is ascetic, and pure.

Purity of life means purity of heart. Closer to God. Prayers that is heard. If that's what gives Muslims the ability to just be with God, then all powers to them.

It's just that...

Treating the saints as God's right hand

Saints, the scholars, the big guys in Muslim academia. They are not God's right hand. You don't need their permission to study and understand what God is saying. God made the holy words perfectly clear.

It's written, and there are millions of copies with translation available. It's right there. All you need is to read.

No, not even reading with a teacher beside you. Just read, and understand the Koran as a perfect book.

There's an underlying need for Muslims to construct superheroes because their innate insecurity about how close God is to them. It's very, very human to do that. But it also clouds the fact that God is closer than our jugular veins.

We don't need saints to guide us, we need the Koran. We need God. And He is right there. Right beside you. Well, right all around you really, but that's just semantics.

Once you understood the fact that you can talk to the author of these superheroes stories directly, you would understand why you need them in the first place. And you would then begin to just talk with the author Himself. I mean, why would you read about His creation if He's right there?