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Why do sincere believers infantilise themselves, handing their affairs over to be managed by other believers, deemed more spiritual or wise than them? Why make another man or woman the master of your destiny? Is man not told not to claim himself special and pure?

To God belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth so that He may reward those who do evil according to what they did, and reward those who do good with the finest reward — those who avoid the major sins and shameful deeds, only stumbling on slight ones. Indeed, your Lord is vast in forgiveness. He was most knowing of you when He produced you from the earth and when you were foetuses in the wombs of your mothers. So do not claim yourselves to be pure; He is most knowing of those who ward off evil.

Quran 53:31-2

Take what is good and beneficial from others, but don’t submit to them. Use your intellect and heart to discern what is right and wrong. There’s no need to defer to another in the minutiae of your daily life. Have you not heard the story of those asked to slaughter an animal — also recounted by the Quran — who demanded ever finer descriptions of it until the task became nearly impossible to perform? Could we be like those people?

This path is quite easy in its true essence. It becomes difficult to hold onto because we make it hard. If we are asked to shun extremism, we do the opposite. If we are asked to worship only the One alone, and neither His creation nor our own ego, we willing insert intermediaries we have made pure, making them more worthy of helping us than the One to whom all belong.

Live in the world, in your time and place. The One is in control. He inserted us into this era, with these conditions and challenges. We do not find ourself here by mere chance; this is all by design. All that happens is the will of the One. No need to run away, playing make-believe, reestablishing quaint polities, dressing up according to the whims of men we take as guides. Be content — serene, relaxed — resigned to the best of designs.

Don’t hand your affairs over to sheikh-ul-Islam the magnificent — or whatever grand title he has affixed to his name this week. Hand your affairs over to the One in whose hand is your soul, to whom belongs whatever is in the heavens and whatever is on the earth.