Usama Canon – on Why Religion Still Matters

			Religion matters more when it's carried out of
		

			the mosque, out of the church, etc., into
		

			the street, into the home, and into the
		

			different corners of a person's life.
		

			But whether they be within a mundane space
		

			or within a sacred space, that's when it
		

			really matters.
		

			And I think that one of the reasons
		

			people oftentimes are disenchanted or disinterested in religion
		

			is because it's relegated to the place of
		

			worship or it's relegated to the halls of
		

			academia or it's relegated to theological schools and
		

			it's no longer being translated and kind of
		

			brought into the other spaces within people's life.
		

			And I think that the more we're able
		

			to do that, the more we're able to
		

			take it and make it an articulated reality,
		

			the more it will become relevant.
		

			And that's exactly the example of our beloved
		

			ﷺ, the Prophet Muhammad, peace and blessings of
		

			Allah be upon him, is that he was
		

			always reflecting that light.
		

			He was always reflecting that light, whether it
		

			was in a mundane setting or within a
		

			political one or within a family setting, etc.,
		

			etc.
		

			So that's where, to me, that's where the
		

			bread is buttered, is when it goes beyond
		

			thought and it becomes an articulated reality for
		

			people to see.
		

			And that's why a scholar once visiting us
		

			here in the Bay Area told us, he
		

			said, people are listening to you with their
		

			eyes.
		

			They're listening to you with their eyes.