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.