"For if religion is truly to be used to address

the very real trials of modern life, which include misguided militancy in the name of religion, adherents must move beyond the platitudes of interfaith dialogue and reach deep, to draw from the ancient waters of prayer, meditation, and introspection. The noise of secularity--and even the noise of religion--has crowded our minds and let us incapable of thoughtful action. But noise is a hallmark of the modern world. In contrast, at the true heart of every religion lies silence, penetrated by illumination: Buddha, the Enlightened One, under the Lote tree; Moses, the prophet, in the Sinai; Jesus, the Messiah, in the desert; and the Prophet Muhammad in the cave of ̣Hirā'. The source and power of religion is in its ineffable presence, as well as in the profound state of spiritual quietude that accompanies it, though it is often absent in modern religious adherents. Religious disquietude, and the problem it forments, has led people to seek other sources of silence for enlightenment, or noise for entertainment, that are less troublesome and less self-righteous than religion. Meanwhile, the cycle of oppression spirals on." 

-Shaykh Hamza Yusuf