Ultimately, Islam is about hearts...

Ultimately, Islam is about hearts. So the buildings..., the shops that you go to, the bank that you go to are about the hearts that are there...  Madinah is a city of tanwin, which is a connection that is felt more here than anywhere else, more than the haram in Makkah or the haram in Jerusalem, it's about a connection to a perfected human being because we discover more about ourselves when we are with others than we do when we are in situations of solitude or situations in which we are with people that don't really matter because they're on the same railway platform, etc. Islam is a religion of mu'amalah, of interaction, of engaging with others. It's not really a religion for solitarists -- fine you can read books that tell you that on Mount Uhud a thousand years ago there were people who went up to live and to worship for months and then came down to pick up some dates...but that's a particular maqam for a small group of people. Likewise deep under the haram there are these caves that people used in ages past to go in to worship for six months before hajj and found places to do that on their own. That's exceptional and there is a place for it, and of course the precedent for it in the Prophet's going to Mount Hira (Allah bless him and give him peace), but generally, the way of spiritual progress in Islam is through the anjaman, through the company of others. That's why in the city of the Prophet (Allah bless him and give him peace) there is so much emphasis on engagement and good character. We are really influenced by the people around us and our engagement with them is the basis for everything else and that's why akhlaq and adab are fundamental.

- paraphrased excerpt from CD 1 of Shaykh Murad's CD set on Prophetic Character...an amazing set, masha'Allah.