Why and How has Islam Become a "Dry Religion" Today?

I really loved this response by Sidi Yahya Rhodus, who currently studies at Dar al-Mustafa in Yemen, to the following question which he was asked during a DeenPort interview: “You spoke about the fact that many people have made Islam a ‘dry religion’ today. Why has this happened and how can we change this?”

Sidi Yahya's response: “Part of this has happened because of people not taking from true, living scholars and traditional sources. Once they lost taking Islam from it's traditional sources they give Islam their own interpretations which is, in most cases incorrect. Certain things that they think are not part of Islam, actually are, but they don't realize it. Islam rectifies someone inwardly and outwardly. There are sciences that are related to the outward, such as Fiqh, and there are sciences that are related to the inward, such as Ihsan or Tazkiya. What are the attributes he should have? What are the various diseases of the heart? How does he attain certainty? So, if we only give people the outward aspect of Islam and ignore the inward, there will be a void.

One of the modern people said that the West is form without content and the East is content without form. The geographical center of Islam, Mecca, falls between the East and the West. Islam has both aspects. Islam has Shariah and Islam has Haqiqa. Islam has the inward and Islam has the outward. Every single human being on the earth will be able to find his path and what he truly desires in Islam, and this is the greatness of our tradition. So, when we neglect certain aspects of Islam, in particular the aspect of the soul, it becomes dry. The soul is in need of sustenance just as the minds and outward bodies do.”