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QUICK FACTS
Why did he become a Muslim?
In the late 70's Cat was introduced to Islam by his
brother David Gordon who gave him a copy of the Qur'an
-- the holy book the of Muslims. Cat was immediately
impressed by the religion and ultimately adopted it.
He later changed his name to Yusuf Islam. He stopped
making music because he felt that the life of a pop
star was incompatible with the life of a Muslim. The
following is from a statement by Yusuf Islam.
"It was in fact the Surah called ‘The Poets’
which made me stop and evaluate my life and abandon
the music business when I embraced Islam twenty years
ago. Towards the end of the chapter, Allah, the Almighty,
says:"
Shall I inform you upon whom the devils descend?
They descend on every sinful false one.
They listen eagerly, but most of them are liars.
As for the poets, the deviants follow them.
Hast thou not seen how they stray in every valley,
And how they say that which they do not?
Except those who believe and do good works,
and remember Allah much, and vindicate themselves
after they have been wronged. Those who do wrong will
come to know by what a (great) reverse they will be
overturned.
The Glorious Qur’an, Chapter al Shu’ara
verses 221-227
What is he doing now? Yusuf is a prominent and
well respected member of the British Muslim community.
He runs two primary schools and is the chairman of several
charities. He has released several Islamic albums since
leaving the music business.
Did he auction off all of his musical instruments?
Yes he did auction off all of his musical instruments
and other items (gold records, etc) after converting
to Islam. To the best of my knowledge he does not own
a guitar.
How does he feel about his old music now? Yusuf
still profits from his record sales and uses the money
mostly for charity purposes. His music is not forbidden
in his home, nor is it encouraged. His own children
know and enjoy his albums. He does however have problems
with the subject matter of some of his songs, particularly
those of a sexual or religious nature that are not compatible
with his new beliefs. Profits from these songs are donated
directly to charity and never pass through Yusuf's hands.
Is he married, what about his family? Yes. Yusuf
is happily married and has five children - 4 daughters
and one son (Muhammad).
How I Came To Islam
By Yusuf Islam
January 1st, 1985
All I have to say is all what you know already, to
confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet
(Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam) as given by God - the
Religion of Truth. As human beings we are given a consciousness
and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation.
Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is
important to realize the obligation to rid ourselves
of all illusions and to make our lives a preparation
for the next life. Anybody who misses this chance is
not likely to be given another, to be brought back again
and again, because it says in Qur'an Majeed that when
man is brought to account, he will say, "O Lord,
send us back and give us another chance." The Lord
will say, "If I send you back you will do the same."
I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury
and the high life of show business. I was born in a
Christian home, but we know that every child is born
in his original nature - it is only his parents that
turn him to this or that religion. I was given this
religion (Christianity) and thought this way. I was
taught that God exists, but there was no direct contact
with God, so we had to make contact with Him through
Jesus - he was in fact the door to God. This was more
or less accepted by me, but I did not swallow it all.
I looked at some of the statues of Jesus; they were
just stones with no life. And when they said that God
is three, I was puzzled even more but could not argue.
I more or less believed it, because I had to have respect
for the faith of my parents. Gradually I became alienated
from this religious upbringing. I started making music.
I wanted to be a big star. All those things I saw in
the films and on the media took hold of me, and perhaps
I thought this was my God, the goal of making money.
I had an uncle who had a beautiful car. "Well,"
I said, "he has it made. He has a lot of money."
The people around me influenced me to think that this
was it; this world was their God. I decided then that
this was the life for me; to make a lot of money, have
a 'great life.' Now my examples were the pop stars.
I started making songs, but deep down I had a feeling
for humanity, a feeling that if I became rich I would
help the needy. (It says in the Qur'an, we make a promise,
but when we make something, we want to hold onto it
and become greedy.) So what happened was that I became
very famous. I was still a teenager, my name and photo
were splashed in all the media. They made me larger
than life, so I wanted to live larger than life and
the only way to do that was to be intoxicated (with
liquor and drugs).
IN HOSPITAL
After a year of financial success and 'high' living,
I became very ill, contracted TB and had to be hospitalized.
It was then that I started to think: What was to happen
to me? Was I just a body, and my goal in life was merely
to satisfy this body? I realized now that this calamity
was a blessing given to me by Allah, a chance to open
my eyes - "Why am I here? Why am I in bed?"
- and I started looking for some of the answers. At
that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism.
I began reading, and the first thing I began to become
aware of was death, and that the soul moves on; it does
not stop. I felt I was taking the road to bliss and
high accomplishment. I started meditating and even became
a vegetarian. I now believed in 'peace and flower power,'
and this was the general trend. But what I did believe
in particular was that I was not just a body. This awareness
came to me at the hospital. One day when I was walking
and I was caught in the rain, I began running to the
shelter and then I realized, 'Wait a minute, my body
is getting wet, my body is telling me I am getting wet.'
This made me think of a saying that the body is like
a donkey, and it has to be trained where it has to go.
Otherwise, the donkey will lead you where it wants to
go. Then I realized I had a will, a God-given gift:
follow the will of God. I was fascinated by the new
terminology I was learning in the Eastern religion.
By now I was fed up with Christianity. I started making
music again and this time I started reflecting my own
thoughts. I remember the lyric of one of my songs. It
goes like this: "I wish I knew, I wish I knew what
makes the Heaven, what makes the Hell. Do I get to know
You in my bed or some dusty cell while others reach
the big hotel?" and I knew I was on the Path. I
also wrote another song, "The Way to Find God Out."
I became even more famous in the world of music. I really
had a difficult time because I was getting rich and
famous, and at the same time, I was sincerely searching
for the Truth. Then I came to a stage where I decided
that Buddhism is all right and noble, but I was not
ready to leave the world. I was too attached to the
world and was not prepared to become a monk and to isolate
myself from society. I tried Zen and Ching, numerology,
tarot cards and astrology. I tried to look back into
the Bible and could not find anything. At this time
I did not know anything about Islam, and then, what
I regarded as a miracle occurred. My brother had visited
the mosque in Jerusalem and was greatly impressed that
while on the one hand it throbbed with life (unlike
the churches and synagogues which were empty), on the
other hand, an atmosphere of peace and tranquillity
prevailed.
THE QUR'AN
When he came to London he brought back a translation
of the Qur'an, which he gave to me. He did not become
a Muslim, but he felt something in this religion, and
thought I might find something in it also. And when
I received the book, a guidance that would explain everything
to me - who I was; what was the purpose of life; what
was the reality and what would be the reality; and where
I came from - I realized that this was the true religion;
religion not in the sense the West understands it, not
the type for only your old age. In the West, whoever
wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way
of life is deemed a fanatic. I was not a fanatic, I
was at first confused between the body and the soul.
Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart
and you don't have to go to the mountain to be religious.
We must follow the will of God. Then we can rise higher
than the angels. The first thing I wanted to do now
was to be a Muslim. I realized that everything belongs
to God, that slumber does not overtake Him. He created
everything. At this point I began to lose the pride
in me, because hereto I had thought the reason I was
here was because of my own greatness. But I realized
that I did not create myself, and the whole purpose
of my being here was to submit to the teaching that
has been perfected by the religion we know as Al-Islam.
At this point I started discovering my faith. I felt
I was a Muslim. On reading the Qur'an, I now realized
that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message.
Why then were the Jews and Christians different? I know
now how the Jews did not accept Jesus as the Messiah
and that they had changed His Word. Even the Christians
misunderstand God's Word and called Jesus the son of
God. Everything made so much sense. This is the beauty
of the Qur'an; it asks you to reflect and reason, and
not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has created
everything. The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the
sun and moon and God's creation in general. Do you realize
how different the sun is from the moon? They are at
varying distances from the earth, yet appear the same
size to us; at times one seems to overlap the other.
Even when many of the astronauts go to space, they see
the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of
space. They become very religious, because they have
seen the Signs of Allah. When I read the Qur'an further,
it talked about prayer, kindness and charity. I was
not a Muslim yet, but I felt that the only answer for
me was the Qur'an, and God had sent it to me, and I
kept it a secret. But the Qur'an also speaks on different
levels. I began to understand it on another level, where
the Qur'an says, "Those who believe do not take
disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers."
Thus at this point I wished to meet my Muslim brothers.
CONVERSION
Then I decided to journey to Jerusalem (as my brother
had done). At Jerusalem, I went to the mosque and sat
down. A man asked me what I wanted. I told him I was
a Muslim. He asked what was my name. I told him, "Stevens."
He was confused. I then joined the prayer, though not
so successfully. Back in London, I met a sister called
Nafisa. I told her I wanted to embrace Islam and she
directed me to the New Regent Mosque. This was in 1977,
about one and a half years after I received the Qur'an.
Now I realized that I must get rid of my pride, get
rid of Iblis, and face one direction. So on a Friday,
after Jumma' I went to the Imam and declared my faith
(the Kalima) at this hands. You have before you someone
who had achieved fame and fortune. But guidance was
something that eluded me, no matter how hard I tried,
until I was shown the Qur'an. Now I realize I can get
in direct contact with God, unlike Christianity or any
other religion. As one Hindu lady told me, "You
don't understand the Hindus. We believe in one God;
we use these objects (idols) to merely concentrate."
What she was saying was that in order to reach God,
one has to create associates, that are idols for the
purpose. But Islam removes all these barriers. The only
thing that moves the believers from the disbelievers
is the salat. This is the process of purification.
Finally I wish to say that everything I do is for the
pleasure of Allah and pray that you gain some inspirations
from my experiences. Furthermore, I would like to stress
that I did not come into contact with any Muslim before
I embraced Islam. I read the Qur'an first and realized
that no person is perfect. Islam is perfect, and if
we imitate the conduct of the Holy Prophet (Sallallahu
alaihi wa sallam) we will be successful. May Allah give
us guidance to follow the path of the ummah of Muhammad
(Sallallahu alaihi wa sallam). Ameen!
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