Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)

Subject: Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) Thu Nov 20, 2008 8:01 am

Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)

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"peace be
upon him") 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."

MY EARLY RELIGIOUS UPBRINGING
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.

POP STAR
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![/font][/color][/b]

Subject: Re: Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) Wed Dec 10, 2008 5:12 am

thanx beloved iman for this nice topic

Subject: Re: Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) Thu Dec 11, 2008 6:38 am

Salam My Dear Sister
You Are Most welcome dear sis

Thank U soooooo Much Dear sis for this nice pass
May Allah bless u
Fi Aman Allah

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