How I came to Islam - by Yusuf Islam
From Musician to Muslim by Allah's Will
From Musician to Muslim by Allah's Will
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."
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 tranquility 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 Jummah' I went to the Imam and
declared my faith (the Kalimah) 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 alayhi wa sallam) we will be
successful. May Allah give us guidance to follow the path of the ummah of
Muhammad (Sallallahu alayhi wa sallam). Ameen!
-- Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens)