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Cat Stevens, Former Pop star, UK (part 1 of 2)
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Description: One of the most prominent musical figures of the 70’s and his search for the truth. Part 1: Life as a musician.
By Cat Stevens
Published on 16 Jan 2006 - Last modified on 11 Oct 2009
Viewed: 20952 (daily average: 9) - Rating: 4.7 out of 5 - Rated by: 20
Printed: 910 - Emailed: 25 - Commented on: 2
Category: Articles
> Stories of New Muslims
> Personalities
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_001.jpg) All I have to say is all what you know already, to
confirm what you already know, the message of the Prophet [may the mercy and
blessings of God 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… 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 the Glorious Quran 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 Quran, 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 God, 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.
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Cat Stevens, Former Pop star, UK (part 2 of 2)
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Description: One of the most prominent musical figures of the 70’s and his search for the truth. Part 2: The Quran and accepting Islam.
By Cat Stevens
Published on 16 Jan 2006 - Last modified on 11 Oct 2009
Viewed: 16122 (daily average: 7) - Rating: 4.7 out of 5 - Rated by: 41
Printed: 855 - Emailed: 58 - Commented on: 2
Category: Articles
> Stories of New Muslims
> Personalities
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The Quran
When he came to London, he brought back a
translation of the Quran, 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 Quran, 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 Quran; it asks you to reflect and
reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One Who has created
everything. The Quran 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 God.
When I read the Quran 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 Quran, and God had sent it to me, and I kept it a secret.
But the Quran also speaks on different levels. I began to understand it on
another level, where the Quran 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
Quran. Now I realized that I must get rid of my pride, get rid of Satan, and
face one direction. So on a Friday, after the Friday congrational prayer
service, I went to the Imam (Prayer Leader) and declared my faith (the
Shahaadah) 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 Quran. 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 (prayer). This is the process of
purification.
Finally, I wish to say that everything I do is
for the pleasure of God 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 Quran first and
realized that no person is perfect. Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the
conduct of the Prophet we will be successful.
May God give us guidance to follow the path of
the nation of Muhammad, may the mercy and blessings of God be upon him. Ameen!
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