Cat Stevens and Islam
David Nassau
was born Steven Katz, and called God by a Hebrew name, not an Arabic one.
(no pedantry about names of God, please) One day, while swimming in a
river, Cat got caught in a strong current. He cried out, "If you save
me, God, I will become a muslim." He didn't drown, and true to his word,
became a Muslim. I cannot attest to the authenticity of this story, I am
only relating that such a story has been told.
dod...@ccmail.orst.edu
Message-ID: <76...@blue.cis.pitt.edu> stated:
> I have heard a similar story about the singer Cat Stevens.
Former singer Cat Stevens is, indeed, a Muslim, but I've never
heard the story you relate below. Cat Stevens is known in the
Muslim community as brother Yusuf Islam. He writes articles, gives
speeches, gives radio interviews, etc. about his experiences. From
his words, it seems that his reversion to Islam came after an extended
period of soul-searching and exploring different faiths. (In a
Canadian radio interview I have on tape, they looked at how his
soul-searching was evident in the lyrics of his songs.) He had
explored just about everything _except_ Islam, when his brother came
back from a trip to Jerusalem and brought him a copy of the Qur'an.
After reading and studying it, he became convinced of Islam.
> <deleted> One day, while swimming in a river, Cat got caught in
> strong current. He cried out, "If you save me, God, I will
> become a muslim." He didn't drown, and true to his word, became
> a Muslim. I cannot attest to the authenticity of this story, I
> am only relating that such a story has been told.
Another example to show that the prevalence of a story does not
determine its validity. We have a duty to distinguish between fact
and fiction before passing things on to others. We need to verify
a story, or nip it in the bud.
Wa salaam alaykum - Sister C. Huda Dodge
Ruhul Amin
>I have heard a similar story about the singer Cat Stevens. Cat Stevens
>was born Steven Katz, and called God by a Hebrew name, not an Arabic one.
>river, Cat got caught in a strong current. He cried out, "If you save
>became a Muslim. I cannot attest to the authenticity of this story, I am
>only relating that such a story has been told.
Assalamu 'alaikum wa rahamatullah
The above story is completely baseless. I have personally heard from his
lecture how he became a Muslim. He said that all his life he was searching
for a religion which made sense. He said he practiced different religion
including Budism in search of the truth. Failing to find a religion, he
also became agnostic. But his search continued. He said that if someone
looks at the lyrics of most of his songs (while he used to sing and write
songs) one will find that it contains a sublime message of the search for a
true religion which makes sense. Yousuf Islam (Cat Steven's Muslim name)
said that in 1977 (I am not sure about the exact year, but it was in 70s)
his brother gave him a copy of the translation of the Quran as a birthday
present, because his brother knew about his unsuccessful spiritual quest.
By the way, his brother was not a Muslim. Yousuf Islam continued that
the moment he read the translation of the Quran for the first time, he
realized that he found what he was looking for all his life. He read the
translation again and again. Everytime he read, it made more and more
sense to him. Finally, after two years, he became a Muslim.
So, that's the story of him becoming a Muslim. The rest is all known
to us. Those who have seen him will agree how much of a devoted Muslim
he is. He had everything in this world, the money, the fame. He gave
up all of those only for the pleasure of Allah (swt). Even his appearance
is so humbling with the beard, turban and Islamic dress.
Wssalam.
Your brother,
Ruhul Amin
Samir Benmakhlouf
>I have heard a similar story about the singer Cat Stevens. Cat Stevens
>was born Steven Katz, and called God by a Hebrew name, not an Arabic one.
>(no pedantry about names of God, please) One day, while swimming in a
>river, Cat got caught in a strong current. He cried out, "If you save
>me, God, I will become a muslim." He didn't drown, and true to his word,
>became a Muslim. I cannot attest to the authenticity of this story, I am
>only relating that such a story has been told.
>
Assalamu Alaikum,
This story is for sure myth, I heard Yussouf Al-Islam (aka Cat Stevens) telling
his story on how he became a muslim:
He said that he was born in a Christian family, and lived his live as a
Christian but was not very deep in it. Then after he reached his stardom, he
felt an emptiness in his life, this emptiness was spiritual. Once he had
a very bad case of Tuberculosis, and he saw his life in perspective, and
automatically started looking for the truth. He read different doctorines
and ideologies (Christianity, Boudism...) and he felt that something was
missing. Then one day, he got the Quor'an. He read the first Surah, Al-Fatihah.
And he found it convincing. He expected a story about Muhammed, or that
Allah was the God of the Arabs, but contarely, he found the message to be
very much universal. And he said the more he read the more he became sure
that it was the truth. Then he went to a Mosque in London, and made the
Shahadah. Two years later, he quit singing, and devoted his life to
Daawah, and learning and giving talks about Islam. He embraced Islam in 1977.
He also said that he knew Islam before he knew Muslims.
samir
Alaa Zeineldine
: I have heard a similar story about the singer Cat Stevens. Cat Stevens
: (no pedantry about names of God, please) One day, while swimming in a
: river, Cat got caught in a strong current. He cried out, "If you save
: me, God, I will become a muslim." He didn't drown, and true to his word,
: became a Muslim. I cannot attest to the authenticity of this story, I am
: only relating that such a story has been told.
Cat Stevens is indeed now a Muslim, he changed his name to Youssef Islam.
I have seen him deliver an excellent speech on the Muslim March for Bosnia
in Washington DC.
I have not heard the story of his conversion. However, if the story above
is true, it would make sense if he had been reading and learning about
Islam some time before the incident but hesitant to accept it, then
that incident became the final catalyst.
AlaA