Yusuf Islam Comes Half Circle
written by Imran Malik
Photo Credit: Lacey Diane
About 6 years ago, I met Yusuf Islam at a small fundraiser for Bosnia. To be honest, I didn’t care much for Yusuf at the time, but was kinda excited in the way that I was meeting the aging shell of the legendary Cat Stevens. He hadn’t written a song in 30 years and it was hard imagining him as anything but the Islamic Celebrity speaker from the ISNA conventions my parents would take me to every year. So I nervously went up and said hello, and my mother decided to interrupt and told Yusuf in a from-one-adult-to-another tone, “Imran likes playing the guitar and writing songs. Can you give him some advice?”. He told me nicely that from his understanding, playing music wasn’t permissible in Islam.
This was about the time my frustration with Islam had reached its peak. Hearing him say that upset me — I wanted to like him, idolize him even. But it seemed unfair to me, that in his life he was able to make some beautiful, memorable records, go on world tours, and after all of that, become a celebrated Muslim. I’d have strange ideas like ‘Converts have it so good- they get to party it up, sin all they want, and when they give it up and become Muslim, other Muslims look up to them.” In any case, I didn’t take his advice and continued playing music, and the experience had just made me more acerbic towards my double life as a kid who liked to rock but still had to go to the Mosque every Sunday.
Fast forward to today. Yusuf is writing songs again, playing his guitar, and has released two records. And it’s a strange thing, too. Because for so many years it always seemed to me like there was Cat Stevens, the legendary songwriter from the 70′s, and Yusuf Islam, the famed Islamic Scholar that would be the hot ticket at any big Islamic event. Now suddenly, it’s all jumbled up. He’s still a Yusuf, but he’s singing like Cat Stevens. For anyone that saw Yusuf Islam the way I did, telling young Muslims that music is simply not okay, this is a bit of a doozy to wrap our heads around.
In promotion of his new album, he was interviewed a few days ago by Stephen Colbert, and justified his absence from music as saying that “the fact is, singing and songwriting, if you get it right is a gift… God gave me the gift in the first place, and then decided there was some other work he wanted me to do”. That’s pretty vague, and no matter how much it burns me with curiosity, I feel like I dare not question it, because I don’t think there is an answer, and that he has every bit of doubt as I did.
I’m not sure if he still gets invited to as a speaker to ISNA conventions anymore. But knowing that he didn’t feel he had to revoke his faith in Islam to become a musician again makes me feel some overdue satisfaction. For so long, all I ever wanted was for someone to say it’s okay to bridge these two radically different, seemingly incompatible halves of me so I could be whole again. That Muslims can have strong identities that are uniquely their own. More and more, I’m getting the feeling that identifying yourself as a Muslim and a Musician is no longer Cognitive Dissonance. And that notion on a whole, is a positive thing.
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[...] Taqwacores as the story develops, they’ve begun posting entries on bands, concerts, and even commentary on Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens). Don’t forget to let them know what you think and why this [...]
I know this Cat Stevens song: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Nb1Mb8QMACg is pure cheese. I used to love it, though, and included it on a mix CD we had to make for some high school project. The mix was supposed to describe who we were. Today, I’m thinking I probably wouldn’t have gotten a C on it if the teacher understood creative people. If I woulda known that this post would fit into what I do someday then I could’ve explained why it was important. But that’s what being human is all about, not knowing. And I’d argue that’s what practicing religion is about first and foremost. Whatever you’re doing, it’s working. Don’t worry too much if people give you trouble about it. In hindsight, it all makes positive, logical sense and that’s especially true if you’re doing something you’re passionate about. That’s all I got so far.
[ “the fact is, singing and songwriting, if you get it right is a gift… God gave me the gift in the first place, and then decided there was some other work he wanted me to do”. ]
ahhh. THAT is music to my ears.
Converts don’t always have it so swell. That music was the province of the devil was literally the first thing I was taught as a Muslim. It messed with my head for years because I couldn’t reconcile the divine that I wished to know and love with my love and talent for music. I listened to music in secret for many years, hiding my Mp3s and CDs the way a druggie hides his gear.
Eventually, I chose music (and many other things) over Islam. I do resent that the kiddos today seem to be able to be Muslim and musical, in a way that we couldn’t be 10 or 15 years ago. It was choose the right thing or walk down the fiery path to hell. I sometimes think that if some sort of taqwacore had been around when I was in those years, I would have found a different way to be Muslim. But I didn’t, and ultimately, I am very happy and at peace with my decision to no longer be Muslim.
yeah he is still invited to ISNA
Nice blog, I only just came across it now…Yusuf talks more about his decision to make music again on various programmes. You can see one of them on his official Youtube page…. yusufislamofficial
All the best and peace,
Hussain
ith-tha-kullah
Fear God
Cat Stevens is doing exactly what every other follower of every religion does. He is following the bits he likes and ignoring the bits he doesn’t – which is what makes Islam subjective just like every other religion in the world.
It’s a shame he disobeys rules such as “no music” which have little consequence but adheres to the law which says Salman Rushdie should be killed for writing a book.
A beautiful post!
Just approx 2 weeks ago I attended one of his concerts here in Germany – and I believe that just being back on stage and sending salaam to all people is one of the best ways of da’wa he can do.
I converted 15 years ago, and I believe I faced somehow the same troubles (not related to music, but anyhow). As a new convert, you don’t really know what to follow, you only know, you want to be as perfect as possible, trying to stay as pure as you are directly after saying the shahada. So you start to follow the most strict rules ever, being afraid all the time of doing mistakes. And – at least it happened to me – after a while it starts keeping you away from the real message of Islam – which means to be in peace with Allah, the world and yourself. It starts to keep you away, because you start to be a perfectionist…you always worry: Is this haram, is my religious action (prayer, fasting…) valid? Maybe this and that was wrong? Maybe I should repeat this prayer, just to make sure it was really valid? And suddenly you’ll find you lost the deep sense of your religion.
I don’t know if it was like this with Yusuf, but I know it happens to many converts.
Thanks God people develop, people are able to change their minds. And if it means people come back to the soul of Islam by music, music is really a gift of Allah.
Wherever there is an opinion by a scholar against music, it is to be respected – and wherever there is an opinion of a scholar supporting music, it is to be respected. As Muslims we shouldn’t use them as justification, because these rules are made by human interpretation. Every Muslim should read and learn – and then to get an own opinion – THAT’s what Yusuf did.
God bless him, God bless you all. Salaam & Peace.