In the 1970s I enjoyed listening to the songs of the British singer known as Cat Stevens. His version of the hymn “Morning Has Broken” made a particularly strong impression on me; I can still hear it now. But a large gap separates that singer and the bearded middle-aged man with a receding hairline who now speaks to American audiences about his conversion.

Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens, talks eloquently about  his search for “the center of the universe.” This search led him in 1977 to cast off his former identity as a pop musician  and become a pious Muslim. In his own graphic language, he asks, “Why did this rock star who seemed to have everything come down from the stars, put his head on the ground, and hang up his guitar?”

Almost by a process of elimination did he find the center of the universe. First, it was not the church. As a boy in London, he had grown familiar with the church through the religious education he received from Catholic nuns.

Later he discovered the world of popular music and Merseyside (made famous by the Beatles) became the center of the universe. At age eighteen he scored a big success with his hit song “I Love My Dog.” Featuring three gigs a night, this career brought him into a milieu of worldly activities such as drinking and smoking.

This early phase ended abruptly when he came down with tuberculosis, a life-threatening disease that forced him into a hospital for months. This fearful experience made the young man think about the direction of his life and the prospect of death. At that time, he now says, the center of the universe was his own belly-button.

However, he soon happened  to read a book that said, “You will never be satisfied until you reach the truth,” a wake-up call for him. This led him to try Buddhism, Zen, and other spiritual traditions until, through a gift from his brother, he began to read the Qur’an.

The very beginning of this holy book – “In the name of God, the Lord of the universe,” opened his mind and heart to reality as never before. This book, he felt, “was just for me.” It brought him a knowledge of God not available  to him previously, and also the gift of peace.

In his new identity as a Muslim, he first took the name Joseph after reading in the Qur’an about the patriarch who, as a boy, was hidden in the well and sold in the marketplace. Later, at the suggestion of a fellow worshipper, he changed his first name to Yusuf, the Muslim form of Joseph. Finally, he had found his place in the world and his true identity.

Since then, Yusuf Islam has used his talents to advance the knowledge of the Muslim faith. Though for a long time he gave up singing, he returned to the recording studio in 1995 and now performs without any accompanying instrument. He does so for the benefit of others such as the embattled Bosnian Muslims.

In concluding his talk, Yusuf Islam says modestly, “I hope this will give you some insight into my journey.”

In fact, he did succeed in sharing that insight and seemed to captivate members of the audience, in the  majority college students. His is yet another classic story of conversion away from the pleasures and successes of the world toward the satisfactions of the spiritual life. His storytelling features deep conviction, an animated style, and many dashes of humor.

One disturbing element in his worldview, however, surfaced immediately with  the question period. The first questioner wanted to know whether he had changed his opinion about the death sentence leveled against the celebrated writer Salman Rushdie. Yusuf Islam had been reported as favoring the threat authorized by the government of Iran.

Yusuf Islam blamed “misbehavior on the part of the press” for this report. “I was

a new Muslim,” he explained, “and some smart journalist decided to pose the question.”

But, instead of backing off this time, he suggested that “when all things are Islamic, then all things can be implemented.” Since Great Britain is not an Islamic state, then the sentence against Rushdie could not be implemented there.

This one sentiment seemed harshly and disquietingly out of keeping with Yusuf Islam’s message of peace.

Richard Griffin