CAT STEVENS, FORMER POP STAR, UK (PART 2 OF 2)

By: Cat Stevens

One of the most prominent musical figures of the 70’s and his search for the truth. 
Part 2: The Quran and accepting Islam.

THE QURAN

When he arrived in London brought a translation of the Qur'an , which he gave me . It did not become a Muslim , but he felt something in this religion , and thought I could find something in it also .POP STAR

And when I received the book, a guide to explain everything to me - who I was , what was the purpose of life , what was the reality and what is reality, and where I come from - I ' I realized that this was the true religion, the religion not in the sense the West understands , not only for their old age type .God In the West , whoever wishes to embrace a religion and make it his only way of life that is considered a fanatic. I was not a fan , I was confused at first between body and soul. Then I realized that the body and soul are not apart and you have to go to the mountain to be religious. We must follow the will of God. Then we can rise higher than the angels.religion The first thing I wanted was to be a Muslim .POP STAR

I realized that everything belongs to God , not to exceed to sleep. He created everything . God At this point , I began to lose the pride in me , because I remembered that I came by my own greatness. But I realized that I did not create myself, and the purpose of my being here was to submit to the teaching that has been perfected by the religion we know as Al- Islam . At that time, I began to discover my faith .God I felt I was a Muslim. A reading of the Qur'an , I now realized that all the Prophets sent by God brought the same message.religion 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 .God Even the word of God and Christians misunderstand called Jesus the son of God. All this makes perfect sense. That's the beauty of the Quran , is asked to reflect and reason, and not to worship the sun or moon but the One who created all things . The Qur'an asks man to reflect upon the sun and moon and God's creation in general. Do you realize that the sun is the moon? They are at different distances from the earth, but are the same size as us, at times, seems to overlap the other.POP STAR

Although most of the astronauts go to space , they see the insignificant size of the earth and vastness of space. They become very religious , because they saw the signs of God .

When I read the Qur'an further, talked about prayer , kindness and charity. I was not Muslim, but I felt the only answer for me was the Qur'an and God had sent me, and I kept it a secret . But the Qur'an also speaks on different levels.God I began to understand another level , where the Qur'an says: " Those who believe do not take disbelievers for friends and the believers are brothers. " So at this point I wanted to meet my Muslim brothers .POP STAR

CONVERSION religion

So I decided to travel to Jerusalem ( as my brother had done ) . In Jerusalem , I went to the mosque and sat down. A man asked me what I wanted .God I told him I was a Muslim . He asked what my name was . I told him , " Stevens. " He was confused . He then joined the prayer, but not very successfully . Back in London , I met a sister called Nafisa . I said I wanted to embrace Islam , and she advised me to go to the New Regent Mosque . It was in 1977 , about a year and a half after receiving the Koran. Now , I realized I had to get rid of my pride , get rid of Satan , and face one direction. So Friday , after Friday prayers ceremony congrational , went to the imam ( religious leader ) and declared my faith ( Shahada ) in hand. 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 that I can come into direct contact with God , unlike Christianity or any other religion . As one Hindu lady told me, " You do not understand the Hindus. Believe in one God , we use these objects (idols ) to merely concentrate " What he said is that to reach God , we have 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.POP STAR

Finally , I want to say that everything I do is for the pleasure of God and pray that you gain some inspirations from my experiences. I also want to emphasize that no contact with a Muslim before he embraced Islam . I read the Qur'an first and realized that no one is perfect. Islam is perfect, and if we imitate the conduct of the Prophet to be a hit .

God gives us guidance to follow the path of the nation of Muhammad , peace and blessings of God be upon him . Ameen !religion

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CAT STEVENS, FORMER POP STAR, UK (PART 1 OF 2)

One of the highlights of the 70s and the search for truth musical personalities .
Part 1 : life as a musician.POP STAR

All I have to say, it 's what you know, to confirm what you already know , the message of the Prophet [ peace and blessings of God be upon him ] as given by God - the true religion . 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.God Anyone who misses this chance is not likely to give another , to be brought back again and again, because it says in the Holy Quran that when man is brought to account , he said: "O Lord , send us back and give us another chance . The Lord says: " If I do the same. "God

My early religious education religion

I grew up in the modern world of all the luxury and the high life of show business .God I was born in a Christian family , but we know that all children 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 well . I was taught that God exists, but there was no direct contact with God , so we had to make contact with Him through Jesus - really was the door to God . This was more or less accepted by me, but I do not swallow .POP STAR

I looked at some of the statues of Jesus , they were just stones with no life. And when I said that God is three , I was puzzled even more but could not speak.God I pretty much thought , because I had to have respect for the faith of my parents.

POP STAR God

Slowly, I walked away from that religious education . I started making music. I wanted to be a big star. All these things I've seen in movies and the media have seized me , and I thought maybe it was my God , in order to make money .God I had an uncle who had a beautiful car . " Well, I said , " did. It has a lot of money , " The people around me influenced me to think she was . , This world was their God.religion

I decided that this was the life for me to make a lot of money , have now my examples were the pop stars 'good life' . . I started making songs , but deep inside me, I had a sense of humanity , a feeling that if I became rich I help the needy .God ( It says in the Qur'an , we make a promise , but when we do , we want to keep and get greedy .)POP STAR

So what happened is 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 , if I wanted to live larger than life, and the only way to do that was intoxicated ( with liquor and drugs). God

HOSPITAL religion

After a year of financial success and living "high" , I became very ill , contracted TB and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started thinking : What would I do ? I was 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 , the opportunity to open my eyes - " Why am I here , why am I in bed? " - And I started looking for some answers. At that time, there was great interest in Eastern mysticism . I started reading , and the first thing I began to become aware of the death and that the soul moves , does not stop. I felt I was taking the path of happiness and success.God I started meditating and even became a vegetarian . Now I believe in the " peace and flower power " and this was the general trend. But what I do not believe in particular was that I was not more than a body . This realization came to me in the hospital.religion

One day 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 wet, my body is telling me I have wet. This reminds me of a saying that the body is like a donkey , and must come where you should go . otherwise, the donkey will lead you where you want to go .religion

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 . Now he was tired with Christianity. I started making music again , and this time , I started thinking about my own thoughts . I remember one of my songs. He says: " I wonder , I wonder what makes the sky , which causes hell. Do I have to meet you in my bed or dusty cell while others reach the big hotel ? " And I knew I was in the way.religion

I also wrote another song, "The way to find God. " It made me even more famous in the world of music. It was hard because I was getting rich and famous , and at the same time, I am sincerely seeking the truth . then I got to a point where I decided that Buddhism is right and noble, but I was not ready to leave the world . I'm too attached to the world and was not ready to become a monk and to isolate myself from society.God

I tried to cards and astrology Zen and Ching , numerology, tarot. I tried to look back into the Bible and found nothing . At that time, I knew nothing about Islam , and then , what he saw as a miracle occurred . My brother had visited the mosque in Jerusalem and was greatly impressed that while on the one hand, throbbing life (unlike the churches and synagogues which were empty ) , on the other hand , an atmosphere of peace and tranquility prevailed.religion

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