{"id":18694,"date":"2012-04-23T12:00:31","date_gmt":"2012-04-23T11:00:31","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/?p=18694"},"modified":"2012-04-20T15:14:54","modified_gmt":"2012-04-20T14:14:54","slug":"yusuf-islam-on-music-and-faith","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/2012\/04\/yusuf-islam-on-music-and-faith\/","title":{"rendered":"Yusuf Islam on Music and Faith"},"content":{"rendered":"

Artist once known as Cat Stevens explains why he left music, why he returned and why his latest project tops the rest.<\/em><\/p>\n

The artist formerly known as Cat Stevens is starting a new chapter – one that has been in the making since the day he first picked up a microphone.<\/p>\n

Rock icon Yusuf Islam – who goes by the single name Yusuf these days – is putting the finishing touches on what he calls a lifelong dream, Moonshadow: A Musical Fantasy<\/em>. Set to premiere in Australia on May 31, the production is a\u00a0mix of the artist’s\u00a0hits from the 1970s\u00a0with a\u00a0string of fresh songs penned for the play.<\/p>\n

The musical represents a summit of sorts –\u00a0topping a storied and at times controversial career that\u00a0has seen Yusuf go from\u00a0triple-platinum award\u00a0winning musician to a man on the verge of abandoning his craft forever.<\/p>\n

Yusuf\u00a0spoke to Al Jazeera\u00a0about that journey during a stop in Doha, Qatar\u00a0following his first concert in the\u00a0Middle East<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Al Jazeera: You\u2019ve talked before about your journey through music, saying that you put down the guitar\u00a0after converting to Islam\u00a0and then picked it back up again. What is your view on the intersection of faith and music? <\/strong><\/p>\n

Yusuf Islam: At one point, perhaps music was my religion. For a lot of us growing up in the West in the early ’60s and then ’70s, music was a way of life. It was a way to express ourselves.\u00a0I was a serious dreamer and\u00a0I was looking for the truth. It was only when I finally bumped into Islam through a gift of the Quran that I realised that all the answers\u00a0I needed were there.<\/p>\n

I was still making records, but I lost my interest.\u00a0I found something that was so much more pure and sacred, so\u00a0I asked the imam at the mosque in London about music and he said ‘there\u2019s no problem\u2019. But\u00a0I had some doubts, because there were other brothers who quoted opinions that ‘there\u2019s a consensus that music is haram (forbidden)<\/em>‘. When you\u2019re a new Muslim, you\u2019re very careful of what you do. So\u00a0I tread very carefully. I decided because of the almost insulting approach that the media took to me upon embracing Islam that I\u00a0had\u00a0had enough of that, so\u00a0I didn’t bother to continue.<\/p>\n

After [the 2001 attacks of]\u00a0September 11,\u00a0there was a serious crisis. We were facing Armageddon almost and it seemed that now we needed to build bridges back to our middle ground, because the extremes had been exposed.\u00a0Therefore\u00a0I sang Peace Train<\/a> again. It was just a cappella, but that was the beginning.<\/p>\n

It was my son who finally brought guitar back into the house. When\u00a0I picked that up,\u00a0I suddenly realised: I’ve got another job to do.<\/p>\n

AJ:\u00a0What was it that your son said that made you want to pick up the guitar again?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: He didn’t say anything. He just left it, and\u00a0I was surprised that\u00a0I remembered where my fingers should go.<\/p>\n

AJ: What would you tell other Muslims\u00a0who have a passion for music but are also trying to walk this line – this\u00a0schizophrenia of sorts that oscillates between ‘music is good’\u00a0and ‘music is forbidden’? <\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: As far as sacred texts are concerned, they cannot be ambiguous. There are\u00a0no gray areas.\u00a0When it comes to music, there is no word ‘music’ in the Quran. Obviously there are insinuations and implications and situations where music is being played and its haram<\/em>\u00a0because there\u2019s drinking and fornication –\u00a0well that\u2019s sex, drugs and rock and roll. But in the end, it is the interpretation.\u00a0So yes,\u00a0I believe there is haram<\/em> music and yes,\u00a0I believe there is halal<\/em> (permitted) music.<\/p>\n

AJ:\u00a0Is there an over-arching theme in your music or an outward meaning of your songs you want to convey?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YI:\u00a0I tell stories.\u00a0I try to tell true stories. It’s about how people live and what their problems are – how we love and fall into trouble and bleed and laugh. That\u2019s ended up\u00a0being the\u00a0theme of the\u00a0musical<\/a> that\u00a0I’m writing and that I\u2019m going to put on in Australia at the end of May. It’s all to do with journey. There are\u00a0only two types of stories: those about leaving home and those about coming back.<\/p>\n

AJ: Where did the idea for\u00a0your musical Moonshadow come from?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: I grew up on the West End of London surrounded by theaters and musicals and I always dreamt of writing a musical. It happens that now I have the perfect opportunity, after having written so many songs.\u00a0It’s a story about a world where there\u2019s no sun\u00a0and\u00a0no day, only night. There’s only one moon providing natural light. That means everybody has to work extra hard to buy these embers to keep their houses warm. In the middle of all this, there’s a boy who has a dream about another world – the World of the Lost Sun, called Shamsiya. He meets his moon shadow and he decides to go on a journey to find that World of the Lost Sun.<\/p>\n

AJ:\u00a0What\u00a0is your creative process like and where do you get the inspiration for your songs?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: That\u2019s a difficult question. I\u2019m unscientific about it all. There\u2019s a mood and\u00a0I catch the mood.\u00a0I entertain myself. I\u2019m the first one to hear the song, and if I like it,\u00a0perhaps others will like it too. There was a great philosopher who once said ‘there’s nothing more joyous than the joy of that child who creates something and\u00a0then shows it to others’. It\u2019s being gifted.<\/p>\n

AJ:\u00a0What happens when\u00a0you give that gift and it is not received in the way you want it to be?\u00a0Particularly after your conversion,\u00a0and after\u00a0you starting making more Islamic-themed songs, was there a backlash? <\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: You go through various phases. Living up to your ideas is not an easy job and when other people have ideas of you that you have to live up to as well, it’s even harder. That\u2019s why we have a clear direction from our Lord as to how to live.\u00a0As long as you keep your focus on God and his prophet\u00a0I dont think you can be diverted. It’s all down to that intimate and direct relationship and that’s what you maintain in your prayers. So yes, it was difficult. But I always had my prayers.<\/p>\n

AJ: Let’s talk about your\u00a0song\u00a0“My People<\/a>“. You\u2019ve said before that you were looking at the events of Cairo’s Tahrir Square [during the Egyptian uprising]. What was the greater inspiration and\u00a0what did you hope the song would do?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: There wasn’t much we could do sitting and just watching [the uprising] on television. We wanted to contribute and that was the best way\u00a0I knew how –\u00a0to write a song. We got people from around the world to contribute their voices to the cause and we put out a call on Facebook<\/a>.\u00a0I sang a demonstration of what the key should be and they sang the chorus and sent it back. We got all the voices on the track and then made it for free.<\/p>\n

AJ:\u00a0To what extent\u00a0does music have the ability to\u00a0change people’s perceptions and the lens through which they see?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: I don’t focus on that and\u00a0I think that\u2019s important, because if a person thought he had control over others’ lives that would be frightening. Everybody has a part to play and if I’ve got a song to sing, I sing it. If it affects people, now\u00a0I just say alhamdulilah<\/em> (praise is due to God).<\/p>\n

But it does go\u00a0two ways. When\u00a0you do finally break through the wall of the business and reach people – which is what everyone wants\u00a0–\u00a0they have an effect on your direction.<\/p>\n

AJ: What advice do you have\u00a0for young people starting out and\u00a0looking at art as a way to contribute to civilisation?<\/strong><\/p>\n

YI: It is a high wall to climb. It was probably shorter in my day. It’s not an easy world right now for any profession. But if you can, then try. As I once wrote – ‘if you want to sing out, sing out; if you want to be free, be free; if you want to be me, be me’. Well (laughing) – you can\u2019t really do that last one.<\/p>\n

This interview has been edited for length and clarity.<\/em><\/p>\n

Go to Original \u2013 aljazeera.com<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Artist once known as Cat Stevens explains why he left music, why he returned and why his latest project tops the rest.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18694","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-current-affairs"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18694","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18694"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18694\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18694"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18694"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.transcend.org\/tms\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18694"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}