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Page 2 Issue 22 Page 3 The Islamic Bulletin
Dear Neighbors:
I amwriting to you because I do not know
the address of the Mosque I pass on my
way to the Farmer’s Market on Alemany
Boulevard, nor how to write to the people
who shop at the market with me. I hope
you will pass my letter on. I want to tell
you how valuable it is to me that we share
this community. I’m so glad to live some-
where that everyday reminds me that my
small way of life may be different from my
neighbor’s and, thatwe can still live together
peacefully and fruitfully.
I especially love my Saturday morning
trips to the Farmer’s Market. I cross Mis-
sion Street and pass the Mosque, often
just as people are standing outside talking. It reminds me that the
sun is up, or rising and it reminds me to thank God for my day.
The market is a microcosm of how the world could be: everyone
being themselves, rejoicing in shopping with others who are very
different from them. We share recipes and explore new flavors.
I have learned from a Muslim woman in a shawl how to use the
mysterious leaves I see everyone buying and from a Chinese woman
with big strong hands how to prepare lemon grass. I’ve shown an
Afghan man in a wool hat how to prepare and eat an artichoke.
I know that you have been attacked, sent hate mail and suffered
threatening telephone calls. I hope this letter of friendship and
thanksgiving that you are my neighbors will in some small way help
to heal the wounds that should not have been inflicted upon you.
In God’s love,
Martha Stookey, San Francisco, CA
Dear Editor:
My husband and I are originally fromDetroit, Michigan and convert-
ed to Islam sometime ago. I had been reading and following your
newsletter while I was living in the US. To learn more about this
beautiful religion, we moved to Makkah, Saudi Arabia. My family
always looks forward to every issue of your newsletter. I wanted to
share this letter with other readers about my mother-in-law.
We used todiscuss the religion of Islamwithmy husband’s family.When
my oldest daughter was a little over a year old she had pneumonia and
was eventually hospitalized. My mother-in-law came to stay with us
and help. During that time she asked us about salat (prayer) and even
hadme showher how tomakewudhu (ablution). Shewas very close to
becoming Muslim, but felt that she would be betraying God, to whom
she had always turned, by joining another explained to her
that it was the SAMEGODand that Islamwas His religion. She hesitated
and then returned home when all was well with our family.
Years passed and we continued to discuss things with her. She was
the most open of his family; his father, the least open. About 15 years
ago his father died. We still talked to her but she was hesitant and
then finall , one day after a frustrating argument about the prophets,
peace be upon them, I told my husband that I didn’t think that she
Letters T o The Editor
wouldever becomeMuslim.MayAllah forgiveme. I read a hadith (sayings
of theProphet PBUH) a long timeago (don’t askme for the source) that said
words to the effect that you should never say that the people are finished
My mother-in-law (she was 70 years old then) came to visit us from
the States. We took an apartment in Jeddah, Saudi Arabia which was
located near a masjid and stayed there for a month. When she first
heard the adhan, she said that she had heard it in her sleep years
ago - she lived in the midst of Detroit where, at that time, there
were no mosques in the area where she lived. When we went to
the souq (market) and she saw how the shops all closed for salat,
she said, “This is truly a people who think about God.”
Unbeknownst to us, she was asking our children how to make
wudhu, how to pray, and about various beliefs. Subhaanallah, they
never told us anything! At the end of a month, she came to us and
told us she wanted to become Muslim. It was a shock, a pleasant
shock! We went down to the court; she declared the shahaadah
and the next day we packed up and headed for home - Makkah.
We made Umrah with her and performed made many salats in
Makkah, at the Haram. She was really cute on Umrah. We had
completed 2 saie (rounds) and she turned to me and said, “Well,
that’s not so bad.” I smiled and told her that we had 5 more to go.
We proceeded slowly, stopping and sitting on the side once or twice.
When it was completed, she said she was glad that it was encouraged
to do at least once in a Muslim’s life. I laughed. At one gathering, we
were sitting on the side and I was trying to tell her that she was of
an age where she didn’t have to wear hijab. I was trying to put it in
a nice way that once a woman reached an age where she no longer
was of marriageable age, she did not have to wear it. Before I could
get the words all the way out, she cut me a look that let me know
that SHE didn’t consider herself in that category, so I just dropped it.
We taught her salat and I made diagrams for her with transliterations
of the words with the meanings. Unfortunately, all of this coincided
with the war. Her daughter and sons in the States kept calling and
telling her to get out of Saudi Arabia because there was going to be a
war. We sent her home reluctantly. I wanted to workmore with her on
her salat. It was really sad to see her go. She was a tall, proud looking
womanwho got on that planewearing hijab and a beige abaya (cloak).
We kept in constant touch. About 9months later she excitedly called to
tell us that she had memorized Suratul Fatiha (Opening Chapter), and
was trying to keep her fast for Ramadan. Due to the fact that she had
hypertension and had special medication to take at certain times during
the day, she was extremely saddened that she was unable to keep her
fast. That following Hajj, my husband performed Hajj on her behalf.
During the summer when school let out, we were headed back to
Detroit-- tickets in hand and all. My husband’s sister called and gave
us the devastating news that my mother-in-law had died. I was so
stunned and saddened that we would not see her again that the
telephone slipped out of my hand. We rushed home to lead her
Janazah (funeral). His sister arranged that her grave be in a separate
plot in the cemetery FACING MAKKAH. We did not even ask her to
do that. SubhanAllah, I always thank Allah that there was not a lot of
disagreement involving the funeral and washing the body, etc., as can
happen when one person is Muslim and the rest of the family is not.
Many people came to the funeral and as a result asked my husband
many questions about Islam. I constantly pray for Allah’s mercy and
forgiveness for the woman who gave birth to the man I married, who
became Muslim with me on the same day as I did, who fathered my
6 children and remains with me in Makkah to this day. She was the
best possible mother-in-law. She was my sister and mother in Islam. I
pray for her and my daughters after every single salat. May Allah grant
her Paradise and may we be able to join her on that DAY of days.
O Allah, grant us the good of this life, the good of the next life and
protect us from the Fire. O Allah, let our last days be the best days
of our life and our last deeds be the best of our deeds, and let the
best day be the day we meet You.
Umm Rafiq, Makka
Need to contact us?
Web Address:
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Editor, Islamic Bulletin
P.O. Box 410186
San Francisco, CA 94141-0186, USA
S earchlighting Islam
By Yusuf Islam (Formerly Cat Stevens)
Sadly for all of us, the world seems to have lost its balance and is
now reeling out of control. A violent group cold-bloodedly mur-
dered innocent civilians, hijacked a religion and a large army
is out for justice - but more innocent lives will get destroyed.
It seems to me that someone like myself, having seen life from
both sides-East and West-is rightly placed to comment and
confront certain myths and try to reduce the demonization of
a religion, which is still appallingly misrepresented.
In an old song of mine which today uncannily seems to sound
like a metaphor for September 11, “Tuesday’s Dead.” I wrote,
“I’m like him, just like you, I can’t tell you what to do, like
everybody else I’m searching through what I’ve heard.”
Like other Westerners, I was wary of approaching Islam when
I converted 23 years ago. I found that my songs were asking
questions,” Islam said. “But I was averse to religious dogma ... I
wanted a more spiritual way of finding what’s right and wrong.”
During this personal search, I wrote well-known songs, such as
“Peace Train.” I never said where the train was going. I didn’t
know. The train was a symbol, rolling on the edge of darkness,”
Islam said.
In my search for answers, I turned to Buddhism, Eastern mysti-
cism and even Pythagoras of my own Greek heritage. However,
it was not my own search, but my brother David Gordon’s
travels that led me to the Islamic religion. After returning from
a trip to Jerusalem, David bought me a copy of an English
translation of the Qur’an as a present.
I discovered something different from the negative images por-
trayed. As well as belief in the one God of this universe, it was
quite a revelation to find that the word Islam itself came from
Salam or “Peace.” A notion light years away from the violence
and destruction we have all seen in recent weeks.
Scanning through the pages of the Qur’an back in the late
1970s, it amazed me how close Islam was to my religious
upbringing as a child. Prayer and charity, paradise and angels
were mentioned; the Gospels and Torah of Jesus and Moses
respectively were referred to.
Soon, the Quran was carrying me beyond home and custom-
ary landscapes, to a new religious shore inhabited by people
I was always told to be suspicious of-Arabs and Muslims. But
surprisingly, the Quran was full of stories and instruction from
the history of mankind as a whole.
It did not speak in favor of one special race against others. It
said although we may be from different countries and tribes,
we were all human born of the same original parents, Adam
and Eve.
The Quran directly says: “The best of people are the most
God-conscious.” In 1977 I was listening, and quietly decided
to embrace Islam.
Since then, I am still surprised how little people know about a
religion of over one billion fellow humans. After the nightmare
of September 11 and what followed, it’s vital that people get
to understand more about Muslim beliefs. This is why I feel it
is necessary to write and shine a searchlight on Islam’s hidden
reality.
Most newcomers to a faith go through an initially zealous
phase-call it “born again” -followed by a period of measure
and maturity. Muhammad Ali, the boxer, is good example of
that learning curve. I was no different. All I wanted was to be
as far away from showbiz lights as possible.
So suddenly it was blackout. I stopped drinking but still contin-
ued in the studio to make records. Naturally, what the public
didn’t see was my spiritual growth, subtly softening the ragged
edges of my character. The media likes big paintbrushes and,
as usual, bypassed such details.
I announced the end of my career as Cat Stevens and sold all
my instruments, giving the proceeds to charity. Having assumed
my new name-Yusuf (as in the story of Joseph, son of Jacob)
Islam-I grew my beard slightly longer and donned long white
clothes-an image which instead of representing a spiritual
disciple, to untrained westerners’ eyes, now looks shockingly
similar to their idea of public enemy No. 1.
Drinking, partying, celebrity girlfriends-turning my back on
such a life-style was newsworthy for a time, but it wasn’t really
gossipy enough to continue writing about.
But at that time it was impossible for me to explain, so I shunned
interviews and flashbulbs. The small number of fish-lens pho-
tos and garbled headlines that did come out, for many, were
nothing but a confirmation that the Wild World I’d sang about
had gone a bit wilder.
But beyond the well-known “O Baby, Baby it’s a Wild World,”
chorus line, only a few recognized how uncannily some songs
had double-tracked my future. The song, “The Boy with a Moon
and Star on His Head”, almost paints the whole story. Peace
Train, Changes IV, Morning Has Broken--the list goes on and
on. In one explicit lyric, “On The Road To Find Out,” I actually
mention picking up a “good book”!
For years after entering Islam I was too busy raising a family
and establishing schools for little Muslim children to stop and
explain. I didn’t realize how vital communication with the
public was.
At that time most of the media didn’t seem very interested in
my new life anyway-they were waiting for another sensational
headline. That ungraciously came with the publication of the
“Satanic Verses.” Lamentably, what most people missed in that
whole chapter was in the small print.