Before you read this :
Yusuf Islam (formerly Cat Stevens) used to be one
of the most famous POP singers in England in the 70th till he decided to
be a Muslim and Alhamdulillah he found the light of Allah!
All I have to say is all what you know already, to confirm what you already
know, the message of the Prophet ( peace be upon him ) as given by God
- the Religion of Truth. As human beings we are given a consciousness
and a duty that has placed us at the top of creation.  
Man is created to be God's deputy on earth, and it is important to realize
the obligation to rid ourselves of all illusions and to make our lives a
preparation for the next life. Any-
body who misses this chance is not
likely to be given another, to be
brought back again and again, be-
cause it says in Qur'an Majeed that
when man is brought to account,
he will say,
"O Lord, send us back
and give us another chance."
 The
Lord will say,
"If I send you back
you will do the same."  
My early religious upbringing
I was brought up in the modern world of all the luxury and the high life of
show business. I was born in a Christian home, but we know that every
child is 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 this way. I was taught
that God exists, but there was no direct contact with God, so we had to
make contact with Him through Jesus - he was in fact the door to God.
This was more or less accepted by me, but I did not swallow it all.  
I looked at some of the statues of Jesus; they were just stones with no
life. And when they said that God is three, I was puzzled even more but
could not argue. I more or less believed it, because I had to have respect
for the faith of my parents.  

Pop star
Gradually I became alienated from this religious upbringing. I started
making music. I wanted to be a big star. All those things I saw in the films
and on the media took hold of me, and perhaps I thought this was my
God, the goal of making money. I had an uncle who had a beautiful car.
"Well,"
 I said,
"he has it made. He has a lot of money."
 The people around
me influenced me to think that this was it; this world was their God.  
I decided then that this was the life for me; to make a lot of money, have
a 'great life.' Now my examples were the pop stars. I started making
songs, but deep down I had a feeling for humanity, a feeling that if I be-
came rich I would help the needy. (It says in the Qur'an, we make a prom-
ise, but when we make something, we want to hold onto it and become
greedy.)  
So what happened was 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, so I wanted to live larger than life and the only way to do that
was to be intoxicated (with liquor and drugs).  
In hospital
After a year of financial success and 'high' living, I became very ill, con-
tracted TB and had to be hospitalized. It was then that I started to think:
What was to happen to me? Was I just a body, and my goal in life was
merely to satisfy this body? I realized now that this calamity was a bless-
ing given to me by Allah, a chance to open my eyes -
"Why am I here?
Why am I in bed?"
 - and I started looking for some of the answers.  
At that time there was great interest in the Eastern mysticism. I began
reading, and the first thing I began to become aware of was death, and
that the soul moves on; it does not stop. I felt I was taking the road to
bliss and high accomplishment. I started meditating and even became a
vegetarian. I now believed in 'peace and flower power,' and this was the
general trend. But what I did believe in particular was that I was not just a
body. This awareness came to me at the hospital.  

One day when 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 getting wet,
my body is telling me I am getting wet.' This made me think of a saying
that the body is like a donkey, and it has to be trained where it has to go.
Otherwise, the donkey will lead you where it wants to go.  
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.
By now I was fed up with Christianity. I started making music again and
this time I started reflecting my own thoughts. I remember the lyric of
one of my songs. It goes like this:
"I wish I knew, I wish I knew what
makes the Heaven, what makes the Hell. Do I get to know You in my bed
or some dusty cell while others reach the big hotel?"
and I knew I was on
the Path.  
I also wrote another song,
"The Way to Find God Out."
 I became even
more famous in the world of music. I really had a difficult time because I
was getting rich and famous, and at the same time, I was sincerely
searching for the Truth. Then I ca

 Book Cat Stevens & His Journey to Islam! author : Islamway.com