Join the peace train

Tuberculosis early in his career is what caused Steven Demetre Georgiou a.k.a. Cat Stevens now known simply as Yusuf to begin to examine his until-then unexamined life. In a year’s convalescence he took up yoga, meditation and the study of metaphysics. Cat Stevens was a teen pop star as he began to question himself and his reason for being.

After his illness, his sound and his songs were different. He sabotaged a big recording contract because he wanted his music to reflect who he had become or was becoming rather than duplicate his earlier successes. Artistic formulae were not for the likes of him.

At the height of his new popularity in 1971, he recorded his album Teaser and the Firecat which included his classic Peace Train. This was Stevens’ first top-10 hit; the album was his second to go multi-platinum.

Of Peace Train, Wikipedia says, "Along with John Lennon's ‘Give Peace A Chance,’ Barry McGuire’s ‘Eve of Destruction,’ and Dire Straits' ‘Brothers in Arms,’ it is reputedly one of the most famous war-protest songs in history.

"Cat Stevens later converted to Islam, changed his name to Yusuf Islam, and went into reclusion, but later made some public comments about the plight of children in the Iraq War.

"Stevens said 'Peace Train' is a song I wrote, the message of which continues to breeze thunderously through the hearts of millions. There is a powerful need for people to feel that gust of hope rise up again. As a member of humanity and as a Muslim, this is my contribution to the call for a peaceful solution."

"He re-recorded the song for War Child in 2003. The song has also been recorded by Tony Meléndez in 1987, Dolly Parton in 1996, and Jann Arden in 2007."

"Stevens’ personal affinity for Islamic culture began when he had left for Marrakech, Morocco, to get away, think, and write songs. He heard a voice unlike one he had ever heard before. When he asked what it was (the Aḏhān, a ritual call for prayer by the muezzin of a mosque), he was told ‘that is music for God.’ Stevens said, "I thought, music for God? I’d never heard that before - I’d heard of music for money, music for fame, music for personal power, but music for God!"

"In 1976 Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of Malibu, California and claims to have shouted: "Oh God! If you save me I will work for you." He says, right afterward, a wave appeared and carried him back to shore. This brush with mortality intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into "Buddhism, Zen, I Ching, Numerology, tarot cards and Astrology". Stevens' brother David Gordon brought him a birthday gift from a recent trip to Jerusalem. It was a copy of the Qur'an. Stevens took to it right away, and began to find peace with himself and began his transition to Islam.

"During the time he was studying the Qur'an, he began to identify more and more with the name of Joseph, a man bought and sold in the market place, which is how he had increasingly felt, within the music business. Regarding his conversion, in his 2006 interview with Alan Yentob, he stated, "to some people, it may have seemed like an enormous jump, but for me, it was a gradual move to this." And, in a Rolling Stone Magazine interview, he reaffirmed this, saying, "I had found the spiritual home I'd been seeking for most of my life. And if you listen to my music and lyrics, like "Peace Train" and "On The Road To Find Out", it clearly shows my yearning for direction and the spiritual path I was traveling." Stevens had been seeking inner peace and spiritual answers throughout his career, and now believed he had found what he had been seeking.

"Stevens formally converted to the Islamic religion on 23 December 1977. In 1978, Stevens took the name Yusuf Islam. Yusuf is the Arabic rendition of the name Joseph. He stated that he "always loved the name Joseph" and was particularly drawn to the story of Joseph in the Qur'an."

The thing that invites me and delights me in Yusuf’s story is the universality of peace to all spiritual practices. He was seeking peace, no matter his Swedish Baptist and Greek Orthodox parents, and at long last, he found it in Islam.

When we feel at home in our spiritual lives, we’re hitching a ride on the peace train.

Visit www.susancorso.com, for spiritual nourishment.