Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens message about the September 11, 2001 attack on
America. It is written in both English and Spanish.
Yusuf's Message
September 18, 2001
By Yusuf Islam
Coming to Islam in my late twenties,
after years as a wandering pop star, one of the first interesting things I learnt was that
the word Islam itself comes from 'Salam' or 'Peace'. It is a faith far away from the
violence, destruction and terrorism we have seen in recent days.
The finger has already been pointed at Muslims and the Arab world. But the display of
death and indiscriminate killing has nothing to do with a religion that blends scientific
reason with spiritual beliefs, a unifying faith.
As a Westerner I had been warned about Islam - that strange foreign religion which seemed
to belong to people with a different colour and culture. But after being given the Koran
in 1976, I discovered the opposite of what I expected. The Koran first showed me a belief
in the universal existence of God (Allah), one God for all. It did not speak against
peoples; 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 Koran directly says: "The best
of people are the most God-conscious".
British Muslims feel nothing but sympathy for those families who lost loved ones in this
awful tragedy we've all just witnessed in the US. This is why, today, along with most
Muslims in Britain, we should make it clear that such acts of horrific carnage as we've
seen on TV and in the newspapers have nothing to do with the beliefs of most Muslims. The
Koran specifically declares: "If anyone murders an (innocent) person...it will be as
if he has murdered the whole of humanity." It goes on: "And if anyone saves a
person it will be as if he has saved the whole of humanity."
The Koran does not teach us to live in a different world; rather it is full of stories and
lessons from the history of humanity as a whole. The Gospel and Torah - the books of the
Christian and Jewish Bibles - are mentioned. So are Jesus and Abraham, in fact it may be
interesting to know that there is more mention in the Koran about Moses than any other
Prophet. Why? Because Islam acknowledges all true faith began with God, and in doing so |
