Yusuf Islam Met Our Students and Parents

The world-famous musician and philanthropist Yusuf Islam met with our students and parents as part of the NUN Family Academy. Islam, indicating that education should not progress mechanically, spoke “we must teach students the ways of coping with life and students should be actively involved at every stage of education. Success can only be achieved if the student is happy.”

Yusuf Islam, who ripped up the music charts in the 1960s and 1970s and determined the music taste of a generation with his albums, came together with our students and teachers. Answering the questions of the participants, Islam explained his extraordinary life story, the music adventure and the educational activities in detail.

Explaining what he has been through in the process leading to his conversion to Islam, Islam told that in the songs that brought him fame in the 1960s he was only speaking about his loneliness and the seeking. He said that he preferred to be a good person rather than just a popular person by emphasizing that his life changed after meeting with Islam. Recommending artists not to give up in integrity and goodness, Islam added that the fame and money are temporary and what is done to the benefit of humanity is not forgotten.

When he was asked why he picked the name “Yusuf” after conversion to Islam, he answered “You may know the famous story of Hazrat Yusuf. I believed that I had a connection with this story so I picked this name. I also found the stage name of Cat Stevens. And then I could get in every home and make people like me like a “cat”.”

As he was asked how his writing adventure started, he answered “I do not disclose any secrets with my writings, nor I write a prescription on how to be happy. The only thing I do is sharing my life experiences with people and let them make use of these experiences.”

On a question about his turning back to music, he said: I decided to take a break in my music career to complete my personal development. I had a lot of things to learn about Islam and life. I felt the inspiration again in 2000s. Music is a universal value. People internalise a lot of messages through the music. When I started the concerts again, I saw that it was good for me to come together with people from different cultures and that’s why I turned back.

Speaking about future projects, Islam said that he wanted to shoot an animation movie about children as well as preparing new books and albums. After the interview, Yusuf Islam had a tour in Beykoz Campus of NUN Schools.