Editing Cat Stevens (section)

===Religious conversion===
While on holiday in [[Marrakesh]], {{When|date=June 2021}} Stevens was intrigued by the sound of the [[Adhan|adhān]], the Islamic ritual call to prayer, which was explained to him as "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!?"<ref>{{cite web |title=Yusuf Islam to Release New Album |url=https://financialtribune.com/articles/art-and-culture/1137/yusuf-islam-to-release-new-album |website=[[Financial Tribune]] |access-date=1 July 2023 |date=23 September 2014}}</ref>

In 1976, Stevens nearly drowned off the coast of [[Malibu, California]], and said he shouted, "Oh, God! If you save me I will work for you."  He stated that, immediately afterwards, a wave appeared and carried him back to shore. This brush with death intensified his long-held quest for spiritual truth. He had looked into "[[Buddhism]], [[Zen]], [[I Ching]], [[numerology]], [[Tarot|tarot cards]], and [[astrology]]".<ref name="Salon.com" /> Stevens' brother David Gordon, a convert to Judaism,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/179489|title=Report: Muslim Convert Cat Stevens Has a Jewish Brother|last=Cohen|first=Moshe|date=10 April 2014|work=[[Arutz Sheva]]|access-date=23 November 2016}} Gordon is the co-founder with Yael Drouyannoff of Peace Child Israel, which teaches coexistence using theater and the arts.</ref> brought him a copy of the [[Qur'an]] as a birthday gift from a trip to [[Jerusalem]].<ref name="Durrani" />

Stevens said on BBC's ''[[Desert Island Discs]]'':<ref name=":0">{{Cite news|date=27 September 2020|title=Desert Island Disc bbc|work=Guardian|url=https://www.theguardian.com/tv-and-radio/2020/sep/27/yusuf-cat-stevens-desert-island-discs-islam-fatwa-playing-guitar|access-date=27 September 2020}}</ref> "I would never have picked up the Qur'an myself as a free spirit; I was more aligned to my father's Greek Orthodox beliefs." His brother's timely gift was quickly absorbed and he was taken with its content, soon beginning his transition and conversion to Islam, which would change forever his private and professional life.<ref>{{Cite web |date=28 September 2020 |title=Yusuf/Cat Stevens reveals the near-death experience that led him to convert to Islam |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/music/news/yusuf-cat-stevens-reveals-the-neardeath-experience-that-led-him-to-convert-to-islam-b672142.html |access-date=19 August 2022 |website=The Independent |language=en}}</ref>

During the time he was studying the Qur'an, Stevens began to identify more and more with the story of [[Joseph in Islam|Joseph]], a man bought and sold in the market place, which is how he said he had increasingly felt within the music business.<ref name="Forbes">{{Cite AV media|people = Forbes, Jim (host)| title = Cat Stevens: [[Behind the Music]]|medium=TV series| publisher = [[VH1]]| location = United States|date=  2000}}</ref> Regarding his conversion, in his 2006 interview with [[Alan Yentob]],<ref name="Yentob">{{Cite AV media|title=Yusuf Islam: The Artist Formerly Known as Cat Stevens|publisher=BBC|people=Yentob, Alan|year=2006}}</ref> 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 that, 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 travelling."<ref name="Dansby">{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/music/news/cat-stevens-breaks-his-silence-20000621|title=Cat Stevens Breaks His Silence|author=Dansby, Andrew|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=14 June 2000|access-date=11 February 2009}}</ref>

Stevens formally converted to Islam on 23 December 1977, taking the name Yusuf Islam in 1978. 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 [[Islamic view of Joseph|Joseph in the Qur'an]].<ref name="Forbes"/> Although he discontinued his pop career, he was persuaded to perform one last time before what became his 25-year musical hiatus. Appearing with his hair freshly shorn and an untrimmed beard, he headlined a charity concert on 22 November 1979 in [[Wembley Stadium (1923)|Wembley Stadium]] to benefit [[UNICEF]]'s [[International Year of the Child]].<ref name="child4aday">{{cite web|url=http://majicat.com/programs/unicefprog.htm|title=International Year of the Child|first1=Richard |last1=Thompson |first2=Cat|last2=Stevens|year=1979|work='Together for Children' (a joint Oxfam/Unicef Programme) presents|publisher=Performance at the Year of the Child Concert|access-date=30 January 2009}}</ref> The concert closed with his performance along with [[David Essex]], Alun Davies, and Islam's brother, David Gordon, who wrote the finale song  "Child for a Day".<ref name="child4aday"/>