Editing Cat Stevens (section)

====Muslim faith and musical career====
[[File:Yusuf Islam (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Yusuf Islam appearing at the [[Islam Expo]] in London (2008)]]
Following his conversion to Islam, he abandoned his musical career for nearly two decades. When he became a Muslim in 1977, the [[imam]] at his mosque told him that it was fine to continue as a musician, as long as the songs were morally acceptable. However, because others said that "it was all prohibited", he decided to avoid the question by ceasing to perform.<ref name="cbc2007">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/videos/guest-interview/yusuf-islam-aka-cat-stevens|title=Interview with Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens|last=Stroumboulopoulos|first=George|date=3 January 2007|work=The Hour|publisher=CBC |access-date=8 June 2009}}</ref> He has said that there was "a combination of reasons, really", and that the continuing demands of the music business had been "becoming a chore, and not an inspiration anymore".<ref name="cbc2007"/>

In a 2004 interview on ''[[Larry King Live]]'', he said "A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing. You come to a point where you have sung, more or less... your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living. You know, up until that point, I hadn't had a life. I'd been searching, been on the road."<ref name="Larry King" />

Estimating in January 2007 that he was continuing to earn approximately US$1.5&nbsp;million a year from his Cat Stevens music,<ref name="solomon">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07WWLN_Q4.t.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=Yusuf%20Islam&st=cse |title=Questions for Yusuf Islam: Singing a New Song| author=Solomon, Deborah|magazine=The New York Times Magazine| date=7 January 2007|access-date=29 January 2009}}</ref> he said he would use his accumulated wealth and ongoing earnings from his music career for philanthropic and educational causes in the Muslim community of London and elsewhere. In 1983, he founded the [[Islamia Primary School]] in Brondesbury Park, later moved to Salusbury Road,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://islamiaprimary.org.uk/history-of-islamia/|title=Islamia Primary School :: History of Islamia|publisher=Islamia Primary School|access-date=18 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904194622/http://islamiaprimary.org.uk/history-of-islamia/|archive-date=4 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> in the north London area of [[Queen's Park, London|Queen's Park]]<ref name="BBC-Prince">{{cite news |date=10 May 2000 |title=Prince goes pop to praise school |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/743894.stm |access-date=11 December 2012}}</ref> and, soon after, founded several Muslim secondary schools; in 1992, he set up [[Association of Muslim Schools|The Association of Muslim Schools]] (AMS-UK), a charity that brought together all the Muslim schools in the UK. He is also the founder and chairman of the ''[[Small Kindness]]'' charity, which initially assisted famine victims in Africa and now supports thousands of orphans and families in the [[Balkans]], Indonesia, and Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yusufislam.org.uk/sk/mission.htm|title=Word from Our Chairman Yusuf Islam|publisher=Small Kindness|access-date=6 May 2006|archive-date=17 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717011921/http://yusufislam.org.uk/sk/mission.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was chairman of the charity [[Muslim Aid]] from 1985 to 1993.<ref name="Chinese Whiskers">{{cite web|url=http://www.mountainoflight.co.uk/talks_cw.html |title=Doesn't Yusuf Have Links With Terrorists? |work=Chinese Whiskers – FAQs |publisher=Mountain of Light |access-date=11 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004154204/http://www.mountainoflight.co.uk/talks_cw.html |archive-date=4 October 2011  }}</ref>