Holy Cat!
Yusuf Islam is in town. He was formerly known as Cat Stevens; he gave up his musical career when he embraced Islam in 1977. He is making music once again, and in fact is an ardent supporter of it. The difference for him seems to be that music should be meaningful to be virtuous, …not that his old stuff wasn’t of course. It sounds like the main reason he gave it up was that he had had enough of the lifestyle of a pop star and all that that entailed, so he settled down, got married and had some kids.
Soon the kids needed an education, and he didn’t want to entrust the state with that task. There weren’t many private Islamic schools in those days in England, so he started one of his own. Over time, one became several, and now he helps start them all over the world. He develops and distributes curriculum as well, and apparently has made a good go of it. Now we know what he has been doing with himself all these years. He is school principal.
His music these days is spiritually focused, and it sounds like he is redoing some of his old songs as well. We saw him a couple of times, he was ostensibly here to raise money for a school, and to assist with curriculum for an existing school here in Doha. He spoke about Islam and education , but he didn’t sing for us. He did show a video of some of his recent works though.
He is an impressive guy, very centered and focused. He has a certain sincerity about him. He spoke eloquently about Islam. His theme on the last night was the Oneness of God, and how we all reflect God’s attributes. He especially emphasized the concepts of peace, love and mercy. He was not exactly critical, but sort of artfully chided muslims for not displaying these virtues in common practice. He was rather like a velvet hammer, forceful but gentle. These are core Islamic spiritual values, but they are not what outsiders think of when they think of Islam, and for that, the muslims are responsible.
The first event we went to was a fund-raising banquet. It was hilarious! The crowd was small (a large crowd is nearly impossible in this country, except for the Gulf Cup), so we actually got to talk to him. The way fund-raising works in Qatar, is that banquet tickets are cheap, probably at-cost, so everyone who wants to can attend. Next, a handful of extremely wealthy people write Very Big Checks, and everyone else just enjoys the event. Part of the event was an auction, they sold donated items including an E-series Mercedes and jewelry formerly owned by the wife of the Shah of Iran. My wife was interviewed on Al-Jazeera, I guess it went international. All in all it was big fun. Check this website for a few pictures… http://www.msnusers.com/qatarblog
As these things usually go, I knew a whole bunch of people in the audience. Doha is really a small town when you get down to it.
I haven’t been writing much lately, my wife is fine regarding the infection, but she still gets daily wound care. We are also in the last days of her pregnancy, lots of pre-labor stuff. She may give birth at any time now. I think we are ready.
Soon the kids needed an education, and he didn’t want to entrust the state with that task. There weren’t many private Islamic schools in those days in England, so he started one of his own. Over time, one became several, and now he helps start them all over the world. He develops and distributes curriculum as well, and apparently has made a good go of it. Now we know what he has been doing with himself all these years. He is school principal.
His music these days is spiritually focused, and it sounds like he is redoing some of his old songs as well. We saw him a couple of times, he was ostensibly here to raise money for a school, and to assist with curriculum for an existing school here in Doha. He spoke about Islam and education , but he didn’t sing for us. He did show a video of some of his recent works though.
He is an impressive guy, very centered and focused. He has a certain sincerity about him. He spoke eloquently about Islam. His theme on the last night was the Oneness of God, and how we all reflect God’s attributes. He especially emphasized the concepts of peace, love and mercy. He was not exactly critical, but sort of artfully chided muslims for not displaying these virtues in common practice. He was rather like a velvet hammer, forceful but gentle. These are core Islamic spiritual values, but they are not what outsiders think of when they think of Islam, and for that, the muslims are responsible.
The first event we went to was a fund-raising banquet. It was hilarious! The crowd was small (a large crowd is nearly impossible in this country, except for the Gulf Cup), so we actually got to talk to him. The way fund-raising works in Qatar, is that banquet tickets are cheap, probably at-cost, so everyone who wants to can attend. Next, a handful of extremely wealthy people write Very Big Checks, and everyone else just enjoys the event. Part of the event was an auction, they sold donated items including an E-series Mercedes and jewelry formerly owned by the wife of the Shah of Iran. My wife was interviewed on Al-Jazeera, I guess it went international. All in all it was big fun. Check this website for a few pictures… http://www.msnusers.com/qatarblog
As these things usually go, I knew a whole bunch of people in the audience. Doha is really a small town when you get down to it.
I haven’t been writing much lately, my wife is fine regarding the infection, but she still gets daily wound care. We are also in the last days of her pregnancy, lots of pre-labor stuff. She may give birth at any time now. I think we are ready.
posted by dervish at Friday, December 31, 2004
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