Sami Yusuf Quotes

Dear friends,

Sami Yusuf is having his first concert here in Sharjah on May 18 and 19. I wonder if there will be young females dancing like that women in Haitham Saeed’s videos. He is being hailed as the “modern voice of Islam” in Europe. Yusuf is a British singer with Azeri background. Here are some excerpts from his interview in today’s paper, Khaleej Times.

“I prefer Sharjah or Abu Dhabi. There is too much happening in Dubai. Dubai is like London, only a little bit more conservative.”

“I studied Western Classical music…I studied different modes of Middle Eastern music and also dabbled in Indian music.”

“Music has been deeply rooted in my family, so I took to it naturally.”

“I don’t consider myself as someone singing ‘nasheeds,’ I consider myself an artist.”

“The issue of using less music or more music has been debated by scholars and it’s not a thing of huge fundamental importance.”

“The singing of religious music has revolved around very few instruments but all countries have their own music…with orchestra and music…we have it too, and in my case I consider myself as an artist singing good music.”

When asked why his music became so popular: “I don’t know. [The people] were looking for an opportunity to express their love [for God] and they did it when they heard my songs.”

“What is lacking today are these examples, this lack of examples to follow is making some youngsters disillusioned, making them pessimistic towards life. They don’t want to get a job or work, and they head towards extremism. Islam is not a religion of extremism and my message is balance.”

“Those people who do the damage to this balance have lost their minds, because of what they see…the oppression going on in the world…they have lost their minds, they don’t know what they are doing. All I say is, don’t do it in the name of Islam.”

“My first album was very spiritual…the second one will be less spiritual and more practical.”

Well, since there was a dialogue on several blogs here about the issue of music in Islam, what is better than to hear it from someone like Sami Yusuf, who claims to be a balanced Muslim singing and producing music albums. Having said all this, I am NOT going to the concert, although it is a free one. I have other plans that are keeping me away from this concert!

Mansur