Dear Yusuf.
You are a lovely man. Honestly, truly lovely. Whenever I see you on a screen or listen to your music, I just want to give you a nice (strictly halal) hug. I liked you as Cat Stevens, I like you as Yusuf Islam. I remember when you attended the trustee meetings of the organisation I used to work at, and was impressed with your studious attention to detail. Whenever I attend a dull meeting now, i think ‘What would Yusuf do?’ and somehow I have the energy to get through it. I am an avid fan.
Thanks to the wonder of the personal global intermesh webpipe portal known as youtube, I have been repeating the song ‘Father and Son’ to baby Moo. However, something has been troubling me deeply, and I feel for the sake of the ummah at large, and for the fans of Cat Stevens, I should bring it your attention.
In the song ‘Father and Son‘ there are the lines
Find a girl, settle down,
If you want you can marry.
Mrs Moo has a problem with these lines. I have a problem with these lines. Baby Moo, when he grows up, God willing, will also have a problem with these lines if he settles down with a girl without marrying her.
We are not backward people. Our IKEA furniture, Firefox browser and Arrested Development discs (the 90′s band and the recent television series) show we are quite sophisticated. However, we try to maintain ethical and moral standards. People are free to live their own lives as they see fit, but the idea of Baby Moo not having a nikah first is plain wrong.
Now, I know you wrote that in your own days of jahiliyyah, fair play. We still get pleasure from it. But, you recently sung it again with Ronan Keating. We saw it. We are not moaning fiqh-obsessives to point this out (though sunnipath, ask-imam and islam-qa all frown on non-nikah settling).
My dear brother-in-Islam, I have some suggestions.
1) Change the order of the words in the offending lines, with some judicious editing
Find a girl, you can marry
If you want, you can settle
however, we know that does not scan with the rest of the song.
2) Change one of the offending lines
Find a girl, settle down
If he wants, so can Prince Harry
3) Change the words in both lines
Find a house, settle down
If you want you can marry
Now brother Yusuf, I am no songwriter, but I think the last option has the best balance between keeping with the rhyme, metre and melody, whilst giving some much needed guidance to todays young. Allah knows the little deviants need it. In option 3, not only does it adhere to shariah rulings, but it also emphasise the importance of gettings ones foot on the property ladder. One can never start too soon.
All the best
Mr Moo
Asalamu alaykum,
Wow! Are we really in our 30′s? Arrested Development was a dead give away. I enjoy your blog, pray for little moo and hope to have some Suhaib Rocks soon.
Suhaib
Dear Mr. Moo,
as-salamoo ‘alaykum
Perhaps you are being too literalist (are you a Vahabee or something?) in your interpretation of this song. The budding Sufi that you are (mootasawif), you should realise that the “girl” is actually a metaphor for one’s Nafs (The Self), thus finding a girl is about finding and knowing oneself, the marriage in question is taking bayyah from a shaykh to then purify yourself spiritually. The settling down in the song is Nafs-i-mootma’inna (The Contented Self).
wa’as-salam
Mas’ud Ahmed Khan
http://www.masud.co.uk
http://www.masudblog.com
http://www.mihrabi.com
Salaam Alaikum,
Definitely option three. Getting on the property ladder is a British obsession.
You crack me up.
“We said there warn’t no home like a raft, after all. Other places do seem so cramped up and smothery, but a raft don’t. You feel mighty free and easy and comfortable on a raft.”
- Mark Twain.
@Suhaib – Thanks for the kinds words Shaykh. I am indeed getting old. I was looking into getting personalized rock but you have to order in batches of 100′s!
@Masud – possibly, but Yusuf will have to confirm! Ustadh wikipedia has a different story
@Safiya – It is also a subcontinental obsession
@F – “Have you put the bins out yet?” Mrs Moo
I prefer to think that the second line is an explanation of the first rather than a chronological follow-on. It could even be put in parenthesis:
Find a girl, settle down,
(If you want you can marry)
Salaams,
I’m inclined to agree with Osama…no, not THAT Osama, the one above. I’m thinking the second line is an encouragement towards the achievability of the first suggestion. Yanni, “you can do it if you want it/put your mind to it.”
Find a Hobnob, have some chai
If you want, bliss can be yours
Wah wah!
{{@F – “Have you put the bins out yet?” Mrs Moo}}
lol – The bins, Mrs Moo?! Ask Mr Moo to see to them! He’s completely slipped/missed a rung off the ladder on this one – slippery hooves! And he wants to climb the property ladder.
Beautiful song! I may write a letter of appreciation
Join me on the raft Mrs Moo but please be careful – no sudden movements……
it’s nice to know people want to voice their opinions…
i having been muslim for 22 years can attest to truth in our convictions…although i no longer adhere to so called islamic guidelines for reasons of higher spiritual growth…i do, however have my personal and impersonal love of GOD and all else, maintained and balanced…so let me say this, when all else has passed you by…marriage, too, passes away with truth, understanding, and unconditional LOVE.
PEACE, LOVE AND BLESSINGS OF GOD BE UPON ONE AND ALL
hilarious…i think i just wiped my permafrown off and grinned
Some much needed pre-finals laughter!
I hope baby Moo appreciates all such concerns about his moral stance on marriage.
This has always meant to me:
Find a girl, settle down (to a series of dinners with her parents),
If you want (them as in-laws and they approve of you), you can marry.
[I learned this technique from reading many different translations of the Qur'an.]