A Is for Allah is the name of a double album created for Muslim children by Yusuf Islam (formerly known as Cat Stevens) released on July 11, 2000 through Resurgence UK Records. The title song was written in 1980 upon the birth of his first child, a daughter named Hasanah.1 Because she was the first of five living children to come, Yusuf Islam's concerns about how she was to learn the Arabic language, to read and understand the Qu'ran, while living in Western society struck home. He himself was was raised in London, the same city where they still lived, and had kept a home there throughout his life. Islam was a recent convert to Islam himself, and was just realizing the great task laid before him, and many other Muslim families in securing an Islamic education as well as schooling that could be considered the very best he could give his children.
Thus, Yusuf Islam as musician used the song as a vehicle to teach other children about the 28-letter Arabic alphabet.1 This kind of Islamic music is also known as nasheed. Utilizing the talents of other Muslim musicians -Zain Bhikha from South Africa, being one who sang on all but one track, the album that had been in the works since 1994, with the exception of the title track (dating back to 1980), was released with a large colorful book and on each page, a letter of the Arabic alphabet, by Mountain of Light, Yusuf Islam's own record imprint.
