In 1979, one of the world’s biggest singers walked away from fame. He sold his guitars. He stopped making records. And then he got married — to a woman almost nobody has heard of since.
That woman is Fauzia Mubarak Ali. Her husband was Cat Stevens, the man behind “Peace Train,” “Morning Has Broken,” and “Moon Shadow.” Today he is known as Yusuf Islam.
Here is a small detail that says a lot. Years earlier, he wrote a song called “Hard Headed Woman.” The line went: “I’m looking for my hard headed woman.” After he met Fauzia, he changed it. Now he sings: “I’ve found my hard headed woman.”
Sweet, right? But that’s one of the very few real glimpses we get into their life together. Fauzia Mubarak Ali has stayed out of the spotlight for more than 45 years. No interviews. No book. No public statements.
And here’s the honest part. Much of what you’ll read about her online is wrong. Websites contradict each other. Some contradict themselves in the same article. So this piece will do something different — it will separate what’s solid from what isn’t.
Quick Facts About Fauzia Mubarak Ali
- Known as: Cat Stevens’ wife (Yusuf Islam’s wife)
- Name spellings seen online: Fauzia, Fawziah, Fawzia, Fouzia
- Married: September 1979, London Central Mosque, Regent’s Park
- Years married: 45+
- Husband: Yusuf Islam, born Steven Demetre Georgiou (Cat Stevens)
- Children: 5 surviving — 1 son, 4 daughters; another son died in infancy
- Son: Muhammad Islam, performs as Yoriyos Adamos
- Daughters: Hassana, Maymanah, Asmaa Eve, Amina
- Charity: Co-founder of Small Kindness (orphans, widows, families)
- Public appearances: Very rare — seen at the Fortune Forum Summit, Dorchester Hotel, London, 2009
Who Is Fauzia Mubarak Ali?
They married in September 1979. That’s over 45 years together. They have five surviving children. Together, they started a charity called Small Kindness, which helps orphans, widows, and families in need.
That’s the solid part. Now here’s the interesting part.
Fauzia Mubarak Ali is not a celebrity. She has no public role. She almost never speaks to the press. While her husband returned to sold-out stages and played Glastonbury, she stayed exactly where she has always been — out of view.
Even her name is unclear online. You’ll see it written as Fauzia, Fawziah, Fawzia, or Fouzia. When people can’t agree on the spelling of a name, that’s a clue about how thin the record really is.
So why do people search for her so often? Curiosity. She married a man at the peak of his fame — right as he gave it all away. People want to know who she is. The problem is that the honest answer is: not much is known. And that’s her choice.
Fauzia Mubarak Ali’s Early Life
One account describes Fauzia Mubarak Ali as the daughter of an accountant from Surbiton, a quiet suburb in south-west London. That paints a picture of an English upbringing.
Other websites tell a completely different story. They say she was born in Karachi, Pakistan, on 24 March 1958. They list her school, her degree, even her star sign.
Now here’s the strange bit. One of those same websites also says — in its own opening paragraph — that she was born in Sweden. Then, two paragraphs later, it says Karachi. Same article. Two different countries.
The claims keep piling up. Several sites say she earned a degree in Urdu literature from Kinnaird College for Women in Lahore. Then a master’s in comparative literature from Columbia University in New York. Sounds detailed. But not one of these pages points to an interview, a book, or a public record.
So what’s the honest answer? Her early life is not publicly documented. If a website states her birthplace with total confidence and shows you nothing to back it up, be careful. That’s not knowledge. That’s guessing dressed up as fact.
How She Met Cat Stevens
The first version is charming. It says she knew nothing about him or his music when they met. She wasn’t a Cat Stevens fan at all. She was an Elvis Presley fan.
The second version is different. It says the marriage was arranged — a normal and respected practice in many Muslim families. Some sites go further and claim his mother, Ingrid Wickman, picked Fauzia for her son.
So which is true? We can’t say for certain. But there’s one thing nobody disputes, and it matters more than the details.
They met after his conversion. By then, he had already left the music industry. He wasn’t a rock star walking into the room. He was a man quietly rebuilding his life around a new faith.
That’s why the “she didn’t know who he was” detail sticks with people. Whether or not it’s exactly right, it captures something true. There was no fame to be starstruck by. It was gone by choice.
Fauzia Mubarak Ali’s Marriage to Cat Stevens
They married in September 1979 at the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park. This is one of the few details the sources broadly agree on.
Look at the timing. He converted to Islam in 1977. He took the name Yusuf Islam in 1978. He married Fauzia in 1979. Three big life changes in three years.
What was he doing at the time? Not touring. Not recording. He was helping build Muslim schools in London and putting his energy into education.
One small note on the dates. Some sites report a 41st anniversary in 2020. Others report a 45th more recently. The maths doesn’t always line up neatly — another reminder to hold the fine print loosely.
But the bigger picture is clear. This was a private religious ceremony, not a celebrity wedding. No press. No spectacle. And that quiet start set the tone for everything that followed.
Why Cat Stevens Became Yusuf Islam
To understand Fauzia’s story, you need to understand the man she married. And that story begins in the water.
In 1976, he was swimming off the coast of Malibu, California. He got into trouble. He was being pulled out and couldn’t get back. In that moment, he called out: “Oh, God! If you save me, I will work for you.”
Then the waves carried him back to shore.
That shook him. Soon after, his brother David returned from a trip to Jerusalem and gave him a copy of the Qur’an as a birthday gift. He started reading.
He’s been open about how unlikely that was. In his own words: “I would never have picked up the Qur’an myself as a free spirit; I was more aligned to my father’s Greek Orthodox beliefs.”
This wasn’t his first brush with death, either. Years before, in the late 1960s, he was diagnosed with tuberculosis and spent months recovering. That illness had already started him thinking hard about life and meaning.
The rest moved quickly. He formally became a Muslim in 1977. He took the name Yusuf Islam in 1978.
Here’s why this matters for Fauzia. She didn’t marry the pop star. She married the man who came out the other side of all of it.
Leaving Music Behind
He didn’t just step back from music. He let it go completely. He sold his guitars. He walked away from the industry.
Plenty of people questioned it. Why would anyone give up that much success?
His own answer was calm and clear: “By that time, I was just so excited. I was learning so many other things. I got married and had so many wonderful opportunities to do things I’ve never done before because I was always on the road or in the studio.”
Read that again. He didn’t sound like a man who lost something. He sounded like a man who found something.
And think about what this meant for their marriage. No tours. No studio hours. No long absences. Most famous musicians hand their families the leftovers. He handed his family the whole thing.
There’s a real irony here. The silence that made him mysterious to the public is exactly what gave the two of them a normal life.
Meet Their Five Children
Fauzia Mubarak Ali and Yusuf Islam have five surviving children — one son and four daughters. They also lost a son in infancy.
Hassana Islam works as a director at several of her father’s companies. She lives in the United Arab Emirates with her family.
Maymanah Islam lives in London. She works in charity and is also a professional photographer.
Asmaa Eve Georgiou Islam took a different path. She’s a practising solicitor, based in London.
Amina Yusuf is a photographer too — so that’s two photographers in one family.
And then there’s Muhammad Islam, who performs under the name Yoriyos Adamos. He’s the only one who followed his father into music. In recent years he became a father himself. Yusuf shared a photo holding his new grandson with the caption: “God has made succession guaranteed, another grandson born on my birthdate!”
One quick warning. Some websites list six or even seven children’s names, then contradict their own count in the same paragraph. One says “five children, four daughters and two sons” — which adds up to six. So take detailed child lists online with a pinch of salt.
The Guitar That Brought the Music Back
Here’s one of the best stories in this whole article. And it starts with a teenager and a guitar.
One day, Muhammad came home with a guitar. He just bought it. No hesitation. Then he started writing songs.
His father noticed. And something shifted.
In Yusuf’s own words: “My son helped me come to a better understanding of where music sits in Islamic culture, and I found myself free to sing again.”
He put it another way too: “My son broke the taboo for me because he had no hesitation in buying a guitar.”
Think about how unusual that is. Normally the father teaches the son. Here, the son quietly opened a door the father had closed years before.
And it worked. Yusuf came back to recording and performing. He released the album King of a Land in 2023. That same year, he played Glastonbury for the first time — on the Pyramid Stage, in front of a huge crowd.
But notice something. He came back to public life. Fauzia didn’t. She stayed exactly where she was.
The Song He Rewrote for His Wife
The original line was: “I’m looking for a hard headed woman.”
Today, when he sings it live, the line is: “I’ve found my hard headed woman.”
Small change. Big meaning. The search is over. What he was looking for is at home.
And what does “hard headed” actually mean here? Not stubborn in a bad way. He meant someone strong. Someone grounded. Someone who won’t be impressed by fame or fooled by nonsense.
This is one of the very few honest windows into their marriage. He didn’t give an interview about her. He didn’t write a memoir chapter. He just changed one word in a song — and let that speak.
Fauzia Mubarak Ali’s Charity Work
Fauzia Mubarak Ali and her husband founded a charity together called Small Kindness. It helps orphans, widows, and families who have lost everything.
It grew out of the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s. Whole communities were torn apart. Small Kindness was built to help the people left behind.
Look at the name. It isn’t grand. It doesn’t promise to fix the world. The idea is simple — small, practical acts that actually reach real people. That fits neatly with everything else about this family.
It also sits alongside Yusuf’s other work: building Muslim schools, supporting education, and serving the British Muslim community.
Now, here’s where we need to be careful again.
Several websites claim Fauzia founded a separate group called the Human Rights Advocates Association. They describe her as a leading activist across Pakistan and the Middle East. But they show no proof at all — no interview, no report, no record.
The same sites claim she “fled the United States” after the 9/11 attacks. That looks like a mix-up. The well-documented story is about Yusuf, who was denied entry to the US in 2004 when his flight was diverted.
So here’s the honest line. Small Kindness is real and documented. The rest of the activism story needs proof that nobody has provided.
Where is Fauzia Mubarak Ali Today
She appeared with her husband at the Fortune Forum Summit at the Dorchester Hotel in London in March 2009. There are photos from that night.
But that’s about it. No interviews. No memoir. No public statements. No social media presence of her own.
And their home life? In 2001, the family was living in a semi-detached house in Willesden, north-west London. Not a mansion. Not a gated estate. A normal house on a normal street.
Around that same time, their eldest daughter got married. The wedding was arranged between the two families — theirs and the groom’s parents.
Here’s the thing worth saying plainly. Her privacy doesn’t look accidental. It looks chosen. Her husband could have put her on stage at any point in 45 years. He didn’t. She didn’t want it.
That tells you more about Fauzia Mubarak Ali than any list of birth dates ever could.
Bottom Line
We know she married Yusuf Islam in September 1979 and has stayed with him for more than 45 years. We know they raised five children and lost one son in infancy. We know they built Small Kindness together. And we know he rewrote a lyric for her, changing “I’m looking for” to “I’ve found.”
Everything else — the birth date, the birthplace, the degrees, the activism career, the net worth — comes from websites copying each other with nothing behind them.
(FAQs)
When did Fauzia Mubarak Ali marry Cat Stevens?
In September 1979, at the London Central Mosque in Regent’s Park. It was a private religious ceremony.
How many children do they have?
Five surviving children — one son and four daughters. Another son died in infancy.
What does Fauzia Mubarak Ali do?
She co-founded the charity Small Kindness with her husband. Beyond that, her professional life isn’t publicly documented, despite what many websites claim.
Where was Fauzia Mubarak Ali born?
Honestly? Nobody has proved it. One account says she’s the daughter of a Surbiton accountant. Others say Karachi, Pakistan. One site even says Sweden. There’s no reliable source.
Is Fauzia Mubarak Ali still married to Yusuf Islam?
Yes. They’ve been married over 45 years, with no reports of any split.
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