Sami Yusuf hates to be pigeonholed. He's often described as "Islam's biggest rock star" or the "Muslim Robbie Williams", but he does not want to be defined by his religion.
Since releasing his first album in 2003, Yusuf has sold an estimated seven million albums and last year was named in the list of the world's 500 most influential Muslims. His composition Supplication was used on the soundtrack for the 2007 movie The Kite Runner and was nominated for the award for Best Music by Bafta, the Golden Globes and the Academy Awards.
He has played to more than 200,000 people in Turkey, was given a presidential-style welcome in Tajikistan, and is adored in countries as diverse as Germany, Bahrain, Qatar and Jordan. This summer, he filled Wembley Arena for a charity concert that raised more than £2 million (Dh11.6m) for victims of the floods in Pakistan, and yet he is hardly a household name.
As he walks through the foyer of Dubai's Westin Hotel, there is a small ripple of recognition and an Egyptian businessman politely asks to be photographed with him, but nobody rushes up to badger him - and that's the way he likes it. The thoroughly modest and unassuming star has driven himself to our meeting, arrives unannounced and apologises for being late, although it's only a matter of a few minutes.
He's here for the launch of his new album and is anxious to explain his very strong feelings about identity, which is complicated to say the least. Ethnically, he's Azeri but he was born in Tehran and grew up in the UK.
"I'm proud to be British and proud to be Muslim. I pray five times a day, but I'm not extremely religious," he says. "Identity is a tricky one. Rather than letting people define you, you have to define yourself. I'm a rock musician from London."
There's more to it than that, of course, and you have only to go to one of his concerts to understand how he has become an icon and role model for Muslim teenagers who love his music, along with its spiritual and religious messages, as much as they love his voice. He sings in several languages including English, Arabic, Turkish, Azeri, Urdu and Farsi.
"I hate the terms 'Islamic pop', or being described, as I have, as the Lady Gaga or the Robbie Williams of the Muslim world," he says.
He has even coined a new word, "spiritique" in an effort to extract himself from the pigeonhole he has has been put in, partly by his former record company, who chose to market him that way. His acrimonious split from them has marked the past three years, and Yusuf sees the new album, Wherever You Are, as the product of the hurtful and damaging turmoil he has suffered.
Without going into too much detail, he says he feels cheated by the record company that produced his first two albums but released a third, made up of demo tracks and experimental work after he had parted company with it.
"They took raw demos, mastered them and released them. In some cases, I hadn't even added the words and there's just a lot of humming. It was made up of experiments and sketches and released as a professional product in several Arab countries." He considered suing, but in the end decided against it.
"Suing people is so expensive and time consuming. I decided I would rather do an amazing new album. I also did a video for my website and explained to my fans what had happened and that this was stealing. I left the company because of various disagreements and felt that I was being cheated."
These are issues that clearly still rankle, but Yusuf is doing his best not to sound bitter and says he loves everyone, "even the people who hurt me".
Although he was born in Iran, his parents moved to the UK when he was three years old, and are now naturalised Britons living in Stockport, northwest England. His German-born wife, who converted to Islam before she met Yusuf, also lives there; although the couple, who have been married for five years, also have homes in Dubai, Sharjah and Cairo.
Yusuf grew up in Acton, west London and describes his schooldays there as "tough".
"I didn't conform or join groups or gangs," he recalls. "They called me the 'posh kid' or 'piano boy' because I did music and spent a lot of time with other kids from similar backgrounds."
However, the one thing they didn't pick on him for was his religion. Most of his friends, he says, were "middle-class white guys".
"I grew up in an environment that was spiritual but not particularly religious," he explains. "I never had the scenario that I couldn't be friends with this person or that person. I don't distinguish people by ethnicity. I had all sorts of friends and nobody even noticed who was this religion or who was that. It's all very different now."
At home, the youngest of three children, Yusuf was in his element. His father, a music teacher and composer, and mother, who plays Azeri percussion instruments, both encouraged their son's prodigious musical talents. As well as playing piano and violin, Yusuf also plays many Persian, Turkish and Arabic instruments. "My background is unique," he says. "My father is a wonderful classical musician. I grew up with the most prominent Azeri composers and musicians coming to our house, and we used to jam together. As a 12-year-old kid I was jamming with people old enough to be my grandparents. It gave me confidence to play with these incredibly talented and very influential people."
After finishing his secondary-school studies, he got a place at the prestigious Royal Academy of Music in London, but left after eight months, saying he found the hot-house atmosphere there stifling.
"It wasn't for me," he says simply. "I don't want to sound conceited or arrogant but out of the hundreds of people who go to these institutions, only one of them turns out to be a Mozart. You go to these places full of passion and come out like a mouse, feeling you can't do anything because some famous composer has done it before. Where's the melody, where's the soul?"
Instead, he went into music production. "I never thought I was going to be a singer - I'm definitely a musician and composer."
He began singing his own songs by accident. In 2001, he was working as a producer and recorded a demo for the Persian singer Omid, to help the artist learn the songs. "Omid said it was really good," he recalls, "then my family started to encourage me."
Yusuf's debut album Al-Mu'allim, with its messages of love, peace, mercy and tolerance, was a runaway success and he quickly became something of a role model among young Muslims. He admits he has had his share of criticism from "purists" who believe that popular music has no place in Islam. "I don't have time for people who are just going to criticise me," is his response. "My understanding of Islam is such that some things are absolute. Faith for me is absolute. Everything else has been disputed and we will never find two scholars who agree.
"People who come to my concerts are there to listen to the music. I don't sing about sex, drugs and rock 'n'roll. People come to experience some kind of spiritique - music that infuses Oriental and occidental harmonics, underpinned with the essence of spirituality."
He believes his new album is his best work and hopes that songs such as Wherever You Are, written at the peak of his frustrations with his former record company, will explain how he felt at the time.
"I'm saying that my best times were when I felt close to God. I never stopped believing, but during this difficult time I was losing my patience. This song represents my saying goodbye to all that."
Other songs explore themes of healing, kindness and spirituality and highlight his concern for the younger generation and their lack of direction and ambition.
To some people, Yusuf may seem naïve, and despite his success he is disarmingly unworldly at times. When we meet he is wearing an exquisite lightweight black Gucci jacket, but when I ask him if he has bought himself diamond rings or fancy Maserati sports cars, he genuinely appears never to have heard of the brand. "What's a Maserati?" he asks.
Does he ever worry that he's setting himself up as a target for extremists?
"I used to be asked if I had been attacked yet or if I have received death threats and the answer is no. The thing that is going to define or distinguish people like me in the end is the music. If it's not nice, it won't work."
Nevertheless, he stays away from the politics of religion and resists attempts to hijack him as some sort of religious role model.
"People have tried to drag me into a lot of stuff. I avoided going to Darfur, for example, because they wanted me to be the Islamic George Clooney."
He is, however, more than willing to lend his name to humanitarian causes and has donated the proceeds of his single Hear Your Call to Save the Children, which is working in the four provinces hit by the disastrous floods in Pakistan.
"I see my position as an artist as a trust," he says. "My faith teaches me it's not mine. It's the way I use it that matters, and I want to serve humanity. I want this world to be a better place. I admire people who use their fame for the good of humanity. That's what I want to do. Buying a diamond ring doesn't give me a buzz."
DEADPOOL & WOLVERINE
Starring: Ryan Reynolds, Hugh Jackman, Emma Corrin
Director: Shawn Levy
Rating: 3/5
More on Quran memorisation:
Our legal consultants
Name: Hassan Mohsen Elhais
Position: legal consultant with Al Rowaad Advocates and Legal Consultants.
UPI facts
More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
More than 3.5 million Indians reside in UAE
Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Kumulus Water
Started: 2021
Founders: Iheb Triki and Mohamed Ali Abid
Based: Tunisia
Sector: Water technology
Number of staff: 22
Investment raised: $4 million
The specs
Engine: Four electric motors, one at each wheel
Power: 579hp
Torque: 859Nm
Transmission: Single-speed automatic
Price: From Dh825,900
On sale: Now
SPEC%20SHEET%3A%20SAMSUNG%20GALAXY%20S24%20ULTRA
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Specs
Engine: Duel electric motors
Power: 659hp
Torque: 1075Nm
On sale: Available for pre-order now
Price: On request
Name: Peter Dicce
Title: Assistant dean of students and director of athletics
Favourite sport: soccer
Favourite team: Bayern Munich
Favourite player: Franz Beckenbauer
Favourite activity in Abu Dhabi: scuba diving in the Northern Emirates
Key facilities
- Olympic-size swimming pool with a split bulkhead for multi-use configurations, including water polo and 50m/25m training lanes
- Premier League-standard football pitch
- 400m Olympic running track
- NBA-spec basketball court with auditorium
- 600-seat auditorium
- Spaces for historical and cultural exploration
- An elevated football field that doubles as a helipad
- Specialist robotics and science laboratories
- AR and VR-enabled learning centres
- Disruption Lab and Research Centre for developing entrepreneurial skills
RACECARD
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COMPANY PROFILE
Name: Qyubic
Started: October 2023
Founder: Namrata Raina
Based: Dubai
Sector: E-commerce
Current number of staff: 10
Investment stage: Pre-seed
Initial investment: Undisclosed
Real estate tokenisation project
Dubai launched the pilot phase of its real estate tokenisation project last month.
The initiative focuses on converting real estate assets into digital tokens recorded on blockchain technology and helps in streamlining the process of buying, selling and investing, the Dubai Land Department said.
Dubai’s real estate tokenisation market is projected to reach Dh60 billion ($16.33 billion) by 2033, representing 7 per cent of the emirate’s total property transactions, according to the DLD.
COMPANY%20PROFILE
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Titanium Escrow profile
Started: December 2016
Founder: Ibrahim Kamalmaz
Based: UAE
Sector: Finance / legal
Size: 3 employees, pre-revenue
Stage: Early stage
Investors: Founder's friends and Family
The%20specs
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The smuggler
Eldarir had arrived at JFK in January 2020 with three suitcases, containing goods he valued at $300, when he was directed to a search area.
Officers found 41 gold artefacts among the bags, including amulets from a funerary set which prepared the deceased for the afterlife.
Also found was a cartouche of a Ptolemaic king on a relief that was originally part of a royal building or temple.
The largest single group of items found in Eldarir’s cases were 400 shabtis, or figurines.
Khouli conviction
Khouli smuggled items into the US by making false declarations to customs about the country of origin and value of the items.
According to Immigration and Customs Enforcement, he provided “false provenances which stated that [two] Egyptian antiquities were part of a collection assembled by Khouli's father in Israel in the 1960s” when in fact “Khouli acquired the Egyptian antiquities from other dealers”.
He was sentenced to one year of probation, six months of home confinement and 200 hours of community service in 2012 after admitting buying and smuggling Egyptian antiquities, including coffins, funerary boats and limestone figures.
For sale
A number of other items said to come from the collection of Ezeldeen Taha Eldarir are currently or recently for sale.
Their provenance is described in near identical terms as the British Museum shabti: bought from Salahaddin Sirmali, "authenticated and appraised" by Hossen Rashed, then imported to the US in 1948.
- An Egyptian Mummy mask dating from 700BC-30BC, is on offer for £11,807 ($15,275) online by a seller in Mexico
- A coffin lid dating back to 664BC-332BC was offered for sale by a Colorado-based art dealer, with a starting price of $65,000
- A shabti that was on sale through a Chicago-based coin dealer, dating from 1567BC-1085BC, is up for $1,950
Election pledges on migration
CDU: "Now is the time to control the German borders and enforce strict border rejections"
SPD: "Border closures and blanket rejections at internal borders contradict the spirit of a common area of freedom"
MATCH INFO
Juventus 1 (Dybala 45')
Lazio 3 (Alberto 16', Lulic 73', Cataldi 90 4')
Red card: Rodrigo Bentancur (Juventus)
The specs
Engine: 1.5-litre turbo
Power: 181hp
Torque: 230Nm
Transmission: 6-speed automatic
Starting price: Dh79,000
On sale: Now
Know your camel milk:
Flavour: Similar to goat’s milk, although less pungent. Vaguely sweet with a subtle, salty aftertaste.
Texture: Smooth and creamy, with a slightly thinner consistency than cow’s milk.
Use it: In your morning coffee, to add flavour to homemade ice cream and milk-heavy desserts, smoothies, spiced camel-milk hot chocolate.
Goes well with: chocolate and caramel, saffron, cardamom and cloves. Also works well with honey and dates.
THE SPECS
Engine: 6.75-litre twin-turbocharged V12 petrol engine
Power: 420kW
Torque: 780Nm
Transmission: 8-speed automatic
Price: From Dh1,350,000
On sale: Available for preorder now
Teri%20Baaton%20Mein%20Aisa%20Uljha%20Jiya
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
Killing of Qassem Suleimani
In numbers: PKK’s money network in Europe
Germany: PKK collectors typically bring in $18 million in cash a year – amount has trebled since 2010
Revolutionary tax: Investigators say about $2 million a year raised from ‘tax collection’ around Marseille
Extortion: Gunman convicted in 2023 of demanding $10,000 from Kurdish businessman in Stockholm
Drug trade: PKK income claimed by Turkish anti-drugs force in 2024 to be as high as $500 million a year
Denmark: PKK one of two terrorist groups along with Iranian separatists ASMLA to raise “two-digit million amounts”
Contributions: Hundreds of euros expected from typical Kurdish families and thousands from business owners
TV channel: Kurdish Roj TV accounts frozen and went bankrupt after Denmark fined it more than $1 million over PKK links in 2013
Specs
Engine: Dual-motor all-wheel-drive electric
Range: Up to 610km
Power: 905hp
Torque: 985Nm
Price: From Dh439,000
Available: Now
UAE currency: the story behind the money in your pockets
