stevens nearly drowned in an accident in malibu in 1975. stevens described the event in a vh1 interview some years later: "i suddenly held myself and i said, 'oh god! if you save me, i'll work for you.'" he had looked into buddhism; zen and i ching, numerology, tarot cards and astrology", but when his brother david gave him a copy of the qu'ran, stevens began to convert to islam.