[b] Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens before he became a Muslim in the 1970s, has released his first commercial album for nearly three decades.[/b]

“An Other Cup” was released in the United States on Tuesday, November 14, one day after it went on sale in Britain along with a single, “Heaven/Where True Love Goes”.

The album includes 12 brand new songs with hits like “One Day at a Time” and “The Beloved” — a hymn of praise to Prophet Muhammad (peace and blessings be upon him).

Another track is “Don’t Let Me Be Misunderstood,” in which the singer complains how his political and religious views have been unfairly represented.

“I’m just a soul whose intentions are good/ Oh Lord, please don’t let me be misunderstood.”

The “Maybe There’s a World” is a plea for a war-free world.

Critics expected the new album to sell briskly thanks to Islam’s charisma.

It is “forty-five minutes of welcome surprise,” the Guardian’s arts editor Mat Snow wrote Tuesday.

Islam has never stopped making records over the last three decades, releasing three albums of Islam-related songs, The Life of the Last Prophet (1995), Prayers of the Last Prophet (1999) and a record for children, A Is for Allah (2000), most of them have been for humanitarian causes.

He initiated his comeback with a live performance in London on September 26 to an audience that included former US president Bill Clinton, Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson as well as the famous acting couple, Michael Douglas and Catherine Zeta-Jones.

The new album marks the 40th anniversary of the release of his first Cat Stevens album, “Matthew and Son.”

Nobel Ceremony

Islam will join legend Lionel Richie and the UK band Simply Red as performers at this year’s Nobel Peace Prize concert in Oslo next month.

“The December 11 concert will be hosted by actresses Sharon Stone and Anjelica Huston,” Sigrid Langbrekke, head organizer of events at the Norwegian Nobel Institute, told the Bloomberg News in a recent interview.

The event will also honor Bangladesh’s Muhammad Yunus and the Grameen Bank for winning the 2006 peace prize.

The peace prize was shared by Yunus and Grameen Bank, which he founded, for their work to advance social and economic development by giving so-called micro-credit loans to the poor.

Islam reverted to Islam in 1977 and has since become a leading voice in Britain’s Muslim minority estimated at 1.8 million people.

His UN-registered charity, Small Kindness, provides humanitarian relief, through direct aid as well as social and educational programs, to orphans and families in Bosnia, Kosovo, Iraq and other regions of the world.

In 2003, Islam was awarded the “World Social Award” for his humanitarian relief work.

More recently, in November 2004, he was honored with the “Man for Peace” award by a committee of Nobel peace laureates.