We all get those “A Ha!” moments on occasion. When a long-lost, missing puzzle piece falls into place. Sometimes we’ve been searching, other times we just accept the mystery.

One such moment happened today while I was driving. The punk rock supergroup Me First and the Gimme Gimmies is a cover band that has a great rendition of “Wild World” by Cat Stevens.

Before the song begins, one member says, “Assalamu alaikum, Mike” — to which Mike responds, Walaikum assalam.

This is Arabic. It’s an Islamic greeting, akin to the Catholic “Peace be upon you…”

I’ve listened to this song for years and have never understood why the song begins like this. It’s not in the original. And the context of the song has nothing to do with Islam or seemingly anything related to the Arab world.

It’s been a mystery that I just accepted as such.

Then, earlier today, it hit me. I don’t know where it came from, or why. But as the song played in the background, a lightbulb flickered in my subconscious.

Cat Stevens, the artist behind the original, changed his name to Yusef Islam after converting to the religion in 1977.

I’ve known the traditional greeting, as well as the fact of Yusef’s conversion. But in the context of the cover song, the two hadn’t clicked until this afternoon.

It makes one wonder how much knowledge we have buried deep within us, waiting for that a-ha moment to show itself.