Does buying a Cat Stevens album support terrorism?

[NFlanders]

I know that Cat Stevens has changed his name and converted to Islam, but I also seem to recall charges that he has given financial support to Hamas. Does he still receive royalties from his albums, and if so, will buying one help support terrorism?

[yabob]

I made a point of looking for Cat Stevens’ statements following 9/11. He seems pretty unequivical in his opinions that terrorism has nothing to do with real Islam:

http://news.independent.co.uk/uk/this_britain/story.jsp?story=101449

On the Hamas accusation:

http://catstevens.com/articles/00203/

I would be surprised if he is directly supporting an openly terrorist organization. I would not be surprised if he is supporting a supposedly non-terrorist Muslim group whose intentions have been hijacked, or who could be accused of playing into the hands of more radical groups.

You will note this quote from the second article:

Islam - who as Cat Stevens who wrote such songs as Peace Train (Song)'' and Wild World (Song)’’ - said that he is presently supporting orphans in Hebron, and all his donations in the past have been given to humanitarian causes.

Israel says that money designated for Hamas-backed charities often is diverted to the militant Islamic movement’s guerrilla wing. Hebron is a Hamas stronghold.

I believe Yusef Islam (the former Cat Stevens) to be a man with a sincere faith and good intentions. At worst, he may have gotten duped a few times.

[TWDuke]

Well, he did support a call for the death of an author whose novel offended some moslems. Since the effect of such a call is to silence people through fear, I consider it terrorism.

(This is a second-hand excerpt of a New York Times article, so I’m not sure it’s 100 percent accurate, but it gets the gist of what was reported at the time.

"The musician known as Cat Stevens said in a British television program to be broadcast next week that rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie, ‘‘I would have hoped that it’d be the real thing.’’ He also said that if Mr. Rushdie turned up at his doorstep looking for help, ‘‘I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he
would like. I’d try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is,’’ said Mr. Islam, who watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments.

He has since tried to distance himself from the negative publicity surrrounding these comments, but he has never, AFAIK, said it was wrong to call for Rushdie’s death. This doesn’t mean that buying his records will fund terrorism, but I wouldn’t want to give him any of my money.

[j.c]

Yabob has given you good information.

If, after his help, you still feel worried, then you should not buy the new CD. As we say in rape-prevention classes, “trust your gut.” It’s never a good idea to talk yourself into doing things that you feel might be wrong.

[Eva_Luna]

Well, you could always buy a used copy, for which royalties have presumably already been paid.

[Tyrrell_McAllister]

Here is a recent statement by Yusuf Islam (FKA Cat Stevens) regarding his comments on Rushdie.