News report on our local CBS affiliate reports that Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was arrested when he attempted to enter the U.S., on suspicion of being affiliated with a terrorist group.
My reaction is WTF?
If there was one Muslim I would have figured for definitely moderate and pacifistic, it would have been him.
What do they figure, he’s going to blow up the Peace Train?
My assumption up until recently is that there’s evidence we don’t know about, attitudes that haven’t been made public.
But this ranks high on weird news stories of the year!
Too many variables, so much we don’t see. Still, based on his interviews from when he changed his name and all that, I would’ve figured him for a pacifist regardless of his religious choices. Shocks me, to, man.
IIRC There was a time when he supported Hamas quite loudly and publicly. He also joined Khomeni in calling for the death of Rushdie. He has since recanted both positions.
Ah, as soon as I saw the thread title, I admit I was muttering to myself, …hmmmm. well he DID support the “fatwa” on Salman Rushdie, which disgusted me. I hadn’t realised that he changed his mind about that. Good.
I should not have thought he’d be a violently-minded sort, but I have not read the actual news item yet.
Good Morning America’s got someone on saying he donated “thousands of dollars” to Hamas, so he may not be an advocate of the more peaceful forms of Islam, although the same person is also saying Yusuf Islam has said he never knowingly donated to terrorist organizations.
I feel sorry for the other people on the plane. Apparently they weren’t told that their flight to Washington, D.C. was being diverted until they got off the plane and found themselves in Bangor, Maine! Now, I’ve never been to the airport in Bangor, but I have been to the one in Portland, Maine, and I assume the one in Bangor must be even smaller, although I can’t see how!
If I recall, what he said about the Salman Rushdie affair was that the fatwa was correct under Islamic law. This isn’t quite the same as saying he supported it. Does anyone else remember, or am I losing my mind?
Not to make this a huge debate (it is MPSIMS, afterall), but there’s not a lot of difference between saying, “I support the fatwa” and “the fatwa is correct under Islamic law, and I support Islamic law.”
His comments, while dodgy IMO, were heavily misrepresented by the UK press. I’ve already posted this in another thread on the subject, but Cat Stevens’s website presents his current position on it. (On preview: the website appears to be being overwhelmed at the moment so I’ve had to link to the thread.)
I saw him interveiwed about it. He was asked straight out if he thought Rusdie deserved death for his book and Cat wouldn’t give a straight answer. A non-citizen who makes anti-American comments and implicitly supports people who want to terroize the US does not deserve to be a guest here.
I don’t know, and honestly, I don’t know if I 100% even agree with my own statement. It just rings kind of similar to: “I think segregation of schools is wrong, but I support George Wallace,” or, “the war in Iraq is wrong, but I don’t think the current administration has done anything wrong,” or, (and sorry for violating so many rules here), “exterminating all those people in the gas chambers was wrong, but I’m all for Hitler.”
(I am not trying to make any sort of accurate comparison between Bush/Wallace/Hitler/Yusuf, it’s just that the idea of actively supporting and promoting an institution which is doing things you feel is wrong seems very disingenuous).
So his stance is basically, “If it were legal, I would support killing Salman Rushdie for writing a book.” I don’t know if this is sufficient legal grounds for keeping him out of the country, but it’s more than enough to make me not care very much if he is.
Rushdie, by the interpretation of some Muslims, didn’t just “write a book”, he wrote a book that was blasphemy. Throughout time, any number of cultures/religions have included blasphemy as a capital offense. Under Islamic law, as interpreted by the Ayatollah Khomeini, blasphemy is a capital crime, and therefore, Rushdie could be killed by any faithful Muslim without blame (actually, I guess the person who killed a blasphemer would be rewarded). If Rushdie had murdered a cop in cold blood, under US law, he could be killed, albeit only by the government. There is little difference, he’s dead either way.
The majority of Americans (supposedly) believe in capital punishment, although blasphemy is not among the crimes usually eligible for this particular punishment. Perhaps if the fundamentlist Christians gain addition political power, and a Supreme Court Justice or two, it will become a crime. Maybe they will even bring back public hangings–right after church on Sundays.
Of course you do, because in your (our) culture blasphemy is not a big deal. For Islamic fundamentalists, it is a big deal. An insult to God is the worst thing you can do–worse than murder, worse than kidnapping, worse than theft. For this mindset, capital punishment for Rushdie makes sense, just as for you, capital punishment for killing a peace officer makes sense. Different values, different results. You both think the other’s values are wrong, but you both sanction killing, just under different circumstances.
hajario, when did Yusuf Islam make an anti-American statement or indicate that he supported people who want to terrorize our country? His statements about Rushdie (a British subject) were made two decades ago, and the fatwa was put on Rushdie by an Iranian Ayatollah. 20 years ago, the US had not been visited by terrorists and has never been harmed (on our soil) by Iranian terrorists, so even Yusuf’s support of the Ayatollah (if he did so) does not show support for those who would use terror against us.
First, I don’t sanction killing anyone. Second, Yusuf Islam was born in fucking London, so don’t give me that cultural relativism crap. Thirdly, Muslims are born with exactly the same critical and moral faculties as everyone else, and the vast majority of them are able to recognize the inherent value of human life, so I’m not inclined to give a pass to the thugs and psychopaths who make up the lunatic fringe of their culture. Much, may I add, as I refuse to cut any slack to the lunatics and assholes on the farther edges of our culture, like Stephen “Yusuf Islam” Georgieu.
