Cat Stevens aka Yusuf Islam
Cat Stevens, a successful 1960s singer/songwriter with a gift for melodic, feel-good ditties, submitted to Islam in 1977 and renamed himself Yusuf Islam. He is a zealous Muslim and a rabid anti-Semite, married with 5 children. He's not really a jihadi (though Mossad thinks he gives money to Hamas) but then he wasn't really a hippie either. It was just the right look at the time. One can only imagine he took excessive amounts of LSD because in Islam he "found a religion that blended scientific reason with spiritual reality." From the beginning he got it all wrong: "One of the first interesting things I learnt was that the word 'Islam' itself comes from Peace or Salam." Even Karen Armstrong, the doyenne of authors of religious Books for Dummies and Dummiers, defines Islam as 'submission' or 'surrender' to the Will of God. He does get some things right, writing that Islam gives people "certain absolute directions on how, why, what, when, and where, to do things in their daily lives."
Cat Stevens' 60's songs weren't actually about being told what to do and when to do it as far as I recall but I wasn't a fan so maybe I got that wrong. At least Yusuf, the writer of "Peace Train" did not want to personally kill people, stone women to death, hack off infidels heads, hands and feet, murder homosexuals or indulge in other Islamic atrocities. He would only do them if he was ordered to by an Islamic authority in an Islamic state.
During a televised discussion of a hypothetical scenario the following exchange took place:
Geoffrey Robertson: You don't think that this man deserves to die?
Yusuf Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie?
Geoffrey Robertson: Yes.
Yusuf Islam: Yes, yes.
Geoffrey Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?
Yusuf Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act - perhaps, yes …
Geoffrey Robertson: Would you be part of that protest, Yusuf Islam, would you go to a demonstration where you knew that an effigy was going to be burned?
Yusuf Islam: I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing
I watched the Hypotheticals in the late 80s on ABC TV and remember them well and saw and heard Stevens making those comments and there was no hint of irony.
Under Islamic Law, the ruling regarding blasphemy is quite clear; the person found guilty of it must be put to death. - Press Release by Yusuf Islam (2 March 1989)
One could respect him if he stuck to his convictions or apologised for them but denying them is pathetic.
I never called for the death of Salman Rushdie; nor backed the Fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini – and still don't.
Mr Islam was a spokesman for the Forum Against Islamaphobia and Racism. Speaking to the BBC after the 9/11 attacks, Cat's focus was not on the attacks:
"This (9/11 attack) is a celebration for racists who will take any kind of opportunity to target innocent Muslims and bystanders and that is the kind of thing we are experiencing here (UK) and around the worl,"
It seems from the following 2 quotes that Cat has carefully studied Islam and Muhammad's simplistic and ignorant understanding of Judaism and the history of ancient Israel.
In 1988, he wrote the following in an 'informational pamphlet' called 'Eyewitness' for the Islamic Association for Palestine (IAP), a Hamas front-group with ties to Al-Qaeda:
"The Jews seem neither to respect God nor his creation. Their own holy books contain the curse of God brought upon them by their prophets on account of their disobedience to Him and mischief in the earth. We have seen the disrespect for religion displayed by those who consider themselves to be 'God's chosen people."
In 1999, Mr. Islam was the main speaker at the "Second 'United for Al-Quds Conference'." (Al-Quds is the Islamic name for Jerusalem). In his speech, entitled 'Jerusalem: The First and Last Scene of Faith's Struggle', Mr. Islam said:
"As we look to Jerusalem and the world today, we see Muslims being subjected to the same persecution and exile as Jews. We need only to look at Kosovo to see this reality … When the Jews placed their love of life and their national identity above the obedience to God and His prophets, they were lowered to abject levels of disgrace and dishonour."
I'm surprised he didn't mention apes and pigs. One of Muhammad's major mistakes about the Jews was taking what he heard of the Torah's mythical history of Israel at face value and repeating it in an attempt to discredit the Jews of 1200 years later. As Cat has studied Islam since 1977 he is as ignorant as Muhammad on these topics and obviously knows nothing of modern understanding of the Bible and the history of Israel revealed by archeology.
At an Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) conference in 1995, Mr. Islam said in his speech that:
"The Jews would have us believe that God has this bias to this little small tribe in the Middle of the Sinai desert and all the rest of humanity is just rubbish. I mean that this is the basic doctrine of the Jewish religion and that's why it is a most racist religion."
Of course Cat is right, Allah's bias is to the tribes of the Arabian desert and the rest of the world can be killed and their wives, sons and daughters can be raped and enslaved and their goods taken as booty, converted or live as humiliated fourth class dhimmi rubbish.
For those wishing to verify the text and beliefs atributed to Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam in this article can find them in the linked material.
1. www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/3639714/Letters-to-The-Sunday-Telegraph.html
2. www.islamfortoday.com/yusuf_islam.htm
3. https://archive.arabnews.com/?page=19§ion=0&article=132346&d=3&m=2&y=2010
4. www.mountainoflight.co.uk/talks_cw.html
5. www.soundvision.com/info/terrorism/yusufislam.asp
6. www.debbieschlussel.com/6284/islam-denied-entry-cat-stevens-peace-train-of-islamic-hate-derailed/
7. www.wrmea.com/component/content/article/178-1999-july-august/2550-promises-for-stronger-muslim-political-participation-at-the-amcs-8th-annual-convention.html
8. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/1558319.stm
9. www.islamtomorrow.com/converts/yusuf_islam.asp
10. www.angelfire.com/al/nov/Biograph.html
11. www.nytimes.com/1997/12/08/arts/arts-abroad-once-a-pop-star-now-he-sings-softly-of-tragedy.html
12. www.guardian.co.uk/world/2004/oct/01/usa.comment
13. https://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/832796.stm
14. www.islamiaschools.com
15. www.truefreethinker.com/articles/cat-stevens-yusuf-islam-salman-rushdie-and-satanic-verses-fatwa-part-1 Hypotheticals video
16. https://pajamasmedia.com/eddriscoll/2010/10/30/video-riding-the-peace-train/ Hypotheticals video
17. www.archive.org/details/Hypotheticals-a-Satanic-Scenario Hypotheticals video
18. The Australian. Thursday 16 December 2010. "Yusuf is lured back by musical prospect" by Iain Shedden
19. 'Play Stops: life's lesson goes on' by Yusuf Islam, an article on his site 'Sound Vision'
20. Book: 'Taking Back Islam' Published 2002 by Rodale Inc & Beliefnet Inc. pp186