A note by Maynard
To be honest, I don’t follow rallies very closely, I just try to catch the gist. I glanced at this overview of the “Rally to Restore Sanity”, and this paragraph caught my eye:
Stewart pulled off his typical blend of deadpan comedy and bad jokes in several segments, which were broken up with musical features. Ozzy had a sort of “battle of the bands” with Yusuf Islam (the former Cat Stevens), along with Mavis Staples, The Roots, John Legend. Steven Colbert, of course provided comedic backup.
What’s Yusuf Islam doing here? Anyone remember him? He was a familiar musical voice back when I attended Starfleet Academy (at that time he was only “Cat Stevens”). He later became Yusuf Islam and…Do you remember the infamous fatwā against author Salman Rushdie? Stevens/Islam had a supporting role in that affair. I’ll clip the story from Wikipedia:
On February 21, 1989, Yusuf Islam addressed students at Kingston University in London about his conversion to Islam and was asked about the controversy in the Muslim world and the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie’s execution. He replied, “He must be killed. The Qur’an makes it clear — if someone defames the prophet, then he must die.”
Newspapers quickly denounced what was seen as Yusuf Islam’s support for the assassination of Rushdie and the next day Yusuf released a statement saying that he was not personally encouraging anybody to be a vigilante, and that he was only stating that blasphemy is a capital offense according to the Qur’an.
However on March 8, 1989, while speaking in London’s Regents Park Mosque, Yusuf Islam was asked by a Christian Science Monitor reporter how he would “cope with the idea of killing a writer for writing a book.” He is reported to have replied:
In Islam there is a line between let’s say freedom and the line which is then transgressed into immorality and irresponsibility and I think as far as this writer is concerned, unfortunately, he has been irresponsible with his freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It’s got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again.
Two months later Yusuf Islam appeared on a British television program, BBC’s Hypotheticals, an occasional broadcast which featured a panel of notable guests to explore a hypothetical situation with moral, ethical and/or political dilemmas. In the episode, (“A Satanic Scenario”) Stevens/Islam is recorded having this exchange with moderator and Queens Counsel Geoffrey Robertson:
Robertson: You don’t think that this man deserves to die?
Y. Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie?
Robertson: Yes.
Y. Islam: Yes, yes.
Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?
Y. 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.
[Some minutes later, Robertson on the subject of a protest where an effigy of the author is to be burned]
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?
Y. Islam: I would have hoped that it’d be the real thingThe New York Times also reports this statement from the program: [If Rushdie turned up at my 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.
The content of the broadcast was reported in the New York Times on May 23, 1989, a week before the show’s planned airing. He and other Muslim participants “objected to cuts” that “omitted the Muslim justification for punishment of blasphemy.”
Wiki notes that Stevens/Islam defends himself…
In a statement in the FAQ section of his web site, Yusuf asserted that he was joking and that the [BBC interview] was improperly edited. In the years since these comments, he has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa.
Of course there’s more to be said about this incident and the full history of Stevens/Islam. Look to the full Wikipedia article to read additional details. For example, Stevens/Islam immediately and unequivocally condemned the 9/11 attacks with this statement:
I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur’an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment.
Blah blah blah, Islam is a religion of peace. But, yes, I appreciate the sentiment expressed. Even so, it might be argued that Stevens/Islam is damaged goods at best. Does he really belong at a “Restoring Sanity” rally? Or is his presence perhaps indicative of why we need to restore sanity to our erring world?
i had the same instant reaction to Cathouse Islam being dragged out of mothballs by these stooges: the man who said it’s ok to kill someone because they said something bad about a murderous pedophile woman hating sociopath. oh, these emo brats and their absurd ever so hip use of irony. as if tragically absurd and misguided is the pathway to sanity.
that’s the thing about mental illness: some have no idea there’s anything wrong with their perceptions of the world and themselves. crazy and illogical is to them normal crystal clear, if somewhat smirky, vision. playing footsie with those who expect you to submit to them or be slaughtered. how edgy and open minded.
as i recall after 9/11 Catkin was on a watch list . he was dragged off a plane somewhere in new england, held then deported. he was a highly successful songwriter( my aunt and my mother were madly in love with him- he was quite popular.)so one can only imagine to whom he contributes his buckets of heathen godless dirty money to.
oh look, to terrorists:
“The connections to the terror group are relatively recent: in 1998, Yusuf Islam spoke at a fundraising dinner sponsored by an organization, the Jerusalem Fund for Human Services, that has been identified by the Canadian government as a Hamas front group. He exhorted his hearers to donate to the group in order to “lessen the suffering of our brothers and sisters in Palestine and the Holy Land.” In 2000, he was denied entry into Israel for donating thousands to Hamas.”- robert spencer , front page 2004 http://tinyurl.com/2g9qkcg
“…Although only a few charities were infiltrated by the Islamist groups including by Al Qaeda, the Spanish police identified 10 charities that included organisations engaged in bonafide relief and rehabilitation activity. They were the International Islamic Relief Organisation; Al Haramain Islamic Foundation; Ittehad-e-Islami, based in Afghanistan, the most subsidized charity by the Saudi government; Muslim Aid created in London by Cat Stevens alias Yusuf Islam and was involved in Bosnia…” May 2004 UNISCI (University of Madrid’s Research Unit on Security and International Cooperation) discussion paper, “Spain: An Al Qaeda Hub?”, by Dr. Rohan Gunaratna, Head, International Centre for Political Violence and Terrorism Research, Institute of Defence and Strategic Studies in Singapore
“A look at Islam’s activities shows that ‘The Peace Train Man’ should face a jail sentence if a thorough investigation is launched into his militant Islamist fundraising and recruitment activities on behalf of Bosnia Muslims and Al Qaeda.
One of the many reasons why Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens, the poster boy of Islamic celebrity conversions, was banned from the United States may be due to his association with Abdul Malik Muhajid , a friend of Islam’s for 16 years. Abdul Malik Muhajid is the director of Sound Vision, an Islamist business front which is used to generate capital and propagate Islam in North America , and is tied to Hamas,Islamic Associaton of Palestine and the Mosque Foundation in Bridgeview, Illinois.” http://tinyurl.com/24yp68n
“Yusuf Islam uses his Dubai based Astrolabe company to distribute Islamic products and propagation materials . The Astrolabe “company hopes our products reach America at-large and inform an enlightened religious and cultural dialogue.
Yusaf Islam’s deceptively named ‘International Institute for Education Resources and Research’. which omits the word Islam is an international enterprise which publishes textbooks and educational materials for use in Islamic schools.
MIM: The IBERR ‘mission statement’ from a conference in 1999 openly calls for preparing young Muslims to implement the the “khalifate”, a global Muslim state.” http://tinyurl.com/24yp68n
what does it say that the bush administration banned Pussy from the country but obama apparently thinks those who fund al qaeda are safe as houses and can come on in and play with his official clown tools?
yuself islam like most radical muslim public mouthpieces is a liar : their rich crusader convert celebtard. he should never have been allowed in the country. where’s Paaaaaaaaaat when you need him?
according to the stripper he was dating , Peace Train is really a song about f@#$ing.
his daughters, living in england , are veiled. and this is who the liberals have decided is saner than the tea party brown shirts and ‘ radical’ republicans?
I’m awed by the degree of self-deception humans are capable of. It’s a pitfall I *try* not to fall into myself. I’ll ask myself the hard questions of how I might be wrong, maybe completely wrong. And I have doubts, plenty of them. Oddly enough, what reassures me most is not my internal certainty (which is lacking), but the obvious lunacy of those who stand against me. Like Cat Stevens, advocating murder while crooning songs of peace, and then becoming a poster boy for “sanity” as defined by the Left.
You know what? I wish I was wrong, and that they were sane and I was the crazy one. Then the authorities could lock me away in an asylum and the everyone would be happy and peaceful. This is a preferable scenario to me being sane and the world being in the hands of madmen.
Do you really think the interpretation of “Peace Train” is fundamentally sexual? If so, why didn’t he call it “Piece Train”?
last night i wrote a response to you, fueled by beer drinking, candy giving and tamale making( so you know it was both colorful and insightful) and now it has gone of into the ether all on its lonesome.
the cliff notes version:
i know lady cheyenne, the legendary burlesque performer stevens was seeing right before he converted. the information about the song’s meaning comes from someone who knew him intimately. ” make love not war”,” girls say’ yes’ to boys who say’ no’ to the viet nam war”. make peace and get you some, the mating call of a generation. or “fork it over, uptight racist b#%ch, because we’re gonna take it anyways” if you were bill ayers.
you are not insane. we are not insane. you just want a pepsi and urkel won’t give it to you.
http://tinyurl.com/bc24ta
correction: princess cheyenne. apparently there’s been a problem in my memory banks causing mix ups between my Legendary Stripper and Legendary Drag Queens folders.
Ah, I wondered who you might be referring to, but now I know. Gosh, thierry, you certainly hang with an eclectic crowd. Too bad they knocked Ms. Cheyenne out of the shrink game, because she was probably doing more good than a “real” psychiatrist. Ah, that Wiki article takes me back to the bad old days. I did have occasion to visit the combat zone once in the 1970’s. I didn’t know what it was. I was dragged there by several other Starfleet cadets, who presumably knew what they were doing. Can’t say I was pleased with what I found there. Truth to tell, I was horrified. Ah, but to think I might have almost crossed paths with the lovely and talented Ms. Cheyenne. There’s something odd about Cat Stevens abandoning the burlesque queen in favor of the land where ladies are stuffed into potato sacks. Not that there’s anything wrong with a gal in a potato sack, you understand. Heck, whatever works. I wouldn’t want to be intolerant or anything. Just stop with the blowing up of buildings and airplanes and stuff. Is that too much to ask of people? Why can’t we just all get along? Don’t ask me, I just work here.
ms. princess is actually a very nice woman and according to her clients was an excellent therapist. her daughter went to school with the children of one of my good friends. i made the cake for her memorial .
one of the bars i dj’d at was a hang out for some of the ‘ ladies of a certain age’ who used to work stripping in boston’s pre- combat zone red light district, scollay square, at places like the Legendary Old Howard( http://tinyurl.com/3anklz6 )- which had been right down the street.( a young jkf was quite fond of a ms. ‘peaches’ who performed there.). because it was a gay bar, no one bothered them so they could drink and socialize in peace. i was always so honored that they liked to come when i was spinning. they were such classy ladies from another less brutal, less harsh generation not of the ugliness you encountered beaming down into latter day combat zone.
cat stevens like all the hippies who never grew up is a weak human. weak humans are drawn to that which tells them how they should be and how everyone else should be or else. his recorded works- filled with flings at every new age of aquarius feel good religious quirk from zen to numerology-shows someone searching for something but unwilling to do the thinking and soul searching required to ‘ find’ anything of actual worth and meaning beyond hackneyed platitudes- peace, love, chocolate, buddha… with islam you believe what the koran tells you or you die.
cat stevens has it he has never been more happy, more content than going on international tv telling people a writer need to be executed, murdered for speech. it’s because he no longer has to think or be responsible for his actions and those deepest darkest desires( the same ones all liberals have) to be superior and dominate others even if just through the auspices of his fascist theocracy are satisfied. slavery is liberating for those who do not know who to be free. at least hitler wasn’t a closet nazi.
islam is the perfect hippy liberal religion with none of the candy coating and projection necessary- woman and gays suck, christians and jews too. tax the snot out of the ‘ unbelievers’ or kill them if they fail to submit. war is peace. death is life. hate is love. pussy stevens was bored with all the peace and love. he finds war and hate more satisfying because it gives him purpose and makes him feel empowered.
we’d all be safer if he stuck to strippers and adult contemporary music. i always opt for the burlesque artiste over goats and genocide .
I, for one, was very sad at losing the ability to enjoy Cat Stevens’ music. He was a gifted singer and musician and his music meant a lot to me growing up. I can’t listen to him now, knowing what he has said and done. I probably haven’t listened to him on a regular basis since I had his greatest hits on both 8-track (I know!) and LP (still state of the art in 1980). Peace train . . .. not so much.
Eclectic crowds can be quite fun to hang with at times. 😀