Rewriting History (was "Cat Stevens")

[Ian Scuffling]

Bully for him if he's really a man of peace now, but that was now; this was
then (http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Salman%20Rushdie):

Even popular musician Yusuf Islam
<http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Yusuf%20Islam>  (aka Cat Stevens
<http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/Cat%20Stevens> ) indirectly yet
infamously stated his agreement with the fatwa. Later he clarified his
statements: 

"...that is not to say I am encouraging people to break the law or take it
into their own hands: far from it. Under the Islamic Law, Muslims are bound
to keep within the limits of the law of the country in which they live." -
http://catstevens.com/articles/00013/index.html
<http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/##> 

But later in 1989, Yusuf Islam said in a British television documentary that
he wasn't against the death sentence in principle: Rather than go to a
demonstration where Rushdie would be burned in effigy, "I would have hoped
that it'd be the real thing" he said. If Rushdie showed up at his door, he
said he "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
<http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/The%20New%20York%20Times>  New
York Times reported that he stood by his statements in a subsequent
interview. http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/18/specials/rushdie-cat.html
<http://encyclopedia.thefreedictionary.com/##>  

Henry M

  _____  

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Joseph Tracy
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 10:08 PM
To: pynchon-l
Subject: Cat Stevens

I don't think Mark Douglas  read the article very carefully.  H e repudiates
the accusations against him in the Rushdie case and repudiates all violence
and terrorism. He is being kept out of the U.S. because that criticism
includes U.S. terrorism. He is one of the rare celebrities who has devoted
his life directly to real service to his community. I dare anyone on this
list to match his humanitarian credentials. 

"Consistently I have condemned the attacks of 9/11, stating that the
slaughter of innocents, the taking of hostages and coldblooded killing of
women and children have nothing do with the teachings of Islam. I've openly
and publicly repudiated the actions of groups that resort to such acts of
inhumanity  whatever their names. Any allegations to the contrary are
fabricated. The Koran equates the murder of one innocent person with the
murder of all of humanity. 

Ever since I embraced Islam in 1977, people have regularly tried to link me
with things I have nothing to do with. Take the Salman Rushdie case as an
example, or the regurgitating of the accusation that I support groups like
Hamas. 

I am a man of peace, and I denounce all forms of terrorism and injustice; it
is simply outrageous for anyone to suggest otherwise. The fact that I have
sympathy for ordinary people in the world who are suffering from occupation,
tyranny, poverty or war is human and has nothing to do with politics or
terrorism. "

 

 

Joseph Tracy

brook7 at earthlink.net

Why Wait? Move to EarthLink.