Cat Stevens

[Mark A. Douglas]

And at no point does he say:  I did not support the fatwa on Rushdie.
What he says is that he is linked to the Rushdie case, and that the case is
one of the things that he's linked to that he has nothing to do with.
 
Reading it right?
 
But he doesn't take the opportunity to denounce the fatwa.  That's all I'm
saying.
 
He does indeed distance himself from being linked to the Rushdie case.  But
he doesn't repudiate.  He repudiates his linkage to it.  There's a
difference.
 
I don't doubt that Stevens does good, and don't support him being kept out
of the country.  But I'm not kowtowing to the theory that our wrong against
him makes up for his stated support of a misguided cause some years back.
He supported the attempted murder (however real the fatwa was) of a writer
because of what he wrote.  
 
Muslims do understand irony, don't they?
 
Peace
 
Mark 


  _____  

From: owner-pynchon-l at waste.org [mailto:owner-pynchon-l at waste.org] On Behalf
Of Joseph Tracy
Sent: Wednesday, September 29, 2004 9:08 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.
 



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