The reason why this oft repeated bit of misinformation bothers me is that it is solely rooted in prejudice against Muslims (this was the sole motivation for the tabloid hysteria and gossip--now repeated unfortuntately 14 years later). Fundamentalist Christians get away with these same types of distinctions all the time ("Love the homosexual, not the act."/"The Rapture will smote all you heathens but God and I still love you"). Christians seem to get a free ride in this regard in the popular press (follow G. W. Bush's religious convictions to their moral conclusions and they are rife with contradiction and ugliness).
People unfortunately do not want to debate the underlying moral presumption of heresy (is Rushdie really a heretic? is heresy really a bad thing?) and miss the important argument. Focusing incorrectly on the fatwah statement lets Yusuf off and correctly makes him the victim. Also, it makes you and Hitch really bad because apparently you have very strong feelings based on easily correctable misinformation.
Peace,
Jim
Q: DID YUSUF ISLAM CALL FOR THE DEATH OF SALMAN RUSHDIE OR SUPPORT THE FATWA?: No. See Yusuf's most recent statement, which details the entire matter. Yusuf also issued a statement denying this when it happened in 1989.
http://catstevens.com/faq/index.html#00012
Yusuf Islam:
"So…back in February 1989 I was delivering a talk about my journey to Islam at Kingston University in London, when somebody (probably a disguised journalist) mischievously posed a question about Islam’s view on apostates and blasphemers. As a student who had studied the issue for the first time, I simply did my best by answering direct from legal texts which I had read.
Instead of reporting my response in context, which I naively expected, suddenly the headline in next day’s paper read “Cat Says Kill Rushdie!” Well, needless to say, all hell then broke loose and my political education had really begun. Thank God the newspaper responsible, Today, has since folded and is now out of circulation; unfortunately the monstrous myth it created still survives.
What I actually tried to do at the lecture in Kingston, and subsequently during other interviews, was to quote ‘from the book’ what Islam says about the legal consequences for someone who commits blasphemy within the context of Islamic law where it is adopted and applied, I never ever sanctioned people taking the law in their own hands or overstepping the laws of the Britain which is what the Fatwa of Ayatollah Khomeini proposed. The truth is I never once stated support for the ‘Fatwa’ "
-----Original Message-----
From: Dennis Perrin [mailto:dperrin at comcast.net]
Sent: Wed 7/9/2003 1:21 PM
Cc:
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] My Hitch Piece
"Actually, both you and Hitchens are letting prejudice and misinformation
guide your reaction to Yusuf Islam. He never "endorsed" the mullahs fatwah.
He was and is a person of peace attempting to live a simple religious life
(not that I am endorsing that!). The rest is tabloid hysteria and
misinformation."
> Jim
No, Islam did indeed back the fatwa. I remember him on the BBC endorsing it,
and saying that Rushdie should write another book of the same length of
"Satanic Verses" denouncing "Verses." Plus, there's this from
catstevens.com:
B&N.com: Many people still link you to Salman Rushdie and the death sentence
the Ayatollah put on him. What would you like to say to those people?
YI: Well, as time goes on, people see what the worth of a person is by what
he does. That tells you the picture. If you look at everything I've done in
humanitarian work and education, and in trying to improve this world through
a revival of morality through spiritual meaning, that's what I'd like people
to remember.
<http://catstevens.com/articles/00196/>
No denial from him. He's moved on and I believe later withdrew his support.
But he did initially back the fatwa.
DP
"It's getting clearer, soon it will be with you. . . "
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