[lbo-talk] Juan Cole: The Sin of Cat Stevens

[Michael Dawson]

The deportation is 100 percent awful, but Cat did indeed say that "the
penalty under Islamic Law for blasphemy is death," and he said this in a way
that showed he clearly agreed with that penalty for Rushdie, at the time.
It's on film.  I've seen it a half-dozen times.

-----Original Message-----
From: lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org [mailto:lbo-talk-bounces at lbo-talk.org]
On Behalf Of Jim Westrich
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2004 11:22 AM
To: lbo-talk at lbo-talk.org
Subject: Re: [lbo-talk] Juan Cole: The Sin of Cat Stevens

While I know I should bow out of this because I:

a) am not a particularly big fan of Yusuf Islam (I have enjoyed the two
Salman
Rushdies novels I have read).
b) am not a big fan of the hateful act of pronouncing "fatwa" on anyone.

This does prove how incredibly hard false media information is to correct
(when
it fits people's prejudices) and how subtlety and accuracy are completely
lost
arts.

OK, Mr. Cole only asserts that Mr. Islam endorsed Khomeni's "fatwa".  He
offers
no evidence.  He does offer some indication (including, thankfully, a quote)
that gives some evidence that Yusuf Islam did not immediately condemn the
"fatwa" AND that he believed that Mr. Rushdie committed heresy.  None of
this
excuses the actions of Yusuf Islam and his judgemental attitude toward
Rushdie;
but none of this rebuts his insistence that he NEVER "endorsed" the fatwa.
None
of this counters that Yusuf Islam, over time admittedly, strongly spoke
AGAINST
the fatwa (unlike the majority of actual "fatwa" supporters).

The only reason people bring this up is because of vicious and ugly
prejudice
against Muslims.  This is the whole reason the Brit tabloid fabricated the
story in the beginning (all the people actually supporting the "fatwa" were
too
far away or unknown to sell any papers, so lets make up something about the
one
Muslim people have actually heard of) and why so many people continue to
believe
it (it apparently "sounds right" to them, facts be damned).  The fact is,
there
a lot hateful, militant and reactionary Muslims--but scapegoating one guy
who
tries to keep a low profile and do small positive things for his
community--only aids the cause of ignorance and intolerance.

This whole "he deserves it" angle is sickening particularly when "Christian"
commentators can rhetorically smite whole classes of people with impugnity
with
hardly an eyebrow raised by the unsmoten.

Jim

"If you want to sing out, sing out

 If you want to be free, be free

 Because there's a million things to be

 And you know that there are."

           --Cat Stevens


>
>http://www.juancole.com/2004_09_01_juancole_archive.html#109592379002363404
> >Thursday, September 23, 2004
> >Cat Stevens Deported
> <snip>
> >But I have a hard time rushing to Yusuf Islam's defense because I
> >never forgave him for advocating the execution of Salman Rushdie in
> >1989. He endorsed Khomeini's "fatwa" or death edict against Rushdie
> >for the novel, Satanic Verses. He later explained this position away
> >by saying that he did not endorse vigilante action against Rushdie,
> >but would rather want the verdict to be carried out by a proper
> >court. These are weasel words. . . .

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