Yusuf Islam

by Harry on June 8, 2004

Daniel’s unfortunate comparison of the great David Icke with the dull and ordinary Yusuf Islam has ignited a bit of irritation from commenters. But Yusuf’s defenders are out-of-date about his doings. Contrary to popular belief he now does allow his old records to be released, donating the proceeds to a variety of charities (including the September 11th fund). I can’t find documentary evidence, but I have heard him retract his support for the Fatwah on Rushdie, and do so in an embarrassed and genuinely apologetic way. Perhaps more importantly, as a leading and respected voice within Islam in the UK he has, since September 11th, put his cards unambiguously on the table as an uncompromising opponent of terrorism, Islamic or otherwise, and is a leading voice for a modern, tolerant, Islam.

In this interview with Bob Harris (recorded before Sept 11th, and which, I now see, you can’t actually hear on the site) he comes across as a modest man who has had a lot of demons to conquer, and has sort of sorted his life out.

I post this just to update people, not to criticise Daniel. I certainly didn’t think the comparison was Islamophobic, just inapt. But the problem is that comparing Icke with just about anybody is inapt! I just thought he deserved to have people know what he’s up to.

{ 6 comments }

1

dsquared 06.08.04 at 4:33 pm

I would like to point out that I was not only ignorant and rude in that post but also a big fat hypocrite as I own a copy of a Cat Stevens live album and quite enjoy it.

2

pepi 06.08.04 at 6:11 pm

Oh, that’s nice. Well done.

I’m no fan of Yusuf. But you gotta love that beard. He looks so cool.

3

Lee Bryant 06.08.04 at 6:50 pm

Of course it was Islamophobic – in fact it was YusufIslamophobic (he’s afraid of Yusuf ;-)

I didn’t mention it in my comments on Daniel’s post, but I was actually with Dr. Ljubijankic when he met Yusuf and gave him a tape of his songs in 1995 and asked him to consider performing them; I think the fact that he was killed shortly afterwards was a factor in Yusuf Islam deciding to record them. As far as I can tell, this was the beginning of his return to music.

Just thought I’d mention it.

4

Nat Whilk 06.08.04 at 6:55 pm

“I can’t find documentary evidence, but I have heard him retract his support for the Fatwah on Rushdie, and do so in an embarrassed and genuinely apologetic way.”

Try the FAQ page at catstevens.com.

5

harry 06.08.04 at 7:00 pm

Thanks Nat,
that’s a great deal more ambiguous and less apologetic (indeed not apologetic at all) than I remember him sounding when I heard him talk about it.

6

Giles 06.08.04 at 7:23 pm

so reading the posts we discover he’s a compromising opponent of terror with a fairly ambivalent attitude about killing people who disagree with him.

But according to Harry it appears that “good vibes” shine out of all this?

In fact he sounds very like David Icke -someone we used to laugh at with affectionaly as a bit wierd who actually turns out to have some fairly abnoxious views

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