yusaf islam

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

On 5/11/2007 at 3:42 PM, Neil said:

I bring sad news - Yusaf Islam isn't going to be playing after all ... the word I've had is that he was 'too nervous' about playing.

Just looking around at the oldest threads, saw this one about Yusuf/Cat Stevens, is it true he skipped the G in 2007/2008 because he was too nervous?

[Neil]

2 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Just looking around at the oldest threads, saw this one about Yusuf/Cat Stevens, is it true he skipped the G in 2007/2008 because he was too nervous?

reckon it could be, he doesn't like public attention cos it tends to end up with him labelled as a terrorist supporter.

[PassingCloud]

Not a big fan, but would’ve gone to see him until I read recently that he supported the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. I may be wrong, but I don’t think he’s truly apologised about it and only tried to distance himself from it. Hard no from me, man’s got blood on his hands. 

Edited April 29, 2023 by PassingCloud

[clarkete]

3 hours ago, PassingCloud said:

Not a big fan, but would’ve gone to see him until I read recently that he supported the fatwa against Salman Rushdie. I may be wrong, but I don’t think he’s truly apologised about it and only tried to distance himself from it. Hard no from me, man’s got blood on his hands. 

In the last few years he's disputed that he ever supported it

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/yusufcat-stevens-cleverly-framed-to-look-like-he-backed-rushdie-fatwa/39565606.html

[Boris]

Complicated. I suppose it's sufficiently obfuscated that I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Surely there are numerous other performers with a worse record. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by Boris

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

I'd never heard of his support for the fatwa before and did some digging but it certainly seems like he did support it, in a roundabout way, saying that if we did live in an Islamic state, he would be sentenced to death, and if that he was ordered to do it by a judge, he would. He's said that those comments were part of dry humour but I don't see how that's even dry humour, because I thought being deadpan was showing the lack of emotion, whereas wishing to do someone harm smacks of being full of emotion... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens'_comments_about_Salman_Rushdie

Certainly makes seeing him less important now.

Of course, I'm open to changing my mind though if there's other evidence I've not yet read or seen.

Edited April 30, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

6 hours ago, Boris said:

Complicated. I suppose it's sufficiently obfuscated that I'm willing to give him the benefit of the doubt. Surely there are numerous other performers with a worse record. 

Not much worse than wishing someone death for writing a fictional book... 😅

[PassingCloud]

9 hours ago, clarkete said:

In the last few years he's disputed that he ever supported it

https://m.belfasttelegraph.co.uk/entertainment/music/news/yusufcat-stevens-cleverly-framed-to-look-like-he-backed-rushdie-fatwa/39565606.html

Sounds like he would make a fine politician. I've doubled down on my 'No'. 

Edited April 30, 2023 by PassingCloud

[CaledonianGonzo]

Cool thread bump

[Neil]

48 minutes ago, PassingCloud said:

Sounds like he would make a fine politician. I've doubled down on my 'No'. 

he needs to more than double down on it, given how so many misrepresent it.

[clarkete]

2 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I'd never heard of his support for the fatwa before and did some digging but it certainly seems like he did support it, in a roundabout way, saying that if we did live in an Islamic state, he would be sentenced to death, and if that he was ordered to do it by a judge, he would. He's said that those comments were part of dry humour but I don't see how that's even dry humour, because I thought being deadpan was showing the lack of emotion, whereas wishing to do someone harm smacks of being full of emotion... 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Stevens'_comments_about_Salman_Rushdie

Certainly makes seeing him less important now.

Of course, I'm open to changing my mind though if there's other evidence I've not yet read or seen.

He's made numerous disclaimers since then. 

I don't know why they aren't reflected there. 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

31 minutes ago, clarkete said:

He's made numerous disclaimers since then. 

I don't know why they aren't reflected there. 

I've gotta admit a lot the disclaimers are either about him "joking", being misquoted, or that he would only have supported the fatwa if he (and Rushdie) were living under an Islamic state. 

None strike me as very good excuses or a solid disclaimer, esp against the fatwa itself.

I mean, in this clip, it's doesn't sound like he's being tricked or misquoted much, more like he believes Rushdie should be killed quite clearly if they were in an Islamic society. Starts at about 1:50.

https://archive.org/details/Hypotheticals-a-Satanic-Scenario

After that discussion, he said that he made light work of such provocative questions, but that's not the same as condemning the fatwa outright. 

Looks a tad fishy to me.

Edited April 30, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[Neil]

Sometimes the harsh solution is the best solution. I'm a fan of the Bolshevik and Russian solution to the monarchy.quick and removes the problem forever.

[clarkete]

13 hours ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

I've gotta admit a lot the disclaimers are either about him "joking", being misquoted, or that he would only have supported the fatwa if he (and Rushdie) were living under an Islamic state. 

None strike me as very good excuses or a solid disclaimer, esp against the fatwa itself.

I mean, in this clip, it's doesn't sound like he's being tricked or misquoted much, more like he believes Rushdie should be killed quite clearly if they were in an Islamic society. Starts at about 1:50.

https://archive.org/details/Hypotheticals-a-Satanic-Scenario

After that discussion, he said that he made light work of such provocative questions, but that's not the same as condemning the fatwa outright. 

Looks a tad fishy to me.

Your response to me saying he made numerous disclaimers since then is a 34 year old recording? 

Try this, skip to 25 minutes, seems pretty unequivocal. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000my10?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

5 hours ago, clarkete said:

Your response to me saying he made numerous disclaimers since then is a 34 year old recording? 

Try this, skip to 25 minutes, seems pretty unequivocal. 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds/play/m000my10?partner=uk.co.bbc&origin=share-mobile

I thought I'd made it clear why the old clip and the desert island discs interview only regurgitates what I already said were his defence.

He'd claimed he had been misquoted/framed or was just simply joking - which again he repeats in the clip you've just posted. Neither are true in that discussion I sent. He was asked a clear and direct question and he said Rushdie would deserve to die.

Robertson: You don't think that this man deserves to die?

Y. Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie?

Robertson: Yes.

Y. Islam: Yes, yes.

Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?

Y. Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act – perhaps, yes.

I know the clip is old, but it sounds like he did say it was deserved. He even says it again in the DID interview, that he can't rewrite the laws of Islam.

Not much of a disclaimer or misquote or joke, more like, I'd not kill him in the UK but I'd kill him Iran.

For example, do you genuinely think he sounds like he's joking or misquoted/framed in the old clip I sent?

Edited May 1, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[PassingCloud]

7 hours ago, Neil said:

Sometimes the harsh solution is the best solution. I'm a fan of the Bolshevik and Russian solution to the monarchy.quick and removes the problem forever.

What problem are we removing? 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

8 hours ago, Neil said:

Sometimes the harsh solution is the best solution. I'm a fan of the Bolshevik and Russian solution to the monarchy.quick and removes the problem forever.

The harsh solution of what? Killing an author for writing a fictional book?

[Neil]

2 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

The harsh solution of what? Killing an author for writing a fictional book?

Anything , the harsh solution to the monarchy.

[PassingCloud]

A clearer example of obfuscation. 

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

I mean, comparing the downfall of a tyrannical and corrupt, 300 year old dynasty to a man who wrote a novel... that's quite the leap...

I think in total about 40 people died in relation to the novel; translators, publicists, and innocent bystanders who were swept up in arson attacks.

If that's alright, then anyone with a grievance against a book, a film, a piece of music is allowed to kill. Seems a bit illiberal to me. 

 

[Neil]

22 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

Seems a bit illiberal to me.

so is monarchy.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

7 minutes ago, Neil said:

so is monarchy.

So, any violence is okay against authors/singers/actors, because the monarchy exists?

Alrighty... not sure how the two are related tbh. 

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[Neil]

8 minutes ago, MEGATRONICMEATWAGON said:

So, any violence is okay against authors/singers/actors, because the monarchy exists?

Alrighty... not sure how the two are related tbh. 

 

no, violence is an acceptable way to deal with monarchy.

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

11 minutes ago, Neil said:

no, violence is an acceptable way to deal with monarchy.

Sorry, I don't understand where this shift into talking about monarchy has come from? The discussion was about comments made in the late 80s and early 90s by Yusuf/Cat Stevens, suggesting that it would be admissible to murder Salman Rushdie for his novel, the Satanic Verses, either by assassination or trial in an Islamic state such as Iran. Also, had he really been misquoted, such as the link I posted, which seems to show he was being quite serious about the topic. He claims now that he didn't support the fatwa, but again the link I sent before seems to suggest he did support it, at least in Iran or other Islamic States, and goes onto say in recent interviews that he can't rewrite religious texts like the 10 Commandments. But if he can't rewrite them, does he believe the commands that Salman Rushdie deserves to die, or not?

 

Edited May 1, 2023 by MEGATRONICMEATWAGON

[MEGATRONICMEATWAGON]

Anyway, in light of the blurring of what he meant, despite the length of time since he said them, some of the quotes attributed to him, joking or not, means I'll def not be seeing him now. He's had plenty of time to apologise to Rushdie and still fails to do so it seems.