Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam in Concert

dennisg
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Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:00 pm

Chris, as you suggest, he most certainly will be judged by his music. But just because he's a brilliant songwriter and musician doesn't inoculate him from judgment for the other things he's said and done.

Yusef Islam had three chances to be a man of peace. In February, 1989, speaking to students at Kingston University in London, he said about Salman Rushdie, "He must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear -- if someone defames the prophet, then he must die."

There doesn't seem to leave much wiggle room in that comment.

The following month, he was asked about the comment by a reporter from Christian Science Monitor, and he replied, "In Islam there is a line between let's say freedom and the line which is then transgressed into immorality and irresponsibility and I think as far as this writer is concerned, unfortunately, he has been irresponsible with his freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again."

He seems to be saying, "Sometimes you have to kill one of the buffalo in order to send a message to the rest of the herd."

Then two months later, he appeared on a BBC program and was asked if he thought Salman Rushdie deserves to die for what he wrote. Yusef Islam said, "Yes, yes!" He was then asked, "Would you be part of that protest, Yusuf Islam, would you go to a demonstration where you knew that an effigy was going to be burned?" Islam said, "I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing."

There doesn't seem to be much room in there for misinterpretation.

So, there you have it. Three statements, months apart, without an ounce of contrition. He later said, "...in hindsight ... in bad taste, but part of a well-known British national trait ... dry humour on my part." I imagine Salman Rushdie and his terrified family found it all riotously funny.

It wasn't until later that he was asked how he would feel if, hypothetically, Salman Rushdie were cleared of all charges by a British court, to which Islam said, "...I would have to accept the decision and fully abide by the law!." But he didn't say that he regretted calling for Rushdie's death by assassination or that he thinks a mistake was made issuing the fatwa in the first place. Instead, he did what a lot of celebrities do when they say appalling things to the press: he blamed it all on the media. How dare they quote him accurately!

Again, I think the guy's a monumental talent. I've spent many happy hours listening to his music. But at the time the controversy was raging, I got the impression that his denials of his original statements were made solely because a hornet's nest had been stirred up and many of his fans were abandoning him -- and not because he felt any differently about the proposed killing of Salman Rushdie. In fact, he's never said that Salman Rushdie should be allowed to live. He's simply said that he never personally called for his death. But if the statements I quoted are accurate, he most certainly and enthusiastically called for his death.

We don't get to be judged merely on the components of our lives that were good and positive. We're judged on the entire package. Some people will be able to look at that package and believe that the Rushdie comments were incidental, while others will believe that the comments completely undermine his music.


tovo
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Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:44 pm

dennisg wrote:

I think the guy is a brilliant artist with an incredible catalog of music. But he learned the hard way that sometimes it's just better to say "No comment."
I think if Yusuf had followed this advice, it would have certainly been better for everyone. I said several things I immediately regretted just last week. Difference is I haven't got thousands of people hanging on my every word and no reporters are trying to get a headline from me.

I do not doubt at all the veracity of Dennis' summary, but I cannot reconcile the gentle man I saw on Sunday evening with a radical calling for the death of a writer. I chose to accept that I don't know what was in his heart when he made these comments. I chose to think his mistakes were more about a man trying to show devotion to a misguided element of his religion than those of a hate-filled radical.

BUT I accept other views which are hard to dismiss, and actually welcome the views presented thus far. Hope we can stay on the peace train here!


BigBear
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Mon Jun 14, 2010 4:54 pm

The people of this world have a very peculiar ability to overlook the destructive, hurtful and downright stupd acts many performing artists live by. Perhaps it is our ability to forgive. Perhaps it is our belief that judgment is reserved for a higher power. Or perhaps it is simply our desire to focus on what the artist has given us in the first place; his or her art.

If I look at the total package of every performer my list of favorites would shrink rapidly. I love Crosby, Stills, Nash and Young but I walked out of one their concerts when Neil Young started his political crap. I didn't pay good money to listen to some rich guy tell me why this country was so screwed up.

There are many in that genre that just can't keep their big mouths shut. Sean Penn, Harry Belafonte, Barbra Streisand, Susan Sarandon (and her idiot husband), Danny Glover, Natalie Marnes, Dave Matthews, Bruce Springsteen and on and on. I don't give a damn about their political views and just because they have a bully pulpit doesn't mean they should speak.

And the same with Cat Stevens/ Yusaf Islam. What he said was inexcusable to any Westerner raised to value free speech. His attempts, and he was provided several chances, to "unring the bell" were colossal failures.

So we either except the man as a brilliant performaning artist or we reject him outright for his Islamic beliefs that we find abhorrent.

Dennis is correct that with more wisdon, Yusaf should have politely made a "No Comment!". But he didn't and we, not him, must choose how we will view him and his music. To his credit, and unlike some the "artists" above who can't keep their views to themselves, Yusaf has at least to some degree conceded that he was foolish and stupid.

The chosice is ours!!

:cheer:


dennisg
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Mon Jun 14, 2010 5:24 pm

Rick,

There are aspects of your post that I completely agree with. For example, if I go to a concert, and the performer launches into a political rant (no matter which side he's advocating), I'm not going to be happy. Only if I go to a politically based concert (for example, the PETA concert or FarmAid) would I expect to be lectured to.

Where I have trouble with your post is when you equate what your laundry list of celebrities did with their fame to what Cat Stevens did with his. While those people use their celebrity to advocate for and against various political issues, not one of them, to my knowledge, has ever called for an assassination. Oddly, you seem to hold Cat Stevens in higher esteem than those other people, simply because he's come out and said that he was foolish and stupid. Since the others never advocated the assassination of an artist simply for the content of his art, they really don't have much reason to apologize. Whether I agree with them or not, I assume their beliefs are sincere and heartfelt -- and, above all, not murderous. No apology necessary.

By the way, for every celebrity annoying people by popping off with liberal ideals during a concert, there are at least as many doing the same thing with conservative causes. You might want to update your list.


thereshopeyet
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Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:34 pm

Thanks


dennisg
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Mon Jun 14, 2010 8:43 pm

Now, now. It's a friendly discussion like many Rick and I have had in PMs. It's always civil.


BigBear
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Mon Jun 14, 2010 11:03 pm

No Tom, Dennis makes a very good point about the difference between performers, of any political stripe, spouting off their generally ill-informed and poorly reasoned opinions versus Yusaf Islam supporting a fatwa. This is a fascinating discussion but for me it can get into the very tenets of Islam versus our Judeo-Christian beliefs and I don't want that discussion here.

I believe that to be a Muslim you have to not only believe but actively support all the principals of the Qur'an. Jews and Christians face the same requirement. It isn't a pick or choose proposition. I have read the Qur'an and I don't claim to be anything more than a casual reader but I recall that the punishment for blasphemy is death. Salmud Rushdie clearly, in the opinion of most Muslims, committed blasphemy against Mohammed.

So from a pure logic perspective, if Yusaf Islam has pledged to obey the Qur'an and Mohammed says blasphemy is punishable by death, what should Yusaf have done? As a relatively new convert to Islam I don't think he had many choices. He only had two choices, keep quiet and say no comment or speak the truth as he understood the Qur'an to mean it.

Now this sounds a lot like a defence of Yusaf's support of the fatwa. It isn't, because I strongly disagree with the teachings of Mohammed. A religion of peace doesn't advocate assassination for blasphemy. This is the line I don't want to cross here. I don't want to debate Islam on a guitar forum so I'll leave it at that.

As far as my list goes, I think you would concede that liberals far, far outnumber conservatives in the performing arts. Other than country music it's pretty tough to find a conservative anywhere. At least an outspoken one and damned few that bash the current administration with the same zeal that the libs bashed the last adminstration although I would submit that it would be more than warranted. Not going any further with that one either!! LOL!! :cheer:


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neverfoundthetime
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Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:02 am

I do not doubt at all the veracity of Dennis' summary, but I cannot reconcile the gentle man I saw on Sunday evening with a radical calling for the death of a writer. I chose to accept that I don't know what was in his heart when he made these comments. I chose to think his mistakes were more about a man trying to show devotion to a misguided element of his religion than those of a hate-filled radical. Tovo
You hit the nail squarely on the head for me Tony. He was fairly new to Islam at the time and he must have been under dramatic pressure from the members of his mosque too. In his fervour for his new-found religion, he painted himself into a corner with wanting to follow his belief to the letter. I followed the events at the time. I get the same sense you get about it and share the irritation caused by the dissonance of his statements and my feel for his gentle spirit.

Dennis, you put the points and in such a way that there is not much to argue with there. At the same time we have to be careful and not take Wikipedea to be 100% accurate and complete (I'm assuming that was your source here as the text and fact collection seem the same). Cat was not using his fame to put out a message at the time, he was cornered by journalists on the issue. I'm sure, of his volition, he'd have loved to have dodged the issue. So it's not equatable with a spouting, on-stage artist using his fame to get a message across.

Excuse me for completely agreeing with Dennis, Bear, but he's spot on about your list of politically loud artists. Gets some dumb-ass conservatives on that list too! :-) And I just love Susan Sarandon's idiot husband... and most of those lovely liberals you mention. Don't blame me, I'm living in a part of the world where Liberal isn't a swear word (blasphemy?!) so I just can't help it! ;-)

Just to put a brighter face on things... Image


KennyF
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Tue Jun 15, 2010 5:04 am

Never liked him before...

And I like him even less now...


tovo
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Tue Jun 15, 2010 7:29 am

KennyF wrote:
Never liked him before...

And I like him even less now...
Which one...Bear, Chris or Dennis? ;)


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