Following the polemic that seeped about Lara Fabian's visit to Lebanon and the fact that she has her own political opinions which are not compatible with a fragment of the Lebanese population (she supports Israel it seems, I was frankly quite shocked that no one mentioned that Yusuf Cat Stevens also holds certain political opinions which are not compatible with a those of a fragment of the Lebanese population, Mr Islam (he is known as Yusuf Islam) was known to support the death fatwa that was issued by the Ayatollah Khoumeini against author Salman Rushdie after publishing his book "Satanic Verses". In other words, Mr. Yusuf Islam does not mind killing people because he doesn't like what they write. No one seemed to mind in Lebanon though. Oh baby baby it's a wild world as a certain Cat Stevens would have said.
5 comments:
Thank you! Pleased to see someone else noticed this. I wrote about it here: http://thedisgraceofgod.blogspot.com/2012/02/why-no-boycott-of-cat-stevens_9492.html
So i looked into it because I've never heard of this.. what I know about him is that he's very a peaceful man.
There is it seems controversy about what Stevens said, what he meant and how he felt. Apparently, it was blown out of proportion. And at the time, he was still a new Muslim who didn't understand his religion well and was trying to explain what he thought Islam stated. I think if he were asked the same question now.. his answer would be VERY different. And I'm not even defending what he said.. I'm just saying its not as clear cut as you seem to think.
Though the whole issue with Fabian was blown out of proportion too - calling for her boycott by BDS activists has nothing to do with Stevens for one and two is not all that similar in time frame or context.
Just a thought.
Mariam, I am not generalizing about Muslims at all... But what Cat Stevens said, he said. He tries to deny it these days, but then... Actually, the point of my post was to show that each artist has a black spot on his CV somewhere... So imagine not accepting every other artist because he once took drugs, had sex before marriage, etc....
No, ya.. I understand that. I don't feel attacked or in need to defend Islam.. I'm just trying to explain his position.
I agree with you though to a great degree..most calls for boycott to me seem unnecessary. I just think the call for boycott in this case is different so people aren't as likely to call for it.. and it happened so long ago that I don't think most people even know.
There are many Lebanese who sympathize with Israel. Ma we2fit 3al singers.
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