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Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens recounts how he converted to Islam and became a victim

Sep 27, 2020 4:00 pm By Robert Spencer 101 Comments

Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens is a darling of the Western media these days, because he converted to the elites’ favored religion. Critics generally treat Bob Dylan’s “Christian period” as an embarrassing anomaly in his otherwise stellar career, while Yusuf Islam gets articles like the one below to explain his thinking and justify his action.

Neither Yahoo’s Erin Donnelly nor the venerable Yusuf, however, make any mention of a few inconvenient facts. One is that as recently as 2010, there was published on YouTube a nasheed in which the author of “Peace Train” sang: “I’m praying to Allah to give us victory over the kuffar”  (unbelievers).

This bellicose prayer was in line with Yusuf Islam’s earlier post-conversion behavior. In 1989, he enthusiastically endorsed the Ayatollah Khomeini’s death fatwa against Salman Rushdie for insulting Islam. In a BBC panel discussion, he said that, rather than burning Rushdie in effigy, “I would have hoped that it’d be the real thing.” He further explained that if he were in an Islamic state and was ordered by the relevant authority to kill Rushdie, he would do so.

In 2004, Yusuf Islam was barred from entering the United States because of suspicions that he had been financing jihad terrorism. He acknowledged that some of his money may have gone to jihadis, but he claimed to have given money to them unwittingly.

Yusuf Islam has worked hard to soften his image, and is never asked any questions about any of this. But those questions remain. And now he is claiming victim status: “I was an icon of the majority and now I am part of the minority who are looked down upon and certainly, to a large extent, misunderstood.” He has learned his lessons well.

“Yusuf/Cat Stevens opens up about his conversion to Islam: ‘I was an icon of the majority and now I am part of the minority who are looked down upon,'” by Erin Donnelly, Yahoo Music, September 27, 2020 (thanks to Mary):

The singer who rose to fame as Cat Stevens, and is now known as Yusef/Cat Stevens, is getting candid about his conversion to Islam and the fallout that ensued.

On Sunday, the 72-year old musician — born Steven Demetre Georgiou to a Swedish mother and Greek Cypriot father — appeared on the BBC 4 radio program Desert Islands Discs to discuss his life, including the 1976 near-death experience that resulted in him turning to the Muslim faith….

Following the incident, Stevens — who had already explored Buddhism while battling tuberculosis as a teen — was given a copy of the Qur’an by his brother.

“I would never have picked up a Quran,” he says. “But it became the gateway. After a year I could not hold myself back. I had to bow down.”…

He added that his conversion was met with wildly different reactions; in Turkey, he was “raised on this pedestal” … “but on the other side there were people who said, ‘He’s a bit of a traitor, isn’t he? He’s turned Turk.’”

Reflecting on the reaction to his conversion, Stevens shared, “That was very difficult because at one point I was an icon of the majority and now I am part of the minority who are looked down upon and certainly, to a large extent, misunderstood.”

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Filed Under: "Islamophobia", claiming victim status, Featured Tagged With: Yusuf/Cat Stevens


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Comments

  1. tom parry says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 4:10 pm

    I can’t believe this guy wrote Peace Train, I liked Cat Stevens. Now, since his wokeness I gave all his records Dvds, cassette tapes long ago ; banished to the Salvation Army store. I cringe when I think of him. So sad

    Reply
    • THX 1138 says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 4:29 pm

      It all depends on your definition of “PEACE”, doesn’t it?

      You and the Cat simply have a failure to agree on the correct definition.

      Reply
      • John Marks says

        Sep 27, 2020 at 8:54 pm

        That is key, in most things.

        Reply
      • underbed cat says

        Sep 29, 2020 at 11:16 am

        I was smitten also with the music of cat stevens…..in fact I purchased his album, never purchased a Beatles album. At that time his photo was on the cover, I thought he looked middle eastern. I loved the song Peace Train but the words “on the edge of darkness “and gathering friends to travel and remembered that informatmation I was told. In high school, years prior I became friends with a classmate, who curiously spoke about being muslim, she carried her Quran on top of her school books, plane hijackings in the middle east were in the news but were not happening in the United States, yet. She did not look or dress as a muslim, in fact she seemed very conservative, studious and Swedish. She talked frequently about the Prophet and the comiing of Islam to replace Christians in America who will have to become muslim. However at that time she spoke honestly about, what now I understand is sharia law, it was disturbing, removing hands if stealing, death for not converting, etcs. she invited me to her home….across the table at dinner sat her father who was midddle eastern older with greying black hair and a alcoholic drink in hand, but wait that was also forbidden according to my friend. The lyrics of Cat Stevens album the gathering of friends to ride the peace train lyrics, to take this country……
        Yusaf was in my mind already taken.
        How he deals with killing infidels in his mind is the trick of Islam..sharia forbids this knowledge to be known, the enemy doctrine, it;s in the Quran. Peace in Islam is no peace for non muslims.

        Reply
        • underbed cat says

          Sep 30, 2020 at 1:34 am

          Meant to write at the time of Peace Train I sensed he was already seeking Islam, and was almost saying lets go gather friends to bring Islam to America..”.on the train out on the edge of darkness”, many didn’t sense islam as it sounded like another stop the war in Vietnam era anti war song, but some of his lyrics bring images of migration to countries for conquest. etc. which Islam considers bringing sharia peace….but is commands to fight until submission.

    • CogitoErgoSum says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 4:37 pm

      He’s all over the place. Long before Cardi B wrote about her “WAP,” Cat Stevens was writing about his “Mona Bone Jakon” – but he was a little more subtle with his lyrics.

      Reply
      • CogitoErgoSum says

        Sep 27, 2020 at 4:47 pm

        It’s interesting that the cover for that album is of a spitting garbage can.

        Reply
      • Jayell says

        Sep 27, 2020 at 5:18 pm

        ‘He’s all over the place’……What, now? because that’s news to me, and I’m in the UK. I’m aware that he attempted a well-publicised comeback a few years ago but as far as I can see he’s failed. As for “I was an icon of the majority and now I am part of the minority who are looked down upon and certainly, to a large extent, misunderstood”……yes, he was quite big name once but he threw it away when he publicly aligned himself with a group that was never ever really ‘in favour’ but is now increasingly out of favour in ‘islamophobic’ Britain; which is frankly why he’s ‘looked down upon’. But NO, he’s NOT ‘misunderstood’ – we understand him perfectly well because he’s made himself very clear and we don’t like it at all. End of story.

        Reply
        • CogitoErgoSum says

          Sep 27, 2020 at 5:40 pm

          No, I didn’t mean that he’s still a big celebrity. I meant that he’s all over the place as far as his musical compositions go. He has some good songs and he has some bad songs (in my opinion). Some of his older songs I like but I don’t know of anything he’s done lately that even comes close to being as good as what he did 40 or 50 years ago … but music is a matter of taste.

        • gravenimage says

          Sep 27, 2020 at 7:50 pm

          I got what you meant, CogitoErgoSum. I liked some of his early work, too–but even then some of it was pretty dippy. But what he is now is far worse than his being an uneven artist.

        • Janice Mermikli says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 1:45 pm

          Good post.

    • George says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 7:39 pm

      Another clown

      Reply
      • CogitoErgoSum says

        Sep 27, 2020 at 8:30 pm

        As the saying goes, there’s no fool like an old fool. Stevens is 72 now but there’s still time for him to change (I hope). It’d be great if he did.

        I still like his softer songs written mainly for the acoustic guitar or piano. Songwriters as good as he once was are few and far between. A few years ago I found a guy named Matthew Perryman Jones on YouTube who writes songs similar in nature to some of Stevens’ best work – Christian in nature but in a subtle way. My favorites by Perryman Jones are “Beneath the Silver Moon” and “O Theo” (the live version is best). Is the first song about more than just Jones’ father on Earth? Is the second one about Vincent Van Gough and his brother Theo? Find them both on YouTube and see what you think. Both are very well written songs, well performed.

        Maybe I digress but I love music. Cat Stevens was once a good songwriter. I wish he hadn’t gone off the tracks to Islam. I hope he finds his way out of it before it’s too late for him.

        Reply
        • gravenimage says

          Sep 27, 2020 at 8:41 pm

          Nice stuff, CogitoErgoSum. I was not familiar with Jones’ music. Here is “Oh Theo”:

          https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=71mExEKHmPU&ab_channel=LRBaggs

          And the Theo van Gogh murdered by Jihadists was his great grandson.

        • Steve says

          Sep 27, 2020 at 10:16 pm

          Thanks for the tip on Matthew Perry.

        • James Lincoln says

          Sep 27, 2020 at 10:57 pm

          CogitoErgoSum says,

          “As the saying goes, there’s no fool like an old fool. Stevens is 72 now but there’s still time for him to change (I hope). It’d be great if he did.”

          Sure, it would be great if he did, but I find that to be highly unlikely.

          By the time someone is 72 years old, they’re basically who they’re going to be.

          Rare exceptions, but that’s a general rule…

        • Clayton Lee says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 8:24 am

          I just listened to “O Theo”. Very nice. Thank you.

        • Kathy says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 11:42 am

          Thanks for the tip, enjoyed ‘Oh Theo’ and will look out for other songs by Matthew Ferryman Jones. By the way, his singing style reminded me more of Don Mclean than of ‘that singer we once knew as Cat Stevens’.

      • maria says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 4:34 am

        A disgusting liar, who is one of the worst muslims. Boycott him and don´t allow him to enter the US soil

        Reply
    • sixlittlerabbits says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 9:17 pm

      I feel the same way; grew up loving Cat Stevens; was so disappointed wheh he became a Muslim. As Robert Spencer writes, “he’s learned his lesson well” and claims victim status while embracing a religion that advocates killing disbelievers. EWWW.

      Reply
    • Leon Degney says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 5:03 am

      Why didn’t you just throw them in the bin? Now he is prepared to live on the money he made from his music, if music and singing is so “evil” why didn’t he just give it away? One has to wonder at the sanity of these people, to read the Quran and convert to Islam, what? Most sane people on having read all or parts of that ridiculous book do the opposite in fact many have noting to do with religion of any sort later.

      Reply
      • Ned Kelly says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 9:59 pm

        I read the quran to see what all the fuss was about, got 2 pages in, + felt sick for a week. Told me all I needed to know.

        Reply
        • DazzleMe says

          Sep 29, 2020 at 9:45 am

          I have thought about the same thing, but I believe there is so much hate like the muslim people I would probably be like you nauseous!

        • underbed cat says

          Sep 29, 2020 at 2:27 pm

          Yes it does not take long to feel the evil and be disturbed, I read a little further and relayed a bad dream to my husband who had placed the old Quran on my desk since he knew of my time on JW. He retrieved the book from my hands after I fell asleep and said do not read anymore, it’s not good. After reading this I presisted to get answers where it came from, that was concerning and illuminating in itself and hopefully the book will stay hidden or is gone.

    • william carr says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 9:46 am

      I never rated him very much as a singer song writer, in fact I am trying now to think of a single song of his. He obviously did not read that part of the Quran which forbids music, or that his beloved Khomeini said:
      “An Islamic regime must be serious in every field. There are no jokes in Islam. There is no humor in Islam. There is no fun in Islam. There can be no fun and joy in whatever is serious. Islam does not allow swimming in the sea and is opposed to radio and television serials”
      plus his views on sex with minors:
      “A man having intercourse with a girl younger than nine years of age has not committed a crime, but only an infraction, if the girl is not permanently damaged. If the girl, however, is permanently damaged, the man must provide for her all her life. But this girl will not count as one of the man’s four permanent wives. He also is not permitted to marry the girl’s sister.”
      – Ayatollah Khomeini, Tahrir al-Vasyleh, Fourth Edition, Darol Elm, Qom, Iran, 1990.
      “A man can marry a girl younger than nine years of age, even if the girl is still a baby being breastfed. A man, however is prohibited from having intercourse with a girl younger than nine, other sexual acts such as foreplay, rubbing, kissing and sodomy is allowed”
      .
      That is what the late Ayatollah had to say about sex with minors so as he is revered among Muslims it is unlikely that any of them see any problem with it.

      Stevens should have given up music and celebrity when the converted but he wanted both worlds.

      Reply
    • Tim Heydon says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 11:16 am

      I can’t understand how one can be both ‘Woke’ and a Muslim. The one must exclude the other.

      Reply
  2. Andy Turner says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 4:28 pm

    sap

    Reply
  3. Dude says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 4:29 pm

    I was hoping this article would explain how he finally woke up. Such a waste. I pity the foo.

    Reply
    • THX 1138 says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 4:33 pm

      And you can wake me up when the Cat wakes up from his mental SUBMISSION and objectively defines what a “PEACE” is.

      Reply
    • elee says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 4:34 pm

      Hey Dude, he who chooses evil deserves no pity.

      Reply
      • FYI says

        Sep 27, 2020 at 5:40 pm

        yusuf islam joined a religion that has a problem with musical instruments and women singing..

        “On the day of resurrection allah will pour molten lead into the ears of whoever sits listening to a songstress”
        {Reliance of the Traveller umdat al salik r40.1}

        A religion that has a Doctrine of Hate[al walaa wal baraa],no Golden Rule and an apartheid system{koran 98:6}that teaches that all non muslims are the ‘WORST of created beings’

        Of all possible religions to join,if you are a singer or a musician,islam is the most idiotic one to choose.
        {I gave his records to charity a long time ago}

        yusuf islam made that idiotic choice.

        There is no problem with music/musical instruments/women singing in Judaism or Christianity.There IS in islam.
        Only a complete idiot who is a singer/musician converts to a religion that has a problem with singing/music.

        Reply
        • musalmaan says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 5:02 am

          Would love to hear Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam “LEAVES ISLAM”. Then the adherents of the Religion of Peace will be baying for his blood as “there is no compulsion in islam”

        • FYI says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 8:26 am

          @musal maan

          It is very easy to convert to islam but it is not easy to abandon it as islam has a death penalty for apostasy;ex-muslims[the ‘murtads’} get ferocious abuse especially if they criticize islam.Yet it is impressive if they figure out it is a phoney cult and leave it.

          Any time I think of ex-muslims being attacked for being ‘apostates’ I always think they might like this song..

          ‘Please Release Me Let Me Go’ {by ..is it..Engledinck Humperbert?}but
          with modified lyrics.

          {Murtad version..}

          “Please release me- islam,let me go..
          for i don’t love you any more.
          To waste our lives would be a sin..
          Release me and let me love again”

          I have found a new love dear….

          Please release me can’t you see?
          You’d be a fool to cling to me.
          To live a lie would bring me pain
          so release me and let me love again’

          Let me love,let me go”

  4. roger says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 4:33 pm

    So why hasn’t Rushdie pressed charges?Yusuf Islam basically threatened to murder him.

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 7:57 pm

      He did indeed.

      Reply
  5. Norman says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 4:39 pm

    ” misunderstood “?
    We understand perfectly well, the holy koran says to kill unbelievers, duh!!! Not sure what my IQ are, but getting your head chopped off, that’s easy to understand!

    Reply
    • Ronen says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 9:36 am

      but he is right though Norman, because sadly most people in the west are too naive to acknowledge this simple truth.

      Reply
      • DazzleMe says

        Sep 29, 2020 at 9:50 am

        Most democrats

        Reply
  6. Ian Holding says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 4:58 pm

    The greatest sin in life is wasted talent and all for what? one day you’re going to realise Yusef/Cat that there are no 72 virgins waiting for you but then it will be too late.

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 7:58 pm

      A bigger sin is threatening to murder others–that’s what “Yusef Islam” threatened to do to Salman Rushdie.

      Reply
  7. lehi48 says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 5:08 pm

    Let’s all get out the violins and play sad music for Yusuf Islam his real name now. I hope he realizes his new found friends since 1989 won’t tolerate a slip back to his old life, name, religion Western life-style, live and let live. He’s in it till whatever happens after we depart and he chose it.

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 7:59 pm

      If you play sad violins for him he may try and have you murdered, depending what mood he is in. (Yes, I realize that you meant this ironically, but still).

      Reply
  8. Keith O says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 5:46 pm

    Someone correct me if I’m wrong! But I thought that music and singing is “Haraam” or banned under Mudslime beliefs?
    If this is the case then why is he still raking in the dollars from all his music?

    Reply
    • FYI says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 6:08 pm

      Good point.

      I just listened to his shitty nasheed{= “islamic muzak”} ‘praying’ to his moon god al lah to give him “victory over the kuffar”

      Elevator music is more harmonious and it’s a shame islam has a disdain for musical instruments as it might have helped with a backing track.

      “allah will be there where the good muslims are”,’islam is the best”

      {I added my own lyrics..

      wally wally wackbar allah wallah wackbar wally wally woo wah way, jelah balah boo bah..}

      Reply
      • Sylvia Drummond says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 3:30 am

        FYI You have talent

        Reply
        • FYI says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 6:00 am

          His early music as Cat Stevens was actually pretty good but his nasheeds as Yusuf islam are absolutely dire.No backing track {as musical instruments are haram},ridiculous isalmic sentiments-and no female singers of course.

          You may as well make up your own lyrics.

          It is islamic propaganda too.

          {Compare say,Handel’s Messiah,Bach’s Jesu or a Baptist women’s choir to the appaling tuneless cacophony of an islamic nasheed:which is about as musically enriching and melodious an experience as listening to the islamic call to ‘prayer’}

          I mean, he is asking his allah to give victory over the kufaar.

          We are the kufaar.

          That is us :and yusuf islam wants his god to give victory over us.

  9. Michael Copeland says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 5:55 pm

    Ian Hislop explained, “Cat Stevens has changed his name – to Dog Stevens”.

    Reply
  10. Michael Copeland says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 5:56 pm

    YUSUF
    When I convert, I’ll choose the name Yusuf,
    The one I’ve always liked so well.
    I’d also really like to have it linked with Idi,
    An admirable leader, true to tell.
    Then remember Otman, such a wise old scholar.
    Famous name! I’ll add it if I can.
    So put them all together,
    Say it loud in every weather,
    I’m your Yusuf ul-Idi Otman,
    Yes, your Yusuf ul-Idi Otman.

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 8:01 pm

      +1

      Reply
  11. Michael Copeland says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 6:21 pm

    Memo to Yusuf the victim:

    The Manual of Islamic Law, “Reliance of the Traveller”, (r40.1) says:

    … musical instruments of all types are unlawful.
    Allah Mighty and Majestic sent me as a guidance
    and mercy to believers and commanded me to
    do away with musical instruments, flutes, strings,
    crucifixes, and the affair of the pre-Islamic period of ignorance.

    BREAKING MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS
    Islam does not tolerate music. Music is haram, forbidden.
    The Manual of Islamic Law has a section entitled:
    “Commanding the Right and Forbidding the Wrong”.
    This includes “Righting the wrong by hand”, such as
    “breaking musical instruments” (q5.6).

    Reply
  12. tim gallagher says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 6:30 pm

    Why anyone who actually has the freedom to choose a religion, as opposed to being born into the religion, would choose Islam is completely beyond me. It is surely the worst, and just damned evil is what I think it is, religion in the world. I’d put it on a level with the old Aztec religion, but that load of evil shit is now, thankfully, gone. But it is no real surprise that a musician, or an actor, or the fuzzy brained types in the entertainment industry, makes a brain dead decision. I think that seeing most of them all line up together embracing the leftist agenda shows that, on political issues, (and on religion when it comes to Stevens) entertainment types are fools. I think that they know pretty much nothing. I never liked Stevens’ songs, except that I think he wrote, “The First Cut is the Deepest” which I do like a lot. Sheryl Crow does a great version of that song. Anyone who goes and joins Islam has lost me, that’s for sure. It is something that I can’t comprehend at all.

    Reply
    • James Lincoln says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 7:26 pm

      tim gallagher says,

      “But it is no real surprise that a musician, or an actor, or the fuzzy brained types in the entertainment industry, makes a brain dead decision.”

      Yes, no surprise, tim. I would also throw in the “sophisticated pseudo-intellectuals”.

      See very little of this with people in the blue-collar trades.

      They’re way too busy trying to make an honest buck…

      Reply
      • mortimer says

        Sep 27, 2020 at 7:39 pm

        Agree with JL: ‘a fuzzy-brained decision’ to join a death cult.

        This once-popular singer now claims to be a victim of his own stupidity.

        Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 8:08 pm

      Too often true, Tim. And–even worse–he is not an “I like Rumi and wearing a cute crocheted skullcap” kind of clueless Infidel in denial of the savagery of Islam. He has been fine with having Salman Rushdie murdered.

      Reply
    • tim gallagher says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 1:44 am

      Thanks for the comments, James, mortimer and gravenimage. I don’t get why anyone joins Islam. A person could become a Christian or a Buddhist. Both are gentle creeds. As you say, gravenimage, Stevens supported the campaign to kill Rushdie, so he must be a bloody nasty creature. James, I’m sure it is the same in the USA and all other countries, but here in Australia, although, as usual, the media tends to be full of left wing clowns, we have some good conservative commentators. I tend to bother only with them because I’d probably throw my TV or radio out the window with rage if I watched or listened to the left wingers’ bullshit view of the world. There are quite a few sensible, wise, fairly conservative commentators such as Andrew Bolt, Peta Credlin, the three presenters from “Outsiders”, Rowan Dean, Rita Panahi and James Morrow, and others. With the entertainers, I would still watch their movies and listen to their music, but I simply don’t take any notice of their often dumb political comments. It must be quite hard to stand up and say you are a conservative if you have to always rub shoulders with the lefties infesting the entertainment industry. There’s probably quite a few who are too scared to go against the flow. I think I have heard that Kelsey Grammer is a conservative, so too James Woods and Angie Harmon, who used to be on “law and Order” ages ago. On the radio news today, I heard that Brigitte Bardot turned 86 years old. She has been courageous enough to tear into islam’s evils, although I suppose she was already so old, and finished with the entertainment industry, that she could say what she believed and not have to worry about losing her career the way young people might. Maybe not that relevant to what we are discussing, but, in music, there are some people who seem to me to be such nice people, such as Emmylou Harris and Nanci Griffith, who I think are probably both fairly left wing, that I still like a great deal, both for their music and the fact that they seem to be such pleasant human beings. There’s probably others like that as well. Also, as an animal lover who feeds several stray cats, I notice that Emmylou Harris runs a dog rescue charity, so that definitely gets me on side.

      Reply
      • Janice Mermikli says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 2:06 pm

        Brigitte Bardot is an advocate for animal welfare and rights, too.

        Reply
        • tim gallagher says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 5:46 pm

          Yes, that’s right, Janice. I think she got stuck into Islam for its disgustingly cruel treatment of animals among other evil aspects of the vile religious ideology. She has been a brave person as I’m sure she would have been threatened with the usual crap (threats of death, etc) by the Muslim crowd.

      • gravenimage says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 10:13 pm

        Good exchanges. And things are similar here in the US.

        Things are worse in Canada, and worse yet overall in Britain and most of Western Europe.

        Reply
    • Narayan Srikanth says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 5:11 am

      Wonder what was wrong with the Aztec religion. If it were so, so must be Christianity as the religion was used perforce and to justify all the killings rapes, slavery, torture, inhuman treatment of all kinds , of the Aztecs.

      Reply
      • Larry says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 9:00 am

        That sir is not christianity. That was from the pope and his ilks.

        Reply
      • Ecosse1314 says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 3:21 pm

        You do realise we are talking about now and not 500 years ago.

        Reply
      • CogitoErgoSum says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 4:45 pm

        Yeah, like it would be a totally wonderful world if we were ruled by people who ripped the hearts out of other people on top of pyramids to appease the gods. Yeah, like what’s wrong with that? What a shame the non-Aztecs living in Central America joined the Spaniards in bringing to an end such a wonderful culture. I wonder why we don’t bring it all back because, yeah, Christians like totally believe in doing all that. Right? So okay then. Let’s do it.

        Reply
        • tim gallagher says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 5:55 pm

          I read that recently, CogitoErgoSum, in a book by the historian, Barbara Tuchman, about how the other tribes, who were treated viciously by the Aztecs, joined the Spaniards in getting rid of the scourge of the Aztecs and their religion. I don’t think many people would have mourned the loss of the Aztec religion. It would like mourning the defeat of the Nazis in WWII. Good riddance to both of them. And Christianity is definitely a religion which has peace as the ideal it aims for, totally different to islam, which is full of calls for violence..

        • gravenimage says

          Sep 28, 2020 at 10:17 pm

          Good point, CogitoErgoSum. In fact, many of the surrounding tribes allied with the conquistadors because they had been murdered and sacrificed by the Aztecs.

    • Giacomo Latta says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 9:18 am

      Yusuf is no different from Sinead O’Connor except that Islam is the former’s third choice of religion, apparently, whereas it the 463rd for the latter.

      Reply
      • Alexandra Thrift says

        Sep 28, 2020 at 10:46 am

        Sinead wrote some beautiful songs too. No , not THAT one ( written by Prince)…..but on her Universal Mother album…amidst the noisy anger…there is suddenly the most beautiful gem called “In this Heart”.

        I loved Cat Steven’s early music…many lovely songs.
        In that recent interview ( on youtube)he states that he chose Yusuf as his new name after the old testament coat of many colours Joseph …( it is my favourite OT story too)…but then quoted a part of the story that seemed to me to be the wrong way round ( I think his family turn up to collect food and he sends them home to get the youngest brother …..but Yusuf’s version seemed different).

        Yusuf has calmed down since he first converted but would never dare admit to his unpleasant beliefs back in the day….( might get into trouble ?).

        Reply
  13. Michael Chernick says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 6:35 pm

    Could it be that ego played a role?. Some entertainers are hams and anything to get attention is appealing. Sometimes it backfires. Now he is faced with apostasy even if he wanted to come back. For sincerity think of Mahalia Jackson, Frank Sinatra, any school choir, but not a person unhappily, ungrateful for his ancestry. But everyone can claim G-d loves them, even Cat, that is what makes horse races and life so interesting

    Reply
  14. Big John says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 6:52 pm

    I like Cat Stevens way back when. His ridiculous religious choices don’t affect my appreciation for his musical tastes. Even if it were discovered that Beethoven or Mozart were a huge Jew hater or child molester, I’d still like their music.

    Reply
    • James Lincoln says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 7:35 pm

      Big John,

      I remember in med school I picked up a book called Rapid Interpretation of EKG’s written by
      Dale Dubin, M.D. It was well written and widely used.

      In 1986, Dubin, age 46, was arrested and pled guilty to charges related to child pornography and cocaine. He was sentenced to 5 years in prison and his Florida medical license was revoked.

      The book is still available,

      But knowing what I know now about the author, I have removed the book from my bookshelf – permanently – as there are excellent alternatives…

      Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 8:12 pm

      Big John, the relation of an artist to his work is complicated. I do still like some of Cat Steven’s early work, but I certainly would not want to fund him at this point–he is probably forking over Zakat for the waging of violent Jihad.

      Reply
    • seabird says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 11:53 pm

      I recently saw him in concert on axis tv. He gave a new meaning to the song, “the first cut is the deepest”.

      Reply
  15. gravenimage says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 7:32 pm

    Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens recounts how he converted to Islam and became a victim
    ……………..

    This Muslim thug crowed about how he would call in his coreligionists to murder Salman Rushdie if he ever saw him. Victim my *ss.

    More:

    He added that his conversion was met with wildly different reactions; in Turkey, he was “raised on this pedestal” … “but on the other side there were people who said, ‘He’s a bit of a traitor, isn’t he? He’s turned Turk.’”

    Reflecting on the reaction to his conversion, Stevens shared, “That was very difficult because at one point I was an icon of the majority and now I am part of the minority who are looked down upon and certainly, to a large extent, misunderstood.
    ……………..

    We don’t want to be murdered by Muslims–the idea that this is a “misunderstanding” of Islam is just grotesque.

    Reply
  16. Wellington says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 8:16 pm

    There are, I guess, worse choices than being an adult and converting to Islam but right now I can’t think of any.

    Reply
    • James Lincoln says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 11:04 pm

      Wellington,

      I was trying to think of a snappy repartee, but I couldn’t think of any.

      Being an adult and converting islam has got the top the list of worse things to do with your life’s work…

      Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 11:14 pm

      Unless you are doing so at gunpoint in order to save your loved ones, I absolutely agree.

      Reply
  17. James says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 8:18 pm

    Speaking of idiots, how’s Sinead O’Conner, er, Shuhada’ Sadaqat doing? Has she found out that music is haram?

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 11:15 pm

      Another useful idiot.

      Reply
    • Westman says

      Sep 27, 2020 at 11:47 pm

      Who?

      If you’re not a terrorist or a notable religion-connected leader in Islam, you’re just an inconsequential slave making the daily rounds of prayer or a disaffected Muslim keeping a low profile.

      Maybe O’Conner found that joining Islam was a good way to end the media attention created by her former actions? It worked….

      Reply
  18. Cold Cream 'n' Roses says

    Sep 27, 2020 at 9:16 pm

    Visit https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1310382528436547585.html to read my Twitter thread on Yusuf/Cat Stevens

    Reply
  19. Chrissie01 says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 4:22 am

    just a little side remark here:
    Yesterday, Dr. Heiko Schöning, one of the most intelligent critics of this fabricated Corona crisis, who also revealed information about the Gates Foundation’s vaccination campaigns in the West of Africa, was arrested without reason (he is a well renowned specialist) in London.
    Thank God on your knees for Trump

    Reply
    • jimjfox says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 2:55 pm

      Conspiracy theories, anti- vaxer, you & the “good” doctor have much in common.
      Perhaps he was arrested for advocating the spreading of the virus?

      Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 10:24 pm

      I don’t actually think it is a bad thing that we are no longer dying from polio and small pox–not sure why you do.

      Reply
  20. Lavéritétriomphera says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 4:39 am

    Intellectual snobbery, it has been much the same experience with the gay artist Maurice Béjard whose friend was a Shiite. Maurice converted to Islam while proving his homosexuality!

    Reply
  21. Narayan Srikanth says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 5:12 am

    ANyone converting to Islam will do so only if they are headed for the lunatic asylum

    Reply
  22. Patrick M says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 8:44 am

    He chose to lie down with the dogs and woke up with the fleas. He was a has-been, and now is rapidly approaching obscurity. Maybe Allah will rescue him, but the West will just ignore him. But when he gets a debilitating disease, he will not go to an Arab/Muslim country for treatment, will he?

    Reply
  23. SamB says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 8:55 am

    Yusuf Islam’s conversion delineates a twofold process 1) his disconfirmation of Christianity, 2) his ennoblement of Islam. Through his conversion he has turned his back on the belief\theology that he had not embraced during his former life. I would imagine that he became enlightened because the hypocrisy in his society was anathema to Islam. The labyrinthine aspect of our daily expression, however, shows that all humans to be problematic. Islam, in Yusuf’s rationality is unlike Christianity as it is an unblemished portrayal of the deity’s will. The Western media on the other hand ,as a favour, provided this expression with a life giving emollient – a favourable projection contrary to Christianity. Yusuf nestled his new found spirituality in this emaciated rationality.

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 10:40 pm

      SamB wrote:

      Yusuf Islam’s conversion delineates a twofold process 1) his disconfirmation of Christianity, 2) his ennoblement of Islam. Through his conversion he has turned his back on the belief\theology that he had not embraced during his former life. I would imagine that he became enlightened because the hypocrisy in his society was anathema to Islam.
      ………………………………..

      “Hypocrisy”? How is Yusuf Islam not hypocritical, turning his back on music just until he needed more money?

      More:

      The labyrinthine aspect of our daily expression, however, shows that all humans to be problematic. Islam, in Yusuf’s rationality is unlike Christianity as it is an unblemished portrayal of the deity’s will.
      ………………………………..

      How is threatening to murder novelists “rational”? Just disgusting–this is how Muslims think.

      He also thinks that it is “Allah’s” will to murder novelists–but then, Islam has always violently crushed freedom of speech.

      More:

      The Western media on the other hand ,as a favour, provided this expression with a life giving emollient – a favourable projection contrary to Christianity. Yusuf nestled his new found spirituality in this emaciated rationality.
      ………………………………..

      Does “SamB”–I wonder what his Muslim name is–consider threatening to murder people a “life giving emollient”–in contrast to Christianity, which calls for no such barbarism? *Ugh*.

      And what is “emaciated rationality”? Doesn’t he know that “emaciated” refers to someone who is thin and weak because they are starving to death? Come to think of it, rationality is pretty thin and weak in Islam…

      Reply
  24. Timothy Jordan says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 9:13 am

    I’m glad we don’t have to hear his laggy voice anymore.

    Reply
  25. Ronen says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 9:29 am

    what an ugly little man. kudos to the usa for not letting him in

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 10:51 pm

      He ludicrously said, “Everybody knows who I am. I am no secret figure. Everybody knows my campaigning for charity, for peace. There’s got to be a whole lot of explanation”.

      Right–as if threatening to murder someone is “peace”:

      “He (Rushdie) must be killed. The Qur’an makes it clear – if someone defames the prophet, then he must die.”

      And this was not a one-off–he later said that he wanted to burn Rushdie, and not in effigy.

      Israel also banned him, due to his funding

      Unfortunately, he has been in the US since.

      Reply
  26. TheNicheActress says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 10:14 am

    ‘..part of the minority who are looked down upon and certainly, to a large extent, misunderstood’.
    A minority of a billion – or was that a 1.5 trillion, I can never keep up.
    To better understand his own riddle of an ideology, I’d recommend he sub to Sneaker’s Corner; its small, dedicated team, led by Irishman Mel, do the most amazing sleuthing around the koran and islam’s history.

    Reply
  27. E T says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 10:30 am

    How much money did he make off of the CHRISTIAN hymn “Morning Has Broken?

    “Mine is the Sunlight
    Mine is the morning.
    Born of the one light
    Eden saw play.
    Praise with elation
    Praise every morning,
    GOD’S recreation
    Of the new day.”

    Reply
    • gravenimage says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 10:52 pm

      Yes–a beautiful song.

      Reply
  28. Billy Chickens says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 11:52 am

    When I converted to Catholicism I was looked down upon by family and friends yet it was the best decision I ever made. Converting to Truth is different from making the mistake of converting to Falsehood. Cat converted to Falsehood, therefore is a perpetual victim of his own error.

    Reply
    • N Srikanth says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 11:57 am

      Try Hinduism. Its great.

      Reply
    • Janice Mermikli says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 1:55 pm

      Good post.

      Reply
  29. Kathy says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 11:55 am

    What a fool he is! He should know by now that there is no pit deeper than Islam – once you fall in, however much you may fall out with your coreligionists, there is no way out, no way up – only down, down, down into the final eternal damnation created for such as you.

    Oh, and those virgins you were promised: did they forget to tell you, they meant one 72-year-old virgin – the age, not the quantity! Ha-Ha, dimwit!

    Reply
  30. T Jensen says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 4:53 pm

    The Muslims want to pimp him out for more Money for Bombs to tie to Children. Very sad.

    Reply
  31. GreekEmpress says

    Sep 28, 2020 at 6:36 pm

    The Turks can have him. His father is Greek Cypriot. I wonder what his family thought of his conversion, what with the genocides and invasion of Cyprus.

    Reply
    • Boycott Turkey says

      Sep 28, 2020 at 7:37 pm

      I agree they can have him apparently his brother gave him the Koran to read I wouldn’t understand why any Greek Cypriot would convert to Islam after Turkey invaded Cyprus and committing Genocide but it’s his choice and I don’t think it’s done him any good.

      Reply
  32. CogitoErgoSum says

    Sep 29, 2020 at 1:53 am

    I wish he hadn’t gone over to the dark side in his religious beliefs but I’m glad I can still listen to the old Cat Stevens for free on YouTube. He could write some good songs and I do thank him for that. I still like to listen to him late at night when all else is quiet. This is one of my favorites from better times by the guy I prefer to remember as Cat Stevens – and not Yusuf:

    Reply

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