Re: Yusuf

Girl, can you feel my love?  I too did a butt-load of reading once I got
the first post, and I'm so glad that folks are not jumping my or anyone
else's crap about posts.  We get to have opinions, and it's been
wonderful to get so many different points of view.  We're a diverse
little group I believe, but there's so much universal about us, I'm glad
there's not been anything divisive enough to make us be mean to each
other.  I check out youtube.com pretty regularly, and it never ceases to
amaze me just how many people out there in cyberland simply log on to be
evil to other people.  Now, don't get me wrong, I put the EEEE! in Evil,
but only to those loved ones of mine that are SO derserving.  I couldn't
imagine even posting anonymous ugliness about people I don't even know!

Anyway, I love it when out little list comes alive, and generally, it's
due to someone posting something a bit controversial or topically
energized, then it's off to the races!  Truly, I read every post and
like you all...I really really do!

Thanks!
BenThomas

>>> <[email protected]> 11/16/2006 9:45 AM >>>
Poor Cat Stevens. On the strength of the below defense of him, I went
to 
catstevens.com, clicked the THINK link, and got a pop up, "Yusuf Islam:
Mountain 
of Light". I then click the "Islam Spiritual Domain" link and get this
nice 
information from him:

"Dress & Dietary Requirements
In Islam, clothing has two purposes; to cover the body and to modestly

beautify one's appearance. Men are to dress modestly, not imitating
women. Women's 
clothing must cover all of the body including the head, and should not
be tight 
or transparent. 
For a Muslim, there are two types of food and drink; Halal (lawful) and
Haram 
(unlawful). 
Unlawful, forbidden (Haram) food and drink includes: 

*Meat from dead animals that died naturally through accidents [except
fish], 
or by strangling, falling, beating, or being killed by wild animals. 
*Blood that has poured forth (as distinguished from the blood adhering
to 
flesh or organs). 
*Flesh of swine, such as bacon or pork, including all products and 
by-products (lard, pepsin, gelatin, etc.) prepared from swine. Only
vegetable oil is 
used for frying and in the preparation of bread, salad dressing,
desserts, 
muffins, other bakery products, etc. 
*Food upon which any other name has been invoked, besides that of God.

*Intoxicants, including all types and varieties of alcohol and
intoxicating 
drugs."


Looks like it's time to get out my burkha. And I'll have to drop my 
cross-dressing male friends immediately if I'm to hang out with Yusuf.

------

As for the media (also the main proliferator of his own career hype and
self 
promotion) being the source of the info about his comments on Salman
Rushdie's 
book, he didn't have to open up his yap to the Christian Science
Monitor on 
March 8, 1989:

http://www.itnsource.com/en/Search/ShotListNonDigitised/?ref=%2fRTV%2f1989%2f0

3%2f08%2fBGY603060095.htm

Perhaps if he didn't want to be "misinterpreted" he didn't have to
complain 
that the three-hour taping of a 53- minute British television show
called A 
Satanic Scenario in 1989 omitted the Muslim justification for
punishment of 
"blasphemy":

http://www.nytimes.com/books/99/04/18/specials/rushdie-cat.html  
>>>The 
musician known as Cat Stevens said in a British television program to
be broadcast 
next week that rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of
the 
author Salman Rushdie, ''I would have hoped that it'd be the real
thing.'' <<<<<<<

Here's some of his mush-mouthed backtracking as reported in imdb.com:

http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0828310/bio  --   >>Nearly a decade later,
Stevens 
claimed he was highly misquoted, that he didn't support the Ayatollah's

sentence. Rather, he merely reitereated the Koran's teachings about
those who 
"defame the prophet." Stevens says he bears no ill will towards
Rushdie, and did 
not wish for him to be killed.<<

Oh, I see the difference now.

However I do beleive he has indeed promoted peace since 9/11 and
deservedly 
won a libel suit in 2005: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4268651.stm 

I liked his spiritual-oriented type of work from the 1970s prior to
finding 
out he has morphed into supporting the fundamentalist burkha-wearing, 
freedom-of-speech-repressing side of Islam, which is a letdown for me.
But I'll check 
out what he's put out this year sometime. I'm glad he's working for
tolerance 
among the fundamentalists he's around nowadays. That's a very
worthwhile thing 
for him to be doing; it helps everyone in a way he could not if he were
not 
living in that way of life.

I'm not writing this to cut down anyone's post, just listing a few
things I 
learned when I researched him after reading the below. I think it's an

interesting topic and there's nothing wrong with anyone's comments in
the thread. I 
didn't know much about what he's been up to till the topic motivated me
to do 
some reading, so you guys posting knew a lot more about him than I
did.


In a message dated 11/15/2006 12:48:23 PM Eastern Standard Time, 
[email protected] writes:
What I have heard him say is that he was misquoted.  The fact is that 
what 
we have all heard about that incident came through the media and most
of us  
know how that goes.  The man did just receive Britain's  "Man of Peace 

Award" 
in 2004 a month after being refused entry to the U.S. because he was on
 the 
"No-Fly" list.  So, I think it is fair to say that there are 
conflicting 
opinions of his character.  The U.S. government did admit their 
mistake and 
he is 
no longer on that list.


In a message dated 11/15/2006 9:28:14 A.M. Pacific Standard Time,  
[email protected] writes:

You mean  the peace and love musician of the 70s who publicly supported
the 
calls for  assassination of Salman Rushdie in the 80s?

On 11/14/06, [email protected]_ (mailto:[email protected])   <[email protected]_

(mailto:[email protected]) > wrote:  
Is  anyone else excited about the release of Yusuf Islam's (Cat
Stevens)  new
record?