What is islamophobia?

[charlou]

I can see he was in favour of it. Looks like it was in the early days of his belief, back in the eighties ... his beard was almost as brown as the hair on his head ... Wonder if he still has that view ...

[Robert_S]

The singer, who adopted the name Yusuf Islam when he converted to Islam, made the remark during a panel discussion of British reactions to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's call for Mr. Rushdie to be killed for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his best-selling novel ''The Satanic Verses.'' He also said that if Mr. Rushdie turned up at his doorstep looking for help, ''I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like.''

''I'd try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is,'' said Mr. Islam, who watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments.

The statements by Mr. Islam and several other participants in the discussion demonstrate how divided British liberal intellectuals remain over the affair. British writers and publishers have signed petitions backing Mr. Rushdie's freedom to write what he wishes, but there have been no public readings of his works. 'Not a Pacifist Religion'

Several of the participants defended Mr. Rushdie. The writer Fay Weldon, for example, said, ''Burn the book today, kill the writer tomorrow.'' She said she was offended by Mr. Islam's remarks, which she said incited people to violence.

Also on the show was Dr. Kalim Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute in London and one of the organizers of a nationwide demonstration against ''Satanic Verses'' that is scheduled for Hyde Park on Saturday. He said: ''I wouldn't kill him, but I'm sure that there are very many people in this country prepared at the moment. If they could lay their hands on Rushdie, he would be dead.

''As a British citizen, I have a duty, if you like, a social contract with the British state, not to break British law. We are not a pacifist religion. We don't turn the other cheek. We hit back.''

[Robert_S]

I can see he was in favour of it. Looks like it was in the early days of his belief, back in the eighties ... his beard was almost as brown as the hair on his head ... Wonder if he still has that view ...

If you can find him saying that it was stupid, that he regrets it and that he now opposes killing people for their speech against the religion of Islam or its prophet, then I might revise my opinion of the man yet again. Until then, my respect for him as a songwriter is nil and my contempt for him as a human is great.

[charlou]

I can see he was in favour of it. Looks like it was in the early days of his belief, back in the eighties ... his beard was almost as brown as the hair on his head ... Wonder if he still has that view ...

If you can find him saying that it was stupid, that he regrets it and that he now opposes killing people for their speech against the religion of Islam or its prophet, then I might revise my opinion of the man yet again. Until then, my respect for him as a songwriter is nil and my contempt for him as a human is great.

Fair enough ...


... and I think if he hasn't changed his view, his more recent rendition of Peace Train sucks the hypothetical hypocritical donkey.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

I can see he was in favour of it. Looks like it was in the early days of his belief, back in the eighties ... his beard was almost as brown as the hair on his head ... Wonder if he still has that view ...

If you can find him saying that it was stupid, that he regrets it and that he now opposes killing people for their speech against the religion of Islam or its prophet, then I might revise my opinion of the man yet again. Until then, my respect for him as a songwriter is nil and my contempt for him as a human is great.

Fair enough ...


... and I think if he hasn't changed his view, his more recent rendition of Peace Train sucks the hypocritical donkey.

But iSlam is the religion of pieces, Charlou.

[Hermit]

I can see he was in favour of it. Looks like it was in the early days of his belief, back in the eighties ... his beard was almost as brown as the hair on his head ... Wonder if he still has that view ...

If you can find him saying that it was stupid, that he regrets it and that he now opposes killing people for their speech against the religion of Islam or its prophet, then I might revise my opinion of the man yet again. Until then, my respect for him as a songwriter is nil and my contempt for him as a human is great.

Yusuf Islam has done some pathetic backpedalling since his participation in one of Geoffrey Robertson's Hypotheticals. For example, he now says he was only joking:

In 1989, during the heat and height of the Satanic Verses controversy, I was silly enough to accept appearing on a program called Hypotheticals which posed imaginary scenarios by a well-versed (what if…?) barrister, Geoffrey Robertson QC. I foolishly made light of certain provocative questions. When asked what I’d do if Salman Rushdie entered a restaurant in which I was eating, I said, “I would probably call up Ayatollah Khomeini”; and, rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author, I jokingly said I would have preferred that it'd be the “real thing”.
Criticize me for my bad taste, in hindsight, I agree. But these comments were part of a well-known British national trait; a touch of dry humor on my part. Just watch British comedy programs like "Have I Got News For You" or “Extras”, they are full of occasionally grotesque and sardonic jokes if you want them! ... Certainly I regret giving those sorts of responses now. However, it must be noted that the final edit of the program was made to look extremely serious; hardly any laughs were left in and much common sense was savagely cut out. Most of the Muslim participants in the program wrote in and complained about the narrow and selective use of their comments, surreptitiously selected out of the 3-hour long recording of the debate. But the edit was not in our hands. Balanced arguments were cut out and the most sensational quotes, preserved.

(Wikipedia quoting from a now dead link.)

It took him a few years to come up with that one.

My respect for him as a person has definitely diminished when he converted to islam and started sprouting all that rubbish, but my opinion regarding his music has not changed.

[Robert_S]

My respect for him as a person has definitely diminished when he converted to islam and started sprouting all that rubbish, but my opinion regarding his music has not changed.

When I said my respect for him as a songwriter is nil, I meant that in a broader sense then just a guy who puts words and notes together for a living. I meant as an artist that has decided that another artist deserves to die over something in their art that Mr Stevens and the people who he has decided now own his thoughts do not like. In my mind, he stops being an artist and turns into something different.

But I will say that "Wild World" now sounds extremely patronizing to my ears where it was only slightly so before.

[Coito ergo sum]

Why not, it's accurate. Look at this idiot:

Trigger Warning!!!1! :

Ali al Zilla.jpg

Why not racist? Because Islam and turban-wearing are not races.

[Coito ergo sum]

What is his version of Islam? I want to know. It doesn't seem to be the version people fear or hate. Why should it be? It's a religious belief, and perhaps not as dogmatic as we seem to think .. and because it's his belief it can be interpreted in his own way. Not imposed by the extremists of Islam, and not imposed by us.

Fear? No.

Hate? Well - strongly dislike, I would say. I think Islam has no redeeming qualities. If that's hate, then so be it.

"Salman Rushdie, indeed any writer who abuses the prophet or indeed any prophet under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death." - Cat Stephens. Sounds pretty dogmatic, and is at least as dogmatic as I seem to think. Any advocacy of "peace" must be viewed in the light of an idea like that one.

[Robert_S]

What is his version of Islam? I want to know. It doesn't seem to be the version people fear or hate. Why should it be? It's a religious belief, and perhaps not as dogmatic as we seem to think .. and because it's his belief it can be interpreted in his own way. Not imposed by the extremists of Islam, and not imposed by us.

Fear? No.

Hate? Well - strongly dislike, I would say. I think Islam has no redeeming qualities. If that's hate, then so be it.

"Salman Rushdie, indeed any writer who abuses the prophet or indeed any prophet under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death." - Cat Stephens. Sounds pretty dogmatic, and is at least as dogmatic as I seem to think. Any advocacy of "peace" must be viewed in the light of an idea like that one.

Yep, get on the peace train, it goes to the peace camp.

[charlou]

Well yah ... enforced bacon consumption for him


Seriously .. I took a look and found where he was an arse ... and haven't seen where he's recanted that position ... so yah, he's still an arse here, it seems.

Back on topic ... Islamowhatever .. it's bigger than cat stevens ...

[Robert_S]

Should we allow Muslims to marry each other or should they be content with civil unions?

[charlou]

haha