[strandinthewind]

I love his stuff. He was, however, excoriated in 1989, to wit:

On February 21, 1989, Yusuf Islam [Cat] addressed students at Kingston University in London about his journey to Islam and was asked about the controversy in the Muslim world and the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's execution. He replied, "He must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear - if someone defames the prophet, then he must die."

Newspapers quickly denounced what was seen as Yusuf Islam's support for the assassination of Rushdie and the next day Yusuf released a statement saying that he was not personally encouraging anybody to be a vigilante, and that he was only stating that blasphemy is a capital offense according to the Qur'an.

However on March 8, 1989, while speaking in London's Regents Park Mosque, Yusuf Islam was asked by a Christian Science Monitor reporter how he would "cope with the idea of killing a writer for writing a book." He is reported to have 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.

Two months later Yusuf Islam appeared on a British television courtroom-style program, Hypotheticals.

In the episode, ("A Satanic Scenario") Stevens/Islam is videoed having this exchange with moderator and Queens Counsel Geoffrey Robertson:

Robertson: You don't think that this man deserves to die?
Y. Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie?
Robertson: Yes.
Y. Islam: Yes, yes.
Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner?
Y. Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act - perhaps, yes.

The content of the broadcast was reported in the New York Times on May 23, 1989, a week before the show's planned airing. Also reported was that several Muslim participants complained about the way the show was edited, leaving out the interpretation of Islamic law on which they were basing their responses to the hypothetical question posed.

In a later 1989 interview Yusuf Islam also seemed to reaffirm his earlier comments:

[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.

[If Rushdie turned up at my 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat_Ste...Salman_Rushdie

I suppose it depends on which version one believes. Personally, I think he is a man of peace, but those comments are hard to get around