Back in September the U.S. government decided the former Cat Stevens, now Yusuf Islam (which would be sort of like me changing my name to "Joe Christian") had unacceptable links to terrorists and noisily barred him from the country by diverting and grounding a plane full of people.
As I said at the time, I do not believe the former Cat is a direct threat to the United States. I do not believe he and his daughter flew to America that Tuesday to inflict intentional harm upon the nation or its interests, nor was he a threat to the passengers on the plane that was to convey him to Washington.
And obviously, diverting that plane to Maine - as the closest ground once the plane was in the air - was a dramatic, wildly inconvenient gesture that was not specifically necessary to protect the safety of the craft or the nation in general. If Islam was on a goverment no-fly list, this should have been caught before he boarded the plane.
BUT, if in fact the government has good cause to believe that Islam (the former singer, not the religion) has contributed money to Hamas and to blind sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman (who was convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing), then he is in fact a "terror threat" because terror is not possible without funding, and those who fund and thereby enable terror are just as guilty as those who carry out the actual acts.
I get the sense from the following press release on Islam's website that he has decided charity work is his door back into music, which is certainly what he was best at in the first place. We just ate at Pizza Hut a couple of hours ago and the Cat's classic "Father and Son" was playing on the jukebox - THAT guy I miss.
- Yusuf Islam travels to Indonesia this week to open a regional office for his humanitarian relief charity, Small Kindness, and will head a galaxy bill of local artists at a fundraising concert in Jakarta on 31st January to aid tsunami victims from the Aceh province.
Mr Islam - formerly Cat Stevens - has composed a new song entitled, Indian Ocean, in response to the disaster which he recorded recently in collaboration with fellow musicians including AR Rahman, the prolific Indian composer/producer, Magne Furuholmen of A-Ha fame, and Travis drummer Neil Primrose. The single will be released next month to raise money for children orphaned by the earthquake.
"Like everyone else, I was so shaken by the enormity of this human tragedy, and the song just came without effort. It is my contribution towards helping to rebuild the broken spirits of the victims of the disaster," said Mr Islam.
Article comments
1 - Ayu
"Father and Son" is definetely one of my favorites. I don't know if you knew this, but Yusuf Islam has joined Irish pop singer Ronan Keating to sing another version of the track for Keating's Greatest Hits. Check the complete news here
2 - alienboy
Hi Eric,
nice piece.
could you clarify, is it illegal to give money to contribute money to terrorists?
If so, why wouldn't the government simply arrest him on arrival?
thanks
3 - Lora
You made the following comment:
"I get the sense from the following press release on Islam's website that he has decided charity work is his door back into music..." This is not true. Profits from his music is his way of helping those in need not the other way around. If you go to the homepage of his Web site, you will see he has been doing charity for years and has won many awards for his humanitarian work. You are making an assumption that is not correct.
4 - Eric Olsen
I didn't know that, thanks for the link Ayu!
Alienboy, thanks, the U.S. couldn't arrest him for contributing financially because he isn't a U.S. citizen and he didn't do it from here, as far as I know. The government of the U.K. doesn't seem to have any problem with him, and in fact Jacks Straw defended him nad said the U.S. was out of line for barring him.
Lora, I didnt' mean to imply he hasn't been doing charity work or that he is insincere about it, jsut that he appears to be using the fact of his charity work as his justification for getting back into music after he so publicly rejected it years ago
5 - Triniman
I'm looking forward to the conclusion of this incident.
Does he knowingly donate money to terrorist organizations or to legit organizations that in turn fund terrorists? Both are bad deeds.
I wonder how many upstanding citizens in the US have knowlingly donated to legit groups, knowing that they in turn, would make donations to or support, the terrorist organization known as the IRA.
I never hear about them anymore. Maybe they have disbanded. It's interesting...does anyone recall what was the big terrorist-related story all over the world just before 9/11? It was a story about school children being shot at in Ireland.
6 - Eric Olsen
good point: their targets are no less dead and no less allies of ours
7 - HW Saxton
RE:Comment #5. Triniman,the I.R.A. have
not disbanded. Most of what you'll hear
about them currently in the news, comes
through press releases by "Sinn Fein",
the political arm of the I.R.A.
8 - Aaron, Duke De Mondo
no, they haven't disbanded at all. In fact, they just, "allegedly" "sources would suggest" made off with quite a lot of the green from a bank robbery.