Yusuf Islam has paid a price for his beliefs, says Lesley White in the London Times. More than 30 years ago, when the pop star known as Cat Stevens became a Muslim and gave up his music, his fans were disappointed but not particularly alarmed, since most Westerners knew very little about the religion. “It was a case of all quiet on the Western front—or the Eastern front,” he says, smiling. Later, however, as the Muslim religion became associated with extremism and terrorism, Yusuf’s relationship with the non-Muslim world deteriorated. In 1989, following the Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa on Salman Rushdie, Yusuf unleashed an uproar by saying that if he knew Rushdie’s location, he’d telephone Khomeini personally. More recently, Israel has accused him of channeling money to extremist Islamic groups, and in 2004 he was refused entry to the U.S. and questioned by the FBI. But Yusuf insists that he deplores fanaticism, and views it as a perversion of the Koran. “It’s a dangerous direction,” he says. “It’s totally against the teachings of the Prophet.” Yet he admits to having deliberately made provocative statements for several years. “I felt embittered by the treatment I’d received by the media. The antagonism made me behave in a certain way. If you treat a child as being naughty, the kid’s going to grow up naughty.” Having returned to making music, he regrets ever getting entangled in controversy. “I choose to stay away from that now.”
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