Cat Stevens ha un lato oscuro

Cat Stevens: pacifismo e fatwa?

Hmmm... secondo la BBC, Cat Stevens negli anni 80 era a favore della condanna a morte di Salman Rushdie.

In the late 1980s he shocked many of his former fans by supporting the fatwa ordered by the Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie, which led to him being put under a death sentence by the Iranian government.

Secondo altre fonti, il sostegno di Stevens alla fatwa era un po' meno esplicito di quanto dice in sintesi la BBC:

His comments in 1989 concerning Salman Rushdie after the publication of Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses provoked controversy. During this time period an Islamic fatwa (religious ruling) was issued, holding that it was an obligation of Muslims to kill Salman Rushdie. Yusuf Islam publicly stated that Rushdie was indeed guilty of blasphemy against Islam, and Rushdie deserved to be killed. This led to a public outcry, and a drop in record sales. In response to this criticism, Yusuf Islam has since clarified that he believes that a death sentence can only be carried out by the authority of a court in an Islamic society, and that he is opposed to anyone taking the law into their own hands by murdering Rushdie.

Bizzarro. Un pacifista che è a favore della pena capitale, e non per un delitto, ma per un reato d'opinione. Scrivi un libro che sfotte la sua religione, e per Cat Stevens devi morire?

Eppure ha condannato gli attentati dell'11 settembre 2001:

Along with most Muslims, I feel it a duty to make clear that such orchestrated acts of incomprehensible carnage have nothing to do with the beliefs of most Muslims. The Koran specifically declares: "If anyone murders an (innocent) person, it will be as if he has murdered the whole of humanity. And if anyone saves a person it will be as if he has saved the whole of humanity."

Qualcuno sa darmi qualche fonte più diretta? La musica di Cat Stevens mi è sempre piaciuta, mi roderebbe non poco doverla associare a uno che dice che è giusto uccidere chi fa satira sulla sua divinità.