Editing Cat Stevens (section)

===Life as Yusuf Islam (1978–present)===
====Muslim faith and musical career====
[[File:Yusuf Islam (cropped).jpg|thumb|upright|Yusuf Islam appearing at the [[Islam Expo]] in London (2008)]]
Following his conversion to Islam, he abandoned his musical career for nearly two decades. When he became a Muslim in 1977, the [[imam]] at his mosque told him that it was fine to continue as a musician, as long as the songs were morally acceptable. However, because others said that "it was all prohibited", he decided to avoid the question by ceasing to perform.<ref name="cbc2007">{{cite news|url=http://www.cbc.ca/strombo/videos/guest-interview/yusuf-islam-aka-cat-stevens|title=Interview with Yusuf Islam, aka Cat Stevens|last=Stroumboulopoulos|first=George|date=3 January 2007|work=The Hour|publisher=CBC |access-date=8 June 2009}}</ref> He has said that there was "a combination of reasons, really", and that the continuing demands of the music business had been "becoming a chore, and not an inspiration anymore".<ref name="cbc2007"/>

In a 2004 interview on ''[[Larry King Live]]'', he said "A lot of people would have loved me to keep singing. You come to a point where you have sung, more or less... your whole repertoire and you want to get down to the job of living. You know, up until that point, I hadn't had a life. I'd been searching, been on the road."<ref name="Larry King" />

Estimating in January 2007 that he was continuing to earn approximately US$1.5&nbsp;million a year from his Cat Stevens music,<ref name="solomon">{{cite magazine |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2007/01/07/magazine/07WWLN_Q4.t.html?_r=1&scp=8&sq=Yusuf%20Islam&st=cse |title=Questions for Yusuf Islam: Singing a New Song| author=Solomon, Deborah|magazine=The New York Times Magazine| date=7 January 2007|access-date=29 January 2009}}</ref> he said he would use his accumulated wealth and ongoing earnings from his music career for philanthropic and educational causes in the Muslim community of London and elsewhere. In 1983, he founded the [[Islamia Primary School]] in Brondesbury Park, later moved to Salusbury Road,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://islamiaprimary.org.uk/history-of-islamia/|title=Islamia Primary School :: History of Islamia|publisher=Islamia Primary School|access-date=18 July 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20180904194622/http://islamiaprimary.org.uk/history-of-islamia/|archive-date=4 September 2018|url-status=live}}</ref> in the north London area of [[Queen's Park, London|Queen's Park]]<ref name="BBC-Prince">{{cite news |date=10 May 2000 |title=Prince goes pop to praise school |work=[[BBC News]] |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/743894.stm |access-date=11 December 2012}}</ref> and, soon after, founded several Muslim secondary schools; in 1992, he set up [[Association of Muslim Schools|The Association of Muslim Schools]] (AMS-UK), a charity that brought together all the Muslim schools in the UK. He is also the founder and chairman of the ''[[Small Kindness]]'' charity, which initially assisted famine victims in Africa and now supports thousands of orphans and families in the [[Balkans]], Indonesia, and Iraq.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://yusufislam.org.uk/sk/mission.htm|title=Word from Our Chairman Yusuf Islam|publisher=Small Kindness|access-date=6 May 2006|archive-date=17 July 2006|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060717011921/http://yusufislam.org.uk/sk/mission.htm|url-status=dead}}</ref> He was chairman of the charity [[Muslim Aid]] from 1985 to 1993.<ref name="Chinese Whiskers">{{cite web|url=http://www.mountainoflight.co.uk/talks_cw.html |title=Doesn't Yusuf Have Links With Terrorists? |work=Chinese Whiskers – FAQs |publisher=Mountain of Light |access-date=11 February 2009 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004154204/http://www.mountainoflight.co.uk/talks_cw.html |archive-date=4 October 2011  }}</ref>

====Salman Rushdie controversy====
{{Main|Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie}}
In 1989, following an address by Islam to students at London's Kingston Polytechnic (now [[Kingston University]]), where he was asked about the [[fatwa]] [[The Satanic Verses controversy|calling for the killing]] of [[Salman Rushdie]], author of the novel ''[[The Satanic Verses]]'', Islam made a series of comments that appeared to show support for the fatwa. He stated, "He (Rushdie) must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear – if someone defames the prophet, then he must die."<ref>Philadelphia Inquirer, 24 February 1989, p.5A, "Iran: West to blame Islam for forthcoming terrorism".</ref> He released a statement the following day denying that he supported vigilantism and claiming that he had merely recounted the [[Sharia|Islamic Sharia law punishment]] for blasphemy. Subsequently, he commented in a 1989 interview on Australian television that Rushdie should be killed and stated he would rather burn Rushdie instead of an effigy.<ref>{{Cite web | url=https://archive.org/details/Hypotheticals-a-Satanic-Scenario | title=Hypotheticals-a-Satanic-Scenario| year=1989}}</ref> In a statement in the FAQ section of one of his websites, Islam asserted that while he regretted the comments, he was joking and that the show was improperly edited.<ref name="MountainFAQ">{{cite web|url=http://www.mountainoflight.co.uk/talks_cw.html#20|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111004154204/http://www.mountainoflight.co.uk/talks_cw.html#18|archive-date=4 October 2011|work=Chinese Whiskers-FAQs|title=Yusuf Islam Wants to See Salman Rushdie Burnt, Right?|publisher=Mountain of Light|access-date=1 November 2014}}</ref>

In the years since these comments, he has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa.<ref name="CBSSundaymorning"/><ref name="Dansby"/>  Appearing on BBC's Desert Island Discs<ref name=":0" /> on 27 September 2020, Yusuf claimed clever "sharp-toothed" journalists had framed his fatwa comment in a misleading way.<ref>Note: Yusuf's denial on Radio 4: "I was really certainly not prepared or equipped to deal with sharp-toothed journalists and the whole way in which the media spins stories, and so I was cleverly framed, I would say, by certain questions where I couldn't, for instance, rewrite the ten Commandments; you can't expect me to do that! At the same time, I never actually ever supported the fatwa. I even wrote a whole kind of press statement very early on which the press completely ignored. And they went for the one which was written by the journalist who originally wrote the story, and so I had to live through that; but the interesting thing is that it brought me to kind of study the whole subject of jurisprudence, which again led me to realise that music, where you have certain rules which are dictated to by certain scholars, you have to dig a bit deeper and you find out that no, hang on, this is an opinion, an opinion, that's what a fatwa is actually. An opinion, which doesn't come directly from the Koran at all."</ref> In a 2007 letter to the editor of ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'', Rushdie complained of what he believed was Islam's attempts to "rewrite his past", and called his claims of innocence "rubbish".<ref>[https://www.telegraph.co.uk/comment/letters/3639714/Letters-to-The-Sunday-Telegraph.html ''Letters to The Sunday Telegraph''], ''Cat Stevens wanted me dead'', last letter on the page dated 6 May 2007.</ref>

On 12 August 2022, [[Salman Rushdie]] suffered a knife attack as he was about to give a public lecture at the [[Chautauqua Institution]] in [[Chautauqua, New York]], United States.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/8/13/author-salman-rushdie-attacked-what-we-know-so-far|title=Salman Rushdie attack: What we know so far|website=Aljazeera.com}}</ref> In response to the attack, Yusuf tweeted, "Saddened and shocked to learn about the horrific act on Salman Rushdie my wish is for us all to live in peace. May God grant him and every one else who has suffered from the manic pandemic of violence in this world, a full recovery. Peace".<ref>{{Cite web |last=Islam |first=Yusuf |date=12 August 2022 |title=Twitter |url=https://twitter.com/YusufCatStevens}}</ref>

====11 September attacks====
Immediately following the [[September 11 attacks]] on the United States, he said:

{{blockquote|I wish to express my heartfelt horror at the indiscriminate terrorist attacks committed against innocent people of the United States yesterday. While it is still not clear who carried out the attack, it must be stated that no right-thinking follower of Islam could possibly condone such an action. The Qur'an equates the murder of one innocent person with the murder of the whole of humanity. We pray for the families of all those who lost their lives in this unthinkable act of violence as well as all those injured; I hope to reflect the feelings of all Muslims and people around the world whose sympathies go out to the victims of this sorrowful moment.<ref>{{cite magazine|author=Dansby, Andrew|magazine=Rolling Stone|date=17 September 2001|url=https://www.rollingstone.com/artists/catstevens/articles/story/5933040/cat_stevens_condemns_attack|title=Cat Stevens Condemns Attack|access-date=6 June 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20080515023427/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/catstevens/articles/story/5933040/cat_stevens_condemns_attack|archive-date=15 May 2008|url-status=dead}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1448948/20010918/stevens_cat.jhtml|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100605035504/http://www.vh1.com/news/articles/1448948/20010918/stevens_cat.jhtml|url-status=dead|archive-date=5 June 2010|title=Yusuf Islam Expresses 'Heartfelt Horror' Over Terrorist Attacks|author=Wiederhorn, Jon|publisher=VH1|date=18 September 2001|access-date=11 February 2009}}</ref>}}

He appeared on videotape on a [[VH1]] pre-show for the October 2001 [[The Concert for New York City|Concert for New York City]], condemning the attacks and singing his song "Peace Train" for the first time in public in more than 20 years, as an [[a cappella]] version. He also donated a portion of his box-set royalties to the fund for victims' families and the rest to orphans in underdeveloped countries.<ref name="boxset">{{cite news|url=http://www.vh1.com/thewire/content/news/1449391.jhtml|title=Former Cat Stevens To Donate Some Box Set Royalties To September&nbsp;11&nbsp;Fund|author=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.-->|publisher=VH1|date=28 September 2001|access-date=11 February 2009|archive-date=8 December 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081208160826/http://www.vh1.com/thewire/content/news/1449391.jhtml|url-status=dead}}</ref> During the same year, he dedicated time and effort in joining the [[Forum Against Islamophobia and Racism]], an organisation that worked towards battling misconceptions and acts against others because of their religious beliefs or their racial identity (or both), after many Muslims reported a backlash against them due in part to the grief caused by the events in the United States on 11 September.<ref name="guardian.co.uk1"/>

====Denial of entry into the United States====
On 21 September 2004, Islam was on a [[United Airlines]] flight from London to [[Washington, D.C.|Washington]], travelling to a meeting with American entertainer [[Dolly Parton]], who had recorded "Peace Train" several years earlier and was planning to include another Cat Stevens song on an upcoming album.<ref name="Yentob"/> While the plane was in flight, his name was flagged as being on the [[No Fly List]]. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) officers alerted the United States [[Transportation Security Administration]], which then diverted his flight to [[Bangor, Maine|Bangor]], Maine, where he was detained by officers from the [[United States Department of Homeland Security|Department of Homeland Security]].<ref name="washpo922">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A39772-2004Sep21.html|title=Cat Stevens held after D.C. flight diverted|author=Goo, Sara Kehaulani|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=22 September 2004|access-date=6 December 2007}}</ref>

The following day, he was denied entry and flown back to the United Kingdom.<!-- please discuss on Talk before changing this wording --> A spokesman for Homeland Security claimed there were "concerns of ties he may have to potential terrorist-related activities".<ref name="washpo923">{{cite news|url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A43282-2004Sep22.html|title=Cat Stevens leaves U.S. after entry denied|author=Goo, Sara Kehaulani|newspaper=The Washington Post|date=23 September 2004 |access-date=6 December 2007}}</ref> The [[Israeli system of government|Israeli government]] had deported Islam in 2000 over allegations that he provided funding to the [[Palestinian people|Palestinian]] organisation [[Hamas]],<ref name="Israel">{{cite magazine| url=https://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5922705/israel_rejects_the_former_cat_stevens| archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20061205111435/http://www.rollingstone.com/news/story/5922705/israel_rejects_the_former_cat_stevens| url-status=dead| archive-date=5 December 2006|title=Israel Rejects the Former Cat Stevens|last=Dansby|first=Andrew |date=13 July 2000|magazine=Rolling Stone|access-date=12 October 2008}}</ref> but he denied doing so knowingly.<ref name="Gunderson">{{cite news|url=https://www.usatoday.com/life/music/news/2006-12-14-yusuf-islam_x.htm?loc=interstitialskip|title='Cat Stevens' returns to music|first=Edna|last=Gundersen|work=USA Today|date=15 December 2006|access-date=24 November 2010}}</ref> Islam stated "I have never knowingly supported or given money to Hamas".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://abcnews.go.com/2020/News/story?id=139607|title=Cat Stevens 'In the Dark' Over No-Fly List|work=ABC News 20/20|date=1 October 2004|access-date=14 July 2010}}</ref> "At the time I was reported to have done it, I didn't know such a group existed. Some people give a political interpretation to charity. We were horrified at how people were suffering in the Holy Land."<ref name="Gunderson"/>

However, the United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) added him to a "watch list"<ref name="musical roots"/> which provoked an international controversy and led the [[Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs|British Foreign Secretary]] [[Jack Straw]] to complain personally to the [[United States Secretary of State]] [[Colin Powell]] at the United Nations.<ref name="UN">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/3682434.stm|title=Cat Stevens "shock" at US refusal|publisher=BBC|date=23 September 2004|access-date=6 December 2007}}</ref> Powell responded by stating that the watchlist was under review, adding, "I think we have that obligation to review these matters to see if we are right".<ref name="Powell">{{cite news|url=http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/0,,30100-1153665,00.html|title=Powell orders review|publisher=Sky News|date=30 September 2004|access-date=6 December 2007}}</ref>

Islam believed his inclusion on a "watch list" may have simply been an error: a mistaken identification of him for a man with the same name, but different spelling. On 1 October 2004 he requested the removal of his name, "I remain bewildered by the decision of the US authorities to refuse me entry to the United States".<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.entertainment-news.org/breaking/8585/yusuf-islam-wants-name-off-no-fly-list.html|title=Yusuf Islam wants name off 'no-fly' list|agency=Associated Press|date=2 October 2004|access-date=6 December 2007|url-status=usurped|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071226155733/http://www.entertainment-news.org/breaking/8585/yusuf-islam-wants-name-off-no-fly-list.html|archive-date=26 December 2007}}</ref> According to his statement, the man on the list was named "Youssef Islam", indicating that Islam was not the suspected terrorism supporter.<ref name="Larry King"/> [[Romanisation of Arabic]] names can easily result in different spellings: the [[transliteration]] of [[Yusuf]] gives rise to a dozen spellings.

Two years later, in December 2006, Islam was admitted without incident into the United States for several radio concert performances and interviews to promote his new record.<ref name="Pareles">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2006/12/20/arts/20yusuf.html?_r=1&oref=slogin|title=Yusuf Islam Steps Back into Cat Stevens's Old Sound|author=Pareles, Jon|work=The New York Times|date=20 December 2006|access-date=6 December 2007}}</ref> He said of the incident at the time, "No reason was ever given, but being asked to repeat the spelling of my name again and again, made me think it was a fairly simple mistake of identity. Rumours which circulated after made me imagine otherwise."<ref name="Why was he turned away">{{cite web|url=http://www.yusufislam.com/faq/a083efb2edcf4c567c792d95e528149f|work=Chinese Whiskers – FAQs|title=Why was he turned away from USA?|publisher=YusufIslam.com|access-date=26 November 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110501042131/http://www.yusufislam.com/faq/a083efb2edcf4c567c792d95e528149f/|archive-date=1 May 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

Islam wrote a song about his 2004 exclusion from the US, titled "[[Boots and Sand]]", recorded in 2008 and featuring [[Paul McCartney]], Dolly Parton, and [[Terry Sylvester]].<ref name="Lifeline2008">{{cite web|title=Yusuf Islam Lifeline:August 2008|url=http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/50/112858136a274e64da8f3d0dd2ae30c7/|publisher=Yusuf Islam official website|access-date=23 September 2008|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110721095810/http://www.yusufislam.com/lifeline/50/112858136a274e64da8f3d0dd2ae30c7/|archive-date=21 July 2011|url-status=dead}}</ref>

====Libel cases====
=====Lawsuit over News UK newspaper reports that he had supported terrorism=====
In October 2004, ''[[The Sun (United Kingdom)|The Sun]]'' and ''[[The Sunday Times]]'' newspapers voiced their support for Yusuf's exclusion from the United States and claimed that he had supported terrorism. He sued for [[Defamation|libel]] and received an out-of-court [[Settlement (litigation)|financial settlement]] from the newspapers, which both published apology statements saying that he had never supported terrorism and mentioning that he had recently been given a [[Man of Peace]] award from the [[World Summit of Nobel Peace Laureates]]. However, ''The Sunday Times'' managing editor Richard Caseby said that while there was an "agreed settlement", they "always denied liability" and "disagreed with Cat Stevens' lawyers interpretation", but took a "pragmatic view" of the lawsuit.<ref name="libel1">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/4268651.stm|title=Singer Islam gets libel damages|publisher=BBC|date=15 February 2005|access-date=6 May 2006}}</ref>

Yusuf responded that he was "delighted by the settlement [which] helps vindicate my character and good name.&nbsp;... It seems to be the easiest thing in the world these days to make scurrilous accusations against Muslims and, in my case, it directly impacts on my relief work and damages my reputation as an artist. The harm done is often difficult to repair", and added that he intended to donate the financial award given to him by the court to help orphans of the [[2004 Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami]].<ref name="libel1"/> He wrote about the experience in a newspaper article titled "A Cat in a Wild World".<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.theguardian.com/comment/story/0,,1317260,00.html|title=A cat in a wild world|work=The Guardian|location=UK|date=1 October 2004|first=Yusuf|last=Islam|access-date=6 May 2006}}</ref>

=====Lawsuit about allegations that he would not talk to unveiled women=====
On 18 July 2008, Islam received substantial undisclosed damages from the [[World Entertainment News Network]] following their publication of a story which claimed that the singer refused to speak to unveiled women.<ref name="Reuters veil">{{cite news|url=https://www.reuters.com/article/oddlyEnoughNews/idUSL1888341620080718?sp=true|title=Yusuf Islam wins damages for "veiled women" slur|work=Reuters|date=18 July 2008|access-date=7 October 2008}}</ref> The allegations first surfaced in the German newspaper [[B.Z. (newspaper)|BZ]] after Islam's trip to Berlin in March 2007 to collect the [[Echo (music award)|Echo music award]] for "life achievements as musician and ambassador between cultures".<ref name="Marot">{{cite news|url=http://www.pr-inside.com/yusuf-islam-s-manager-refutes-veil-allegations-r83327.htm|title=Yusuf Islam's Manager Refutes 'Veil' Allegations|publisher=PR Inside|author=Marot, Marc|date=2 April 2007|access-date=7 October 2008|url-status=dead|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20081017171626/http://www.pr-inside.com/yusuf-islam-s-manager-refutes-veil-allegations-r83327.htm|archive-date=17 October 2008}}</ref> Once again he was awarded damages after the World Entertainment News Network allowed an article to be published on [[Contactmusic.com]] alleging that he would not speak to unveiled women with the exception of his wife. His solicitor said "he was made out to be 'so sexist and bigoted that he refused at an awards ceremony to speak to or even acknowledge any women who were not wearing a veil{{'"}}.<ref name="Reuters veil" /><ref name="BBC veil">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/entertainment/7513574.stm |title= Cat Stevens accepts libel damages|publisher=BBC|date=18 July 2008|access-date=7 October 2008}}</ref> The news agency apologised and issued a statement saying that Islam has never had any problem in working with women and that he has never required a third party to function as an intermediary at work.<ref name="Marot" /> The money from this lawsuit went to his ''Small Kindness'' Charity.<ref name="Reuters veil" />

On his website, he discussed the false allegation, saying,
{{blockquote|The accusation that I do not speak or interact with ladies who are not veiled is an absurdity.... It's true that I have asked my manager to respectfully request that lady presenters refrain from embracing me when giving awards or during public appearances, but that has nothing to do with my feelings or respect for them. Islam simply requires me to honour the dignity of ladies or young girls who are not closely related to me, and avoid physical intimacy, however innocent it may be.<br />
... My four daughters all follow the basic wearing of clothes which modestly cover their God-given beauty. They're extremely well educated; they do not cover their faces and interact perfectly well with friends and society.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.yusufislam.com/faq/8f2e6db2c94070284e3409cd2774d901/ |title=He won't talk to unveiled women, right? |work=Chinese Whiskers FAQs |publisher=YusufIslam.com |access-date=11 April 2015 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20131017222547/http://www.yusufislam.com/faq/8f2e6db2c94070284e3409cd2774d901/ |archive-date=17 October 2013 }}</ref>}}