An artist that I am very fond of wrote this: Yusef Islam, formerly Cat Stevens.

Now Ive been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh Ive been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one

And I believe it could be, some day its going to come

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

Now Ive been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come

And I believe it could be, something good has begun

Oh peace train sounding louder

Glide on the peace train

Come on now peace train

Yes, peace train holy roller

Everyone jump upon the peace train

Come on now peace train

Get your bags together, go bring your good friends too

Cause its getting nearer, it soon will be with you

Now come and join the living, its not so far from you

And its getting nearer, soon it will all be true

Now Ive been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is

Why must we go on hating, why cant we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again

/////////////////////////////////////////////

Seems like a good song for him.

Stevens went a bit strange after a short but stellar career.

Well, maybe strange by most peoples standards.

Whom, I?

Now Ive been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is

Why must we go on hating, why cant we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Whom, I?

Now Ive been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is

Why must we go on hating, why cant we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Did he ever retract his approval of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie?

Whom, I?

Now Ive been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is

Why must we go on hating, why cant we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Did he ever retract his approval of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie?

On other occasions he has maintained his innocence and claimed to be a victim of media misinterpretation. In a 2000 Rolling Stone magazine interview:

I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created. I was innocently drawn into the whole controversy. So, after many years, I'm glad at least now that I have been given the opportunity to explain to the public and fans my side of the story in my own words. At a lecture, back in 1989, I was asked a question about blasphemy according to Islamic Law, I simply repeated the legal view according to my limited knowledge of the Scriptural texts, based directly on historical commentaries of the Qur'an. The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred, but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention

Leviticus

24:16

Whom, I?

Now Ive been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is

Why must we go on hating, why cant we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Did he ever retract his approval of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie?

On other occasions he has maintained his innocence and claimed to be a victim of media misinterpretation. In a 2000 Rolling Stone magazine interview:

I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created. I was innocently drawn into the whole controversy. So, after many years, I'm glad at least now that I have been given the opportunity to explain to the public and fans my side of the story in my own words. At a lecture, back in 1989, I was asked a question about blasphemy according to Islamic Law, I simply repeated the legal view according to my limited knowledge of the Scriptural texts, based directly on historical commentaries of the Qur'an. The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred, but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention

Leviticus

24:16

Not that it matters any, but how do you feel that paragraph you copy and pasted from Wiki jibes with the 9 that preceded it and the 4 that followed it?

I was a bellboy at a hotel in Miami where Cat Stevens was recording when his career was on its way down. He used to get room service every day and I would often bring his meals and we would talk. I loved his music when he was at his peak, but by then he seemed very lost - He was just a regular guy. Shortly afterwards he announced his conversion to Islam.

Other Old Testament verses call for the death penalty. For touching the ark of the Covenant, for children being disobedient to parents, for Jewish men putting their penises in a man's mouth or anus, just as a proper Jewish man puts his penis in all the mouths and anuses of all his wives and concubines. Yet there are almost no accounts of them putting such people to death. And Jews were almost always essentially nonviolent for 2,500 years, and Christians for 300 years.

Whom, I?

Now Ive been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is

Why must we go on hating, why cant we live in bliss

Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train

Did he ever retract his approval of the fatwa on Salman Rushdie?

On other occasions he has maintained his innocence and claimed to be a victim of media misinterpretation. In a 2000 Rolling Stone magazine interview:

I'm very sad that this seems to be the No. 1 question people want to discuss. I had nothing to do with the issue other than what the media created. I was innocently drawn into the whole controversy. So, after many years, I'm glad at least now that I have been given the opportunity to explain to the public and fans my side of the story in my own words. At a lecture, back in 1989, I was asked a question about blasphemy according to Islamic Law, I simply repeated the legal view according to my limited knowledge of the Scriptural texts, based directly on historical commentaries of the Qur'an. The next day the newspaper headlines read, "Cat Says, Kill Rushdie." I was abhorred, but what could I do? I was a new Muslim. If you ask a Bible student to quote the legal punishment of a person who commits blasphemy in the Bible, he would be dishonest if he didn't mention

Leviticus

24:16

Not that it matters any, but how do you feel that paragraph you copy and pasted from Wiki jibes with the 9 that preceded it and the 4 that followed it?

Yes, not that it matters.....I wonder why you even brought the subject up....However, I felt that this one was the one that was most credible, being reported in a non-partisan non-political magazine. The previous accounts did not point out that his words were made in a very specific context, ie that he was being asked the question in terms of Islamic law.....his answer was not an approval, per se.

He also points out somewhere in that Wiki article that alot depends on the law of the land, and he does not condone criminality.

Whatever....I like his music very much.