Regarding the prohibition of music that he formerly followed, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam now says: “It took me time to realize that a lot of what I was told in the beginning when I became a Muslim was not exactly right. You know, Islam doesn’t forbid anything that’s healthy and morally good.”
This gives the impression that he now thinks that Islam doesn’t forbid music, but he doesn’t actually say that, and there is considerable evidence to the contrary.
“‘Imran bin Husain narrated that the Messenger of Allah(s.a.w) said: ‘In this Ummah there shall be collapsing of the earth, transformation and Qadhf.’ A man among the Muslims said: ‘O Messenger of Allah! When is that?’ He said: ‘When singing slave-girls, music, and drinking intoxicants spread.’” (Jami at-Tirmidhi 2212)
“It was narrated from Abu Malik Ash’ari that the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) said: ‘People among my nation will drink wine, calling it by another name, and musical instruments will be played for them and singing girls (will sing for them). Allah will cause the earth to swallow them up, and will turn them into monkeys and pigs.’” (Sunan Ibn Majah 4020)
“Narrated Aisha: Abu Bakr came to my house while two small Ansari girls were singing beside me the stories of the Ansar concerning the Day of Buath. And they were not singers. Abu Bakr said protestingly, ‘Musical instruments of Satan in the house of Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) !’ It happened on the `Id day and Allah’s Messenger (ﷺ) said, ‘O Abu Bakr! There is an `Id for every nation and this is our `Id.’” (Sahih al-Bukhari 952)
But if he really does believe that Islam forbids music, why is he playing music now? It could be for the purposes of dawah. He is much more likely to draw people to embrace Islam while playing music than while insisting it is forbidden.
Stevens/Islam is likewise not being entirely forthright and honest regarding his statements about Salman Rushdie. As the Washington Post, of all people, reminded us in 2021, when Cat Stevens was first reemerging after decades of silence, as a new convert to Islam, he enthusiastically endorsed the death fatwa against Salman Rushdie for supposedly blaspheming Muhammad, the prophet of Islam. In 1989, “after Rushdie had officially been targeted because of his portrayal of the prophet Muhammad in his novel ‘The Satanic Verses,’ Stevens had matter-of-factly confirmed that the Koran prescribes death as the punishment for blasphemy.” Nor was this simply a matter of confirming that the death penalty for blasphemy was indeed Islamic teaching.
Confronted on a BBC show, “Stevens was asked directly whether Rushdie deserved to die. ‘Yes, yes,’ he replied, without much hesitation. Were Rushdie, a marked man, to come to him for help, how would he respond? With what he subsequently insisted was nothing more than an ill-advised attempt at dry humor, a straight-faced Stevens said, ‘I might ring somebody who might do more damage to him than he would like. I’d try to phone the Ayatollah Khomeini and tell him exactly where this man is.’ When asked whether he would participate in the burning of an effigy of the author, he replied that he would instead hope it were ‘the real thing.’”
When the predictable firestorm ensued, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam issued a press release “indicating that his comments had been manipulated in the editing room and taken out of context (this, despite the fact that the New York Times reported that Stevens had ‘watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments’).” On his official website, Stevens makes a patently false claim: “I never called for the death of Salman Rushdie; nor backed the Fatwa issued by the Ayatollah Khomeini – and still don’t.”
In the very next sentence, he blames Rushdie’s book, not Khomeini’s fatwa, for all the trouble: “The book itself destroyed the harmony between people and nations and created an international crisis.”
Salman Rushdie himself would have none of Stevens’ denials, saying, “For many years, Yusuf Islam has been pretending he didn’t say the things he said in 1989, when he enthusiastically supported the Iranian terrorist edict against me and others. However, his words are on the record, in print interviews and on television programs.… I’m afraid Cat Stevens got off the peace train a long time ago.”
Indeed. As recently as 2011, a user published on YouTube a nasheed in which the author of “Peace Train” sang, “I’m praying to Allah to give us victory over the kuffar” (unbelievers). Does Yusuf/Cat still pray for victory over the kuffar? What kind of victory?
“Yusuf/Cat Stevens on his ‘Road to Findout,'” by Seth Doane, CBS News, October 5, 2025:
…I asked, “What all did you try, spiritually?”
“Well, you know, the bookshop is full of lots of different views of life and beliefs and philosophies, so I was digging around everywhere. I think the most important thing was when I finally reached the Quran at the end. And that just brought everything together.”
He took the name Yusuf Islam, and – believing that music was haram, or forbidden – redirected his royalties to fund his charity efforts, auctioned off instruments, focused on family, and for nearly 30 years left music.
Why did he believe music was forbidden? “It took me time to realize that a lot of what I was told in the beginning when I became a Muslim was not exactly right,” he said. “You know, Islam doesn’t forbid anything that’s healthy and morally good.”…
He provides context to a controversial chapter regarding Salman Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses,” which inflamed the Muslim world – and the fatwa calling for the author’s death. In 1989, in an appearance on a British TV program where hypothetical questions were posed, he was asked if he’d attend an effigy burning of Rushdie, to which he replied, “I would have hoped that it would have been the real thing, but actually no, if it’s just an effigy I don’t think I would be that moved to go there.”
“I mean, I’ve got a British sense of humor,” Yusuf said. “I took it in a kind of slightly comical direction. It wasn’t a good thing to do, because nobody laughed. So, you know, I kind of, I made a mistake in thinking that people might get the joke. But it was a serious issue, so I shouldn’t have really done that.”
“The joke you mean, saying preferred the real thing, not the effigy?”
“Whatever, whatever, whatever.”
“When you saw the headlines after that, do you worry even today that – ”
“Let’s get off this subject, please,” Yusuf said.
“You bring it up in the book, so it seems – ”
“No, it was only a little part of the book.”
I said, “But it seems like with this book you partially wanted to set the record straight from your perspective.”
“That’s right,” Yusuf replied. “I think I’ve done that.”…
Wellington says
A loser in life and a liar to the end of his days.
40 rounds says
Exactly, euro trash fool
Kosh's Shadow says
Peace Train
by Cat Stevens/Youssef Islam
Now I’ve been happy lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, everyone turns to Islam
Oh I’ve been smiling lately, dreaming about the world as one
And I believe it could be, some day it’s going to come
Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train, I’ll show them, come take me home again
Now I’ve been smiling lately, thinking about the good things to come
And I believe it could be, everyone will be Muslim
Oh peace train sounding louder
Blow up the peace train
Come on now peace train
Yes, peace train Allah Ackbar!
Everyone blow up the peace train
Come on now peace train
Get your bags together, get your bombs and nails
Cause it’s getting nearer, it soon will be with you
Now come and join the dying, it’s not so far from you
And it’s getting nearer, soon it will all be BOOM!
Now I’ve been crying lately, thinking about the world as it is
Why must we go on letting Jews live; we can’t be at peace with them.
Cause out on the edge of darkness, there rides a peace train
Oh peace train take this country, come take me home again
gravenimage says
+1
࿗Infidel࿘ says
Why is he suddenly in the news again?
gravenimage says
How I wish he was just doing “farewell tours” like decent old musicians who have not had a hit in some years…
somehistory says
Lies come so very easily to muzzies….and this has-been no longer makes good music.
It matters not what he was, but what he is.
gravenimage says
+1
Huh?!? says
Without lies, Islam dies. Another self-important has been media star running off at the mouth.
SKA says
When the cash flow from his royalties finally subsided then the “ultimate truth” about the reality of Islam manifested itself to him: “La ilaha il Do££ar!”
Tim gallagher says
Out of all the religions that a person living a free society, not some Muslim shithole of a society, I don’t get why anyone ever choses to.become a Muslims. I have nothing but contempt for people who join evil, barbaric islam including this fuckwit.
gravenimage says
*So* true, Tim.
Tim gallagher says
Thanks, gravenimage.sometimes the scum who become Muslims seem to start to plan terrorist attacks and they are obviously drawn to the evil nature of islam but I can’t see why Stevens was drawn to islam. I think he was from a greek background so I imagine people from his family might have been pissed off with his bizarre decision.
OLD GUY says
Well Piss be upon Him and his fellow Islamic followers.
Tim gallagher says
That is definitely what he deserves for joining Islam, old guy. A waterfall of piss. Joining Islam, what an evil decision.
gravenimage says
Tim, that most male converts to Islam in the West are *violent felons* should not surprise.
Tim gallagher says
I agree, gravenimage, most seem to want to join Islam because it supports the violence they love but what people like Stevens join Islam for I don’t know. Maybe he wanted four wives. He has never interested me enough to read up on why he joined Islam. Islam is so obviously evil that joining it is like jumping into a sewer in terms of morality.
gravenimage says
Being a moral idiot does not help…
James Lincoln says
No normal person would joke about wanting Salman Rushdie dead.
No normal person.
somehistory says
James, there are a whole lot of *not normal* people out there today. And they aren’t joking about what they want for us.
gravenimage says
Spot on, James and Somehistory.
James Lincoln says
somehistory / gravenimage,
Thanks for your replies.
STJOHNOFGRAFTON says
Alternately known as: Cat ‘Taquiya’ Stevens. Telling more lies for Islam.
ploome says
he said. “You know, Islam doesn’t forbid anything that’s healthy and morally good.”…
like taking women as sex slaves
humiliating and torturing non believers….
that’s healthy and good?
gravenimage says
And “marrying” children–crushing freedom–and mass murdering unbelievers…
Dominique-Zipporah Jones says
Or Female genital mutilation which is obligatory in 2 of the 4 Sunni schools of jurisprudence, Shafi’i and Hanbali, and in the Dawoodi Bohra school, one of the two Shia schools of jurisprudence and makrumah or preferable in the remaining schools of jurisprudence.
gravenimage says
Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam suggests Islam doesn’t forbid music, claims he was joking about wanting Salman Rushdie dead
…………………………………………….
Of course! What is more obvious hilarious than calling for the death of a man his coreligionists have already murdered for?
More:
Regarding the prohibition of music that he formerly followed, Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam now says: “It took me time to realize that a lot of what I was told in the beginning when I became a Muslim was not exactly right. You know, Islam doesn’t forbid anything that’s healthy and morally good.”
…………………………………………….
“Peace Train” is *not* considered morally good in Islam–but murdering peaceful authors is…
And now he says he was “joking” about calling for the death of Salman Rushdie–but before he blamed anyone asking him about it, saying he was “cleverly framed by certain questions”.
Westman says
More proof that even in modern times, “You can check into Islam anytime you like, but you can never leave without possible fatal consequences” – more so if you are famous and such would humiliate Islam.
Stevens can never leave or say the full truth. It took him 30 years to figure out that Islam made up the “no music” bit because it only wanted angry warriors to sack other societies and bring home the loot. It certainly didn’t want men singing love and heartbreak phrases about the inferior women it kept down. And now it makes no sense at all with Islam checkmated by the West.
Robert says
I wish “Cat” would joke that he had found the truth in Christ and converted, and then not say he was kidding for a decade or two… he wouldn’t last 5 years because they’d kill him.
Lady of the Lake says
He’s lying, it forbids women a healthy clitoris.
Adams says
The worst sort of twat. The Islamic version.
Adams says
The worst type of tw@t. The Islamic version .
skeptiker says
Vielleicht hat er sich freiwillig dazu entschieden Muslim zu werden, weil er da seinen Hang zur Pädophilie ungestraft und mit Allahs Segen ausleben kann.
Siddi Nasrani says
But of course, why didn’t I think of that, silly me.
GianCarlo MATTA says
someone ask the poor little bastard
steven demetre georgiou , a.k.a. “cat-stevens” a.k.a. “yusuf-islam”
if he underwent ritual mutilation when he converted to islàm .
Brian Reid says
I wonder why he is called Cat? Their is a four letter word starting with C which is more appropriate.
Koran 3.185 “Life in this world is lived purely for the joy of deception”.
John1 says
Which is something Lucifer would say.
R G says
To show how different things are these days, I remember after Stevens made his comments in the 80’s a radio station made a parody song called “I’m being followed by a muslim killer, muslim killer”! I don’t think anyone would do that today!
gravenimage says
Good to hear! Savvy, even then.
Troybeam says
Lives in London, UK. Stops touring now years and years later he wants to tour America, so thankful they refused him. No telling what he is singing about today.
LoverOfTruth says
I guess he finds raping female unbelievers, murdering unbelievers, and forcing 9 year old girls to ‘marry’, “healthy and morally good”. Did he take too much LSD in the 70s and loose touch with reality? To think that i once loved his music as a young girl now turns my stomach.
Winston 101 says
In the article I see the Islamic reference proofs that music is forbidden in Islam.
I don’t see any proof in Stevens’ statement that music is allowed.
Sex slave girls. . .by all means. Sex slave girls singing. . .absolutely not.
Islam the mother load of bad ideas.