Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview

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Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
OP - February 08, 2009, 11:33 PM

Missed it on the radio last week, but found this link to the interview by Ronan Keating. If you're interested click below- I think I know a man who maybe

http://www.smoothradionorthwest.co.uk/presenters-shows/listen-again-archive-bgc9/listen-again-smooth-documentaries/ycnjzzsg/

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #1 - February 08, 2009, 11:51 PM

Apparently he is still earning about $1.5million/year from royalties which he donates to philanthropic causes. I met him once and thought he was a very nice, down-to-earth guy.

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #2 - February 09, 2009, 01:42 AM

Yes I think Yusuf "The Cat" Islam is probably a very nice chap, although he denies it now he did support the fatwa against Rushdie. It's on the record. I think he genuinely is a top geezer but he certainly was more radical when he first converted to Islam.

I for one don't think it's fair to condemn someone for stupid things they said once when they were younger. If he has really become a moderate then more power to The Islamic Cats elbow ..

You have to make a habit out of being a fascist scumbag like Anjem Choudhrey to get my vote for a vicious dose of nuf disrespec.

Isn't Yusuf a Sufi?
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #3 - February 09, 2009, 01:43 AM

PS: Ronan Keating should be strung up for crimes against music
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #4 - February 09, 2009, 02:32 AM

Quote from: brucepig on February 09, 2009, 01:42 AM
Isn't Yusuf a Sufi?

How I used to mock him: Yusuf Islam

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #5 - February 09, 2009, 08:31 AM

Yusuf Islam was a muslim boy I KO'd in a karate tournament. I kicked him in the face and he spat all this phlegm, fell t te floor and blood started coming out. Then he got carried away and they disqualified me.

Ill never forget his name. Yusuf Islam.
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #6 - February 09, 2009, 09:59 AM

Quote from: brucepig on February 09, 2009, 01:42 AM
I for one don't think it's fair to condemn someone for stupid things they said once when they were younger. If he has really become a moderate then more power to The Islamic Cats elbow ..

Isn't Yusuf a Sufi?

Not sure what the category is for "make it up as you go along"

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #7 - February 09, 2009, 11:00 AM

I remember when I was young my elder brother buying Cat Stevens records just because he found out out he became Muslim. Kinda silly looking back on it.

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #8 - February 09, 2009, 08:38 PM

Thanks IsLame, I listened to the first part and am trying to dowload the second part and am enjoying it. Ronan Keating and Yusuf really are good freinds, it's not just talk for the show. I remember when they first met up when Boyzone were recording "Father & Son" and Yusuf met them all and he hit it off with Ronan straight away. Ronan is a good clean cut Catholic boy and Yusuf and him just got on immediately and have remained friends.

As soon as ppl know I knew Yusuf they always ask me about him, but to be honest i don't have much to say about him other than I always liked him and found him to be a very kind, sincere and nice guy. I know he has views I don't share, but that's his business. I first met him in the early 80s when I attended a Halaqa he led in Regents Park Mosque (called Companions of the Mosque). He was more inclined towards the Salafi views then - but he has moderated and mellowed a great deal since then. I wouldn't say he is a Sufi now, but he embraces sufi views and generally a much wider and more inclusive view. Many of the Salafis now heavily criticize him.

I have not spoken to him since leaving Islam but I'm quite sure he has heard about it since the word spread like wild-fire round the school and must have reached him. Like most of my old colleagues and pupils I have no doubt he will be a bit upset and may even feel I have betrayed him in some way. As I have found out many Muslims take rejecting Islam very personally. I'm sorry that he or others feel like that, but of course it is not personal and my feelings towards him and all my old colleagues and pupils hasn't changed. I still have many fond and happy memories of the school and I wish him and them all the best.
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #9 - February 09, 2009, 08:50 PM

Just finished listening to the whole interview with Ronan Keating and really enjoyed it - thanks again for the link, IsLame
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #10 - February 09, 2009, 08:59 PM

I'm surprised he hardly mentioned, almost purposefully avoided, the Islam topic?

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #11 - February 09, 2009, 09:04 PM

Quote from: IsLame on February 09, 2009, 08:59 PM
I'm surprised he hardly mentioned, almost purposefully avoided, the Islam topic?

Actually I'm not surprised.
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #12 - February 09, 2009, 09:08 PM

Why? As such a die-hard muslim, would he not wish to use the opportunity as a staging post for his Islamic agenda?

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #13 - February 09, 2009, 11:09 PM

Quote from: IsLame on February 09, 2009, 09:08 PM
Why? As such a die-hard muslim, would he not wish to use the opportunity as a staging post for his Islamic agenda?

By Islamic Agenda, do you mean to give da'wa and spread the word of Islam? I guess he just wanted to talk about the music and not be so high profile about Islam anymore.
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #14 - February 09, 2009, 11:27 PM

..to avoid being seen as an old-fashioned religious fanatic, rather than a trendy musical zeitgeist?

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #15 - February 09, 2009, 11:38 PM

Quote from: IsLame on February 09, 2009, 11:27 PM
..to avoid being seen as an old-fashioned religious fanatic, rather than a trendy musical zeitgeist?

yup
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #16 - February 10, 2009, 09:11 AM

Thanks for the link, and great to read your views about him Hassan! I've loved his music for a while now. One thing that gets me, though, is that nothing in the name Cat Stevens is inherently against Islam (no deities or false idols mentioned, unlike with my name, haha!). And to me Cat Stevens sounds waaaay cooler than Yusuf Islam. I recall some muslim comedian making a joke about that, and dreamt about Snoop Doggy Dogg converting to Islam. He then made some sort of punchline about Cats and Doggs converting to Islam. Lols abound.

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #17 - May 25, 2011, 11:41 PM

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hjYNko__m-0

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #18 - May 25, 2011, 11:48 PM

Better or worse?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jek6iP6AuAQ&NR=1

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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #19 - May 26, 2011, 02:26 AM

Don't like Yusuf / Cat Stevens. Plain and simple. He's produced some nice music, but this sort of thing:

http://www.petertatchell.net/religion/islamic.htm
Quote
The supposedly middle-of-the-road Islamist, Yusuf Islam (the former pop star Cat Stevens), has condemned positive portrayals of homosexuality in school sex education lessons, accusing those who advocate such policies of wanting to "feast off the innocence of our children for their own abominable sexual appetites".

I am very open-minded and forgiving, and if he has moderated his views then I applaud him. My belief is that if a man believes gay people are "feasting their abominable appetites" on children and then reforms his views, he should apologize or correct them. My issue is that hundreds of thousands of people look up to musicians and famous people, what happens when you say that sort of thing? The impressionable teenager will probably leave his room thinking that homosexuality was a perversion.

All that aside, I do enjoy some of his music. I would have hoped, given his liberal upbringing and love of music, that he would offer a more "liberated" side of Islam though. :\
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Re: Yusuf Islam (Cat Stevens) meets Ronan Keating interview
Reply #20 - May 26, 2011, 07:26 AM

yep, in 1989 when he was asked about his conversion to Islam and the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's execution he replied, "He must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear - if someone defames the prophet, then he must die."

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