Cat Stevens

The singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, now known as Yusuf Islam, was denied entry to the United States today. Islam should be best known, not for any contribution to music, but for his support of the death sentence issued by Ayatollah Khomeini against Salman Rushdie in 1989. Islam has equivocated on the subject ever since, arguing that death-for-blasphemy is a sentence that can only be issued and executed by an Islamic court in an Islamic country. Insofar as Britain is not an Islamic country, one is supposed to conclude that Islam supports a right of free speech. In fact, he is opposed to free speech as a human right or governing principle. He merely argues that Islamic law can not be enforced against Salman Rushdie outside of Dar al-Islam (the House of Islam). Equivocations grounded in the classic Islamic construct are sure signs of bigotry. Dar al-Islam is meaningless without Dar al-Harb (the House of War), Islam is meaningless without the infidel, and the Islamist is meaningless without the dhimmi. One can not embrace part of the construct without embracing the whole. In the case of the singer formely known as Cat Stevens, it is not a question of whether he is a bigot, but of how far he would pursue bigotry given the chance.

Further Reading: In the Weekly Standard today, Stephen Schwarz characterized the unsavory details of Islam's opinions and affiliations since converting to Islam in 1978.