Lying About Islam...Yusuf Islam
They're getting pretty slimy out there folks. Last night I couldn't resist watching ABC News' Elizabeth Vargas interview Yusuf Islam (a.k.a. Cat Stevens, née Stephen D. Georgiou) on ABC's 20/20. Even though Yusuf Islam repeatedly and unambiguously made it clear that he does not support—and has never supported—terrorism of any sort, it seems 20/20 didn't want to accept that as an answer.
In one of the segments they broke away from the on camera interview and claimed that during the interview, when asked about suicide bombings in Israel, Yusuf Islam refused to condemn these vicious attacks. Well why didn't they show that on the interview? That would certainly have brought down the house, exposed Yusuf Islam as a terrorist sympathizer and given 20/20, and the U.S. Government, the evidence that they're obviously desperately looking for. Well I can tell you why they didn't show it—it's because he didn't say it. If he had, with 20/20's camera sitting right there in front of him, they would have recorded it and we would have seen it. Needless to say, anyone who has followed what Yusuf Islam has been involved in since becoming a Muslim knows that he's regularly condemned all forms of terrorism, both verbally and in publicly released written statements, and has been a tireless advocate for peace. So now we're supposed to believe that in spite of all his claims to the contrary, Yusuf Islam supports suicide bombing because ABC's 20/20 claims he said something, but for some reason they don't want to show this most relevant statement to us? So how gullible do they think we are? I wish they'd at least explain why they don't want to show the one statement by Yusuf Islam that would make the case that they were obviously so desperately trying to make in the first place. Like a lot of things lately, this just doesn't make sense.
Another thing to keep in mind is that if the U.S. had hard and credible evidence that Yusuf Islam was supporting terrorism and posed a legitimate threat, they wouldn't have just put him back on another plane and sent him back to the U.K. Rather, they would have arrested him and held him, just like they do when they catch individuals who are real and credible terrorists. However, this particular alleged threat to U.S. air space was simply released and allowed to fly back into U.K. air space. If they had evidence that he's a terrorist, why'd they let him go? Again, it just doesn't make any sense. Keep in mind that it usually takes bureaucracies awhile to finally come out (or figure out) and admit that they've made a mistake. This recent incident with Yusuf Islam's flight being diverted and him being questioned is just another example of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) bungling things up and tripping all over themselves. Even though the Bush Administration voices rhetoric that they want to engage "moderate Muslims" as allies in their "War on Terror", this seemingly has a tough time filtering down into the minds of the average agent working for the DHS, who are fed a steady diet of paranoid analysis and anti-Islamic propaganda. It's too bad that more people don't realize how detrimental this is to winning the "War on Terror" and discrediting militant Islamic extremism. Sometimes it's almost enough to make me think that they really don't want to "win", at least not in the short term.
Do people really believe that the same man—an obviously deeply spiritual man—who so passionately sang songs like "Peace Train" and "Morning Has Broken" back in the 1970s has become a supporter of terrorism and an advocate of mass murder? I remember singing these songs in church as a young boy and I don't think I'd believe these lies about the former Cat Stevens even if I wasn't a convert to Islam—and I think, hope and pray that most people don't believe them either. However, when it comes to Islam, many people's brains are so full of misinformation and hateful propaganda that you can get them to believe just about anything. Believe me, there are certain elements out there that feel they have a vested interest in making this happen. If they can get people to believe that the former Cat Stevens is now some sort of "Islamic terrorist", then they're doing a successful job, albeit in a very sick and clumsy sort of way. If you want more information on the former Cat Stevens, please visit his YusufIslam.org.uk website as well as Mountain of Light Productions.
Almighty God in His Noble Book tells us that the plots and deceptions of the disbelievers are weak, and it's amazing how this is made clearer and clearer everyday. Just when I thought they couldn't be more blundering, shallow and intellectually dishonest, they come up with something new. Based on what I saw last night, I think ABC News needs to rename their show from 20/20 to 20/200 (i.e. legally blind).
posted by @ 8:55 AM
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Assalamu alaikum, I also saw 20/20 last night on ABC. And I also noted how they said he wouldn't answer the question when asked about the suicide bombings in Israel. I remember thinking, "Why don't they show him saying that, just like they showed him answering allt he other questions?" I got the felling that they were deliberately trying to imply something. That somehow Yusuf Islam was somehow supporting terrorism, even though they wouldn't quite come out and say it.
Assalamu Alaikum,
I too was was disappointed with 20/20. Their piece wasn't about Yusuf's story, it was also to present the misconceptions about muslims that we are all somehow involved with terrorism!! I hope Americans are smart enough to see through the lies.
Not every muslim is a terrorist - but every terrorist is a muslim...
Strictly speaking, the above statement is untrue since there are non-Muslim terrorists in the world today (i.e. Tamil Tigers in Sri Lanka, Basque separatists in Spain, and Christian abortion clinic bombers). However, many people turn a blind eye to such facts when they don’t fit into their distorted view of the world. Likewise, there are some real double-standards in the application of the “terrorist” label. Back in the early 1990s, Orthodox Christian Serbs who butchered, raped and murdered Bosnian Muslims, in order to terrorize them into leaving their homeland, were not called “terrorists”. When the Israelis bulldoze apartment buildings, knowing full well that there are families inside, they are not called “terrorists”. Even if being done in response to a terrorist attack by some Palestinians, this doesn’t make it right since “two wrongs doesn’t make a right” and collective punishment is inherently unjust as well. Indeed, there are forms of State terrorism that many people are willing to overlook because of how it’s portrayed in the media. They seem to be much less bothered by an F-15 fighter jet dropping a 500 pound bomb in a civilian neighborhood than a car bomb going off in much the same place.
This isn’t to deny that Islam has a real problem with terror in this day and age. I’ve discussed this issue in an earlier posting entitled "Monkey See, Monkey Do" - Not An Islamic Ideal, so please have a look at that. In the final analysis, the simplistic comment posted above just begs the question: Do the teachings of Islam condone terrorism? The answer to that is an unequivocal “No!” So if anyone thinks that Islam, as a religion, is proven to be false and evil simply because it has been hijacked in recent years by a small but murderous group of fanatical and intolerant militants, then Christianity, judged by the same rules, would have been proven false and evil centuries ago. If you don't believe that, then you need to crack a few history books.
"Do the teachings of Islam condone terrorism? "
Of course they do, otherwise why would so many drooling islamic murderers commit the nost appaling crimes on behalf of your religion? A large minority of your co-religionists are bloodthirsty, evil, head-chopping terrorists and terrorist supporters.
The majority of muslims give tacit approval to the minority. Give them a scratch and you find how much they hate Jews/Christians/hindus and the rest of us in civilization.
The behavior of people who practice any religion is how the religion is judged and you cannot separate the two. Islam is becoming frightening to many because of the behavior of a large minority and the silence of the majority
A big " Amen" to that statement!
One man's terrorist is another man's patriot.
What USA is doing to Iraq is seen as patriotic by many Americans. But the 'silent majority' of muslims don't hold him as a patriot. The 'blood thirsty minority' who dont remain 'silent' view USA as a terrorist regime.
You can watch news on TV tailor-made just for you... or you can try doing some genuine research on your own.
I understand the viewpoint of the so-called 'terrorist muslims'. After decades of fighting fighter jets and tanks by hurling stones at them, there's bound to be some change.
They may be terrorists for a small population of the world, but they are patriots for many more.
Unfortunately, military power dictates if a country is politically correct, and so USA has its way too often. So for now... till USA is very powerful, let them be labelled terrorists. But the bottom line is everyone is fighting for their own freedom.
Lets talk about fact, one example: When a "Christian" nation bombed Hiroshima and Nagasaki indiscriminately with such a powerful and lethal weapon, it wiped out half of the 450,000 polulation of on both cities and made the remaining suffered a slow and painful deaths.
This is the Mother of Terrorism unparalel in Islamic history.
Indeed, by the Fruit ye shall judge the tree.
http://www.gensuikin.org/english/photo.html
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