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May 23, 1989 Cat Stevens Gives Support To Call for Death of Rushdie By CRAIG R. WHITNEY TONDON, May 22 -- The musician known as Cat Stevens said in a British television program to be broadcast next week that rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie, ''I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing.'' The singer, who adopted the name Yusuf Islam when he converted to Islam, made the remark during a panel discussion of British reactions to Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's call for Mr. Rushdie to be killed for allegedly blaspheming Islam in his best-selling novel ''The Satanic Verses.'' He also said that if Mr. Rushdie turned up at his doorstep looking for help, ''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,'' said Mr. Islam, who watched a preview of the program today and said in an interview that he stood by his comments. The statements by Mr. Islam and several other participants in the discussion demonstrate how divided British liberal intellectuals remain over the affair. British writers and publishers have signed petitions backing Mr. Rushdie's freedom to write what he wishes, but there have been no public readings of his works. 'Not a Pacifist Religion' Several of the participants defended Mr. Rushdie. The writer Fay Weldon, for example, said, ''Burn the book today, kill the writer tomorrow.'' She said she was offended by Mr. Islam's remarks, which she said incited people to violence. Also on the show was Dr. Kalim Siddiqui, director of the Muslim Institute in London and one of the organizers of a nationwide demonstration against ''Satanic Verses'' that is scheduled for Hyde Park on Saturday. He said: ''I wouldn't kill him, but I'm sure that there are very many people in this country prepared at the moment. If they could lay their hands on Rushdie, he would be dead. ''As a British citizen, I have a duty, if you like, a social contract with the British state, not to break British law. We are not a pacifist religion. We don't turn the other cheek. We hit back.'' A British bookseller, Tim Waterstone, chairman of the chain bearing his name, said that intimidation by opponents of the book ''at the end of the day probably will work.'' ''I don't want to see my staff in peril of their life and health,'' he said, ''and I don't want to see my customers in peril.'' And the Bishop of Manchester in the Church of England, the Rev. Stanley Booth-Clibborn, said the British blasphemy law is indefensible because it protects only the established Christian church. Other clerics have suggested that the law be extended to other faiths so Muslim objectors could stop offensive books through court order. Government Defenders In the end, Mr. Rushdie's most stalwart protectors have been those he often said he most dislikes - Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher's Government, which has given him police protection at a secret location since the Ayatollah's death threat last February. Iran broke diplomatic relations over the affair, and though Foreign Secretary Sir Geoffrey Howe expressed distaste for the book, he defended Mr. Rushdie's right under British law and custom to write it. Muslims in Britain have been divided by the affair. They demonstrated against the book in several cities late last year, but they say British news organizations began paying attention to their objections only after the book was publicly burned. Dr. Siddiqui said book-burning was not on the program for Saturday's demonstration. He and other Muslims who participated in the 53-minute courtroom-style program, ''A Satanic Scenario,'' to be broadcast on Britain's Independent Television Network next Tuesday night, objected to cuts in the three-hour taping session, held April 15, that omitted the Muslim justification for punishment of blasphemy.

On February 21, 1989, Yusuf Islam addressed students at Kingston University in London about his journey to Islam and was asked about the controversy in the Muslim world 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. Newspapers quickly denounced what was seen as Yusuf Islam's support for the assassination of Rushdie and the next day Yusuf released a statement saying that he was not personally encouraging anybody to be a vigilante, and that he was only stating that blasphemy is a capital offense according to the Qur'an. However on March 8, 1989, while speaking in London's Regents Park Mosque, Yusuf Islam was asked by a Christian Science Monitor reporter how he would cope with the idea of killing a writer for writing a book. He is reported to have replied: In Islam there is a line between let's say freedom and the line which is then transgressed into immorality and irresponsibility and I think as far as this writer is concerned, unfortunately, he has been irresponsible with his freedom of speech. Salman Rushdie or indeed any writer who abuses the prophet, or indeed any prophet, under Islamic law, the sentence for that is actually death. It's got to be seen as a deterrent, so that other people should not commit the same mistake again. Two months later Yusuf Islam appeared on a British television courtroom-style program, Hypotheticals. In the episode, A Satanic Scenario, Stevens/Islam is videoed having this exchange with moderator and Queens Counsel Geoffrey Robertson: Robertson: You don't think that this man deserves to die? Islam: Who, Salman Rushdie? Robertson: Yes. Islam: Yes, yes. Robertson: And do you have a duty to be his executioner? Islam: Uh, no, not necessarily, unless we were in an Islamic state and I was ordered by a judge or by the authority to carry out such an act - perhaps, yes. In a later interview Islam also seemed to reaffirm his earlier comments: [Rather than go to a demonstration to burn an effigy of the author Salman Rushdie] I would have hoped that it'd be the real thing. [If Rushdie turned up at my doorstep looking for help] 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.

The Satanic Verses