Peace Train denied entry
Yusuf Islam, formerly known as Cat Stevens, was on a flight from London to Washington today, when his name turned up on a TSA watch list. The plane was diverted to Bangor, Maine, where Islam was interviewed by Homeland Security officials and "denied entry on national security grounds."
Clearly Mr. Islam is a suspicious character. He's a convert to Islam, has dedicated much of his later life to Muslim education, re-recorded his 1970's hit "Peace Train" last year in protest of the Iraq war, and won 2003's World Social Award.
A spiritually devout peace activist who wins awards for social justice ... if that doesn't scream out terrorist, I don't know what does.
[Via Drudge]
Postscript: Some refer back to Yusuf Islam's "endorsement" of the Fatwa against Salman Rushdie as evidence of his sketchy character. But those comments were taken out of context and well overblown by the media. (Haven't we learned our lesson by now?) He never himself endorsed the Fatwa. Rather, he was asked about the justification of the Fatwa under Muslim law, and he explained its legal basis (e.g. what the Koran says about blasphemy). You might as well accuse a rabbi of endorsing the execution of adulterers after asking him what Talmudic law says about it.
(You can read Islam's defense here. Far be it for a journalist to write a more nuanced article on whether Islam's true views are consistent and on how Western Muslims negotiate the divide between Muslim law and modern civic law. No, far easier simply to accuse the former Cat Stevens of being a religious wacko.)
As for the action taken by the TSA, there wasn't a question of Islam himself being a terrorist or intending to carry out a terrorist attack. He was on the watch list because of his alleged association with some Muslim groups that the DHS finds sketchy. As Steve Smith asks, does that justify diverting the plane to Maine and inconveniencing all of the other passengers?
UPDATE
After reading Juan Cole' s take on the issue, I must admit that if the AP article he quotes indeed gets Islam's position right, then I would change my mind and agree with JC. However, given my skepticism of the media and without a full transcript of Islam's comments, it's hard to be sure. (The "deterrent" referred to in the passage, for example, could be the law against blasphemy itself, not the fatwa against Rushdie. That Muslim law states that blasphemy is punishable by death should serve as a deterrent against blasphemy, even if one does not endorse that as an actual punishment, in the way that the Talmud's law against adultery should serve as a deterrent for Jews, even if one does not endorse capital punishment for adultery.)
Obviously, as a secular liberal, I don't think novelists should have to "repent" for anything they write. However, I can understand how the religious can become angry at acts that seem to blaspheme their religion (e.g. the crucifix in urine). As Islam noted in his defense, England has laws against blaspheming the Church of England, so a similar act by a British citizen against the Church of England would be punishable under the law. Although I prefer to live in a country with no such laws, Islam, as a British citizen, certainly has a right to raise the issue.
11:23:55 PM 
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