Salman Rushdie controversy
Main article: Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie
In 1989 following an address by Yusuf to students at London's Kingston University, where he was asked about the fatwa calling for the killing of Salman Rushdie, author of the novel The Satanic Verses, Yusuf made a series of comments that appeared to show his support for the fatwa. He released a statement the following day denying that he supported vigilantism, and claiming that he had merely recounted the legal Islamic punishment for blasphemy. In a 2006 BBC interview, he displayed a newspaper clipping from that period, with quotes from his statement. Subsequent comments made by him in 1989 on a British television programme were also seen as being in support of the fatwa. In a statement in the FAQ section of one of his websites, Yusuf asserted that while he regretted the comments, he was joking and that the show was improperly edited.[78] In the years since these comments, he has repeatedly denied ever calling for the death of Rushdie or supporting the fatwa.
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