+1 to that. Music aside, as a counterpoint to what looks like some carefully choreographed character assassination at the beginning of this thread, I'll add th

+1 to that. Music aside, as a counterpoint to what looks like some carefully choreographed character assassination at the beginning of this thread, I'll add that I've been impressed by the calmness of his demeanour and what comes across as an open-hearted mindset, in the interviews I've seen of him (over the years). The whole Rushdie thing was in one of the first big waves of Islamophobic in Europe, where latent prejudices (perhaps on both sides) were laid bare. Thats when I first heard the term "the Muslims are the new Jews of Europe". When geo-politics became enmeshed (Iran, at a time when Iran was being widely prepped as "world most evil actor" by mainstream press), then positions on all sides became entrenched. Not that I have any right to put words in his mouth, but I'm guessing thats something Yusuf Islam also fell into. Certainly his stance on that doesn't jive with everything I've heard him say, on many other topics, since. Whats lost in this current retelling of the tale is how many (Christian) writers condemned Rushdie for what they say as a callous and calculated bid to insult for publicity's sake, and how many (Muslim) imam's went out of their way to condem both Rushdie (for his insults), the fatwa (for its incitement to commit a crime), and offered their own homes as a refuge. All of that probably doesn't come across so clearly to Americans looking at things from afar. Feel free to downvote away, but I just thought I'd a slight measure of context to whats looking like a very one-sided picture.