Music industry media is reporting that Yusuf Islam, the singer formerly known as Cat Stevens, will be touring Europe for the first time since 1976. According to one report:
Yusuf Islam, the former Cat Stevens, will embark on his first European tour since playing the continent in 1976. Yusuf, who has performed in the U.S., U.K., Malaysia, Australia and New Zealand since the 2009 release of his album “Roadsinger,” starts the 10-city tour in Denmark on May 7. In November to Australia, Yusuf engaged in discussions regarding the production of the musical “Moonshadow” that features music he released as Cat Stevens (“Father and Son,” “Remember the days of the Old Schoolyard,” etc.) in addition to a new score. He performed music from show during his tour of Australia and New Zealand in June. He last visited Europe while on the Majikat Earth Tour. Tickets are going on sale this week.
Yusuf Islam, who changed his name and converted to Islam in 1978, last attracted substantial attention when he was was denied entry to the United States on national security grounds in September 2004. After protests from the foreign office of Great Britain, where Mr. Islam is a citizen, he later returned to the United States to promote his first mainstream pop album in 28 years.
Although Islam is said to have spoken frequently against terrorism, he is closely associated with a number of organizations tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood and/or support for Hamas:
- Islam is a Trustee of the Union of Good, a worldwide coalition of charities headed by global Muslim Brotherhood leader Youssef Qaradawi and which helps to fund raise for Hamas. Islam is also a founder of Muslim Aid, a U.K chairty which is one of the member organizations of the Union of Good and which itself tied to the U.K Muslim Brotherhood
- Islam is chairman and a founder the International Board of Educational Research and Resources (IBERR), an international Islamic educational organization whose trustees are largely tied to the global Muslim Brotherhood.
- Ibrahim Brian Hewitt, a former secretary to Islam, has been associated with both IBERR and Interpal, a British charity that is one of the most important organizations in the Union of Good.
In a January 2007 interview with the New York Times, Islam pointedly refused to condem Hamas, implying that the group “did charity and good to humankind.”
A previous post discussed Islam’s release of a song to raise money for Gaza.