Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), as quoted in "Yussuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens, Expresses Support For Rushdie Death Sentence" in The Christian Science Monitor (1989)
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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.

— Cat Stevens on Salman Rushdie

What It Means

This is a placeholder explanation generated by the low-overhead model. It interprets "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." in the context of "Cat Stevens (Yusuf Islam), as quoted in "Yussuf Islam, Formerly Cat Stevens, Expresses Support For Rushdie Death Sentence" in The Christian Science Monitor (1989)" to mean that wisdom is timeless.

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Source: Wikiquote: "Salman Rushdie" (Quotes about Rushdie: In alphabetical order by author or source.) The 'What it means' explanation text was generated by Google Gemini Flash (accessed January 18, 2026). https://gemini.google.com/app
Cat Stevens

About Cat Stevens

Yusuf Islam (born Steven Demetre Georgiou on 21 July 1948), also known by his stage names Cat Stevens and Yusuf, is an English musician, singer-songwriter, multi-instrumentalist, educator, philanthropist and convert to Islam.