Federal officials said authorities believe donations from Islam may have helped fund Omar Abdel-Rahman, the blind cleric who was convicted for the 1993 World Trade Center bombing, and Hamas, a Palestinian militant group that the U.S. and Israeli governments consider a terrorist organization.
In July 2000, Islam was deported hours after arriving in Jerusalem. A local paper reported then that the government claimed he had delivered tens of
thousands of dollars to Hamas during a 1988 visit.
Islam denied ever knowingly supporting terrorists.
On Wednesday, Islam's brother said the singer who
changed his name after converting to Islam more than a quarter-century ago, does not associate with possible terrorists.
"It's not true," the brother and business manager, David Gordon, said. "His only work, his only mind-set, is humanitarian causes. He just wants to be an ambassador for peace."
Islam has made several trips to the United States in recent years, including one in May for a
charity event and to promote a DVD of his 1976 MajiKat tour. He donated half the royalties from his most recent boxed set to the Sept. 11 Fund to help victims of the attacks on the World Trade Center and Pentagon.
Islam was born Stephen Georgiou. He took Cat Stevens as a stage name and had a string of hits in the 1960s and '70s, including "Wild World," "Morning Has Broken," "Peace Train" and "Moonshadow."
He changed his name and abandoned his music career in the late 1970s after being persuaded by orthodox Muslim teachers that his lifestyle was forbidden by Islamic law. He later became a teacher and advocate for his religion. He founded a Muslim school in London in 1983.
He drew negative attention in the late 1980s when he supported the Ayatollah Khomeini's death sentence against Salman Rushdie, author of "The Satanic Verses."
His brother said Islam did not actually support the death decree, but was misunderstood.
This idiot was a free rock and roller until he flipped to Islam...... he left his music behind? Brainwashed Cat does not have nine lives. He's done.
You can't throw money at the US and expect them to forget your past.
Could be mistaken....
