Cat Stevens' comments about Salman Rushdie to accept the judgment of a British court if it found Rushdie innocent of any crime, blasphemy or otherwise. On 21 February 1989, Yusuf Islam addressed students at Kingston University in London about his conversion to Islam and was asked about the controversy in the Muslim world and the fatwa calling for Salman Rushdie's execution. He replied, "He must be killed. The Qur'an makes it clear – if someone defames the prophet, then he must die." Newspapers quickly denounced what was seen as Yusuf Islam's support for the killing of Rushdie and the next day Yusuf released a statement saying
The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West The Rushdie Affair: The Novel, the Ayatollah, and the West is a book written by historian Daniel Pipes, published in 1990. It focuses on events surrounding "The Satanic Verses". The afterword was written by Koenraad Elst. The first part of the book describes "The Satanic Verses" and Ayatollah Khomeini's edict, explaining why Rushdie's book became a controversy . The second part describes responses to the text and criticizes censorship of the book in some countries. Edward Mortimer, in "The New York Times", called the book "an extremely well-written and clear