LGF reader Glen Jenvey emailed an amazing audio recording to me today, featuring Omar Bakri Mohammed (who fled Britain when authorities shut down several of his operations) in an online chat session. In the recording, Bakri tells supporters that Cat Stevens/Yusuf Islam (now calling himself simply Yusuf) was once a frequent visitor to his offices in Britain—and even worse, that Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens was also closely connected to the “Blind Sheikh,” Omar Abdel-Rahman, currently serving a life sentence for plotting terror attacks in the US.

Rusty Shackleford at Jawa Report also got a copy of the audio, and has an informative post: Claim: Cat Stevens Financed Terrorists, Tied to Radical Clerics.

Bakri also claimed that Cat Stevens was an intimate of convicted terrorist Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman. When the Egyptian born cleric, better known as “The Blind Sheikh”, would visit Britain, “Yusuf Islam used to sit near to him and ask him whatever he want [sic].”

Bakri then intimates that Cat Stevens also helped support Abdel Rahman’s family financially. He also claims that Yusuf Islam knowingly sent money to the families of “the mujahidin” in Egypt. Giving money to the families of so-called ‘martyrs’ is a way for Muslims to support terrorism indirectly and yet remain shielded from most legal ramifications.

Sheik Omar Abdel-Rahman is head of the same group that murdered 58 tourists near Luxor, Egypt, and he is currently serving a life sentence in the U.S. for a conspiracy to blow up targets in the United States.

Yusuf Islam was denied entry into the United States in 2004 after his name appeared on the “no fly list”. The Muslim convert sued two British newspapers, The Sun and The Sunday Times, for libel because they had claimed that the U.S. Transportation and Security Administration had correctly identified him as a supporter of terror in the past. The papers settled the lawsuit out of court and apologized to Yusuf Islam.

But the new recordings by Glen Jenvey of Omar Bakri Mohammed call into question the denials made by the artist formerly known as Cat Stevens. In the past, Islam has appeared at numerous fundraisers for the charitable arms of terrorist organizations. At least one of those organizations has been tied to al Qaeda.

When a death fatwa was issued by top Iranian clerics on the head of Salman Rushdie, Islam said that he would turn Rushdie over to the Ayatollah Khomeini or his followers should the author show up on his doorstep. Islam later apologized but has continued his “peace work” by supporting Islamic charities with ties to radical groups and terrorist organizations.

Yusuf Islam has also been invited to perform at this year’s Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

Anyone think this might explain why, in spite of the fact that Atlantic Records is about to issue Yusuf’s new album, he’s barred from entering the United States?

I converted the WMA file of Omar Bakri’s revealing little chat session into an MP3, and you can listen to it by clicking the play button below.

MP3 Audio

UPDATE at 11/11/06 6:48:24 pm:

If you’re getting a playlist of random music, you’re probably using Internet Explorer, the bane of my existence. Install and use Firefox (it’s free! and easy!) and you won’t have any more problems with audio or video at LGF.