"Yusuf Islam is perhaps one of the most widely known and respected personalities in the Muslim world. He has a long history of promoting peace and reconciliation and condemning terrorism," said Nihad Awad, executive director of CAIR.
Islam was the second high-profile Muslim in recent months to be barred entry to the United States. Swiss-based Islamic scholar Tariq Ramadan was prevented from taking up a lecturing post at Notre Dame University in Indiana in August after the U.S. authorities revoked his visa with no explanation.
CAIR said treating mainstream and moderate Muslims as terrorists sent the wrong message. "This does not help the war on terrorism, it just makes it harder," Awad told a news conference.
The incident prompted British Foreign Secretary Jack Straw to raise the issue in person with Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) at the United Nations (news - web sites) in New York.
"The foreign secretary raised the Cat Stevens incident with Colin Powell and expressed concern that this action should not have been taken," a British Foreign Office spokeswoman told Reuters in London.
Muslim groups in Britain also decried the deportation of Islam, who heads a trust that oversees Muslim schools in the country.
"This incident comes only to confirm the farcical and ultimately draconian standards and practices exercised by U.S. immigration authorities," said Anas Altikriti, a spokesman for the Muslim Association of Britain.
I hope that this will finally make the Patriot Act a point of debate. It's so easy to say "I am willing to give up some of "my" freedom for the sake of safety," but I have never been asked to. It's just so sad that a figurehead for peace in moderate Islam is being treated like a threat.
It's anti-American and I'm scared that it's going to create so many more problems.
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