A notorious Muslim scholar sparked controversy after reports claimed that he and his followers are planning to purchase a remote Scottish island to set up their community where they can practice Sharia law.
'ISLAMIC STATE' - Hate cleric ‘raises’ to buy Scots island & transform it into ‘Islamic homeland’ with military-style training camps
Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, 45 is in talks to buy the isle of Torsa, in Argyll for million.https://t.co/cQE9mX8ojG— FactFromFiction (@ACEGIK1476) July 28, 2024
Many Scots and British people are concerned after 45-year-old Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, a Shia scholar originally from Kuwait, and his organization, the Mahdi (Messiah in Islam) Servants Union, are reportedly in advanced talks to buy the remote island of Torsa in Argyll and Bute in Scotland for £3 million.
The firebrand Islamist scholar, who is already infamous for running military-style training camps, hopes that his organization can build its school, mosque, and hospital on the mile-long island, where they intend to practice Sharia law to prepare for their upcoming Mahdi (or Messiah).
In a video encouraging his followers to donate towards their £3.5 million target, al-Habib said he wants Muslims “from all over the world” to be given visas so that they could come and live in their new “homeland.”
CULT
— Kosher(@KosherCockney) July 28, 2024
Al-Habib has been fundraising for the project through his controversial satellite channel Fadak TV, which has been running for several years from a £2 million converted church hall in Buckinghamshire.
In a three-minute video broadcasted by Fadak TV, al-Habib urged his supporters to support the project and said, “If you want to live free under the banner of the imam [Shia leader], in a special homeland where you feel everything in it reminds you of the awaited Mahdi, everything is the Shia homeland support this project.”
In the same video, another man filming from Torsa said: “Here, my brothers, God willing, we want to build a large mosque, a school, and a hawza [Shia seminary]. We want this place to be a homeland to the Shias and the believers.”
In the northern Scotland we have to work hard to survive. Life isn't easy. That's the reason places at our latitudes are not highly populated and certainly not with Muslims. They thrive in places where they don't have to work hard to survive. (But it would be fun to watch them)
— Egg Man (@MeMints) July 28, 2024
Al-Habib’s project raised some concerns among locals. Speaking to the British newspaper The Daily Mail, a resident living on the nearby island of Luing, west of Argyll, said: “I’m not sure the Women’s Institute are going to stand for this. We’d welcome just about anyone, but this doesn’t seem appropriate.”
Sarah Zaaimi, a deputy director for communications at the Atlantic Council, who researched al-Habib and his group, also told the newspaper that “They will have their own army, their own justice system, they will manage their own schools and hospitals, and people from around the world will be able to migrate to this homeland.”
“It’s puzzling to me how the UK authorities are allowing such a discourse,” Zaaimi added.
As the plans to sell the remote island, which also contains two smaller adjoining islets, was met with furious opposition from the locals, the owner of Torsa has reportedly no longer agreed to sell the tiny Scottish island to al-Habib and will unlikely be sold to any party who would be perceived to be a bad fit with the local community.
Sink it now
— Jez Gamble (@GambleJez) July 28, 2024
However, estate agent Savills, the company handling the sale of Torsa, said the island is still on the market.
“Scottish private islands rarely come to the market and, as such, attract high levels of interest. Torsa, surrounded by beautiful west coast scenery and sheltered sailing waters, continues to receive interest from all over the world and remains available,” a spokesperson for Savills said.
Al-Habib has repeatedly come to the attention of the British government since he arrived in the UK in 2004 after fleeing Kuwait, where he spent three months in prison for insulting Sunni Islam. The cleric has been accused of stirring up sectarian hatred and conflict not just in the United Kingdom but throughout the Muslim and Arab world. The government has also tried to shut down Fadak TV, which has been repeatedly used to incite hatred against Sunni Islam, without any success.
