Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, a 45-year-old Muslim cleric, is reportedly in advanced talks to buy the isle of Torsa, off the west coast of Scotland. He hopes his organisation can build schools, hospitals and mosques on the island in order to practise sharia law – turning it into his own ‘Islamic State’, The Mail reported on Sunday. His followers are called the Mahdi [Messiah] Servants Union.
The mile-long island has been uninhabited for 85 years and is located in the Slate Isles. Last year, Savills advertised it for £1.5 million. It is accessible only by sea using a private boat from the neighbouring island of Luing, which is reached via a ferry from the island of Seil.
Reports have said that the Muslim scholar, who already runs military-style training camps, has raised more than £3 million to buy a small Scottish island and allow Muslims “from all over the world” to get a visa and live in their new “homeland”.
As quoted by local reports, al-Habib said in a video: “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.”
Another man, who’s filming from Torsa, can be heard saying in the same video: “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.”
The extremist academic fled Kuwait and claimed asylum in the United Kingdom around 20 years ago. Fulmer, a little village in South Buckinghamshire, is home to his “global headquarters”.
Al-Habib, known as the “Mullah of Fulmer,” is charged with inciting sectarian hatred in the UK and in the Arab world between Shias and rival Sunni Muslims.
The report mentioned that al-Habib has been raising money via his contentious satellite station, Fadak TV, which has been operating out of a converted church hall for several years.
Several MPs have called to shut down the station. Ofcom, the regulatory authority for the broadcasting, telecommunications and postal industries of the UK, raised objections over attacks on people of the Sunni faith.
However, despite repeated warnings, al-Habib has continued his lectures, spreading hate toward the Sunni faith across the world.
(With inputs from agencies)
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