Controversial Muslim cleric trying to set up sharia law ‘homeland’ on Scottish island

A controversial Muslim cleric has announced his intention to build a ‘homeland’ for Muslims everywhere in… Scotland. Specifically, the island of Torsa, off the west of Scotland, which is apparently for sale. Sheikh Yasser al-Habib is currently trying to raise the £3 million ($3.8m) to buy the island and build a de facto sovereign Islamic state, complete with a school, a hospital, a mosque and an army. In a video announcing the conversion of a tiny Scottish island, which currently has a small holiday home on it, Al-Habib said that ‘If you want to live free under the banner of the imam, in a special homeland where you feel everything in it reminds you of the awaited mahdi, everything is the Shia homeland…support this project.’

The natives, however, are less supportive than he might have wished for. Amid conflicting reports of whether the island actually is for sale for the purposes of creating a Scottish caliphate, locals have reacted with extreme negativity, however they have a secret weapon up their sleeve: dour, Scottish bureaucracy. As one local woman told the Daily Mail, ‘I’m not sure the Women’s Institute are going to stand for this.’ Indeed, many locals agree that it’s unlikely the local council will grant planning permission for the building of a small Islamic empire, or even grant permission to build an extension on the holiday home.

Al-Habib amassed his fortune via his controversial satellite television channel Fadak TV, which is sandwiched between the twin British institutions of QVC UK and Babestation. Al-Habib sought asylum in the UK 20 years ago, where he has since made a name for himself by repeatedly insulting Sunni Muslims, and regularly holding ‘military exercises’ in the parking lot of his local mosque.