A CONTROVERSIAL Muslim cleric plans to buy a remote Scots island and turn it into his own ‘Islamic State’.
Reports yesterday claimed Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, 45 and his followers called the Mahdi [Messiah] Servants Union are in advanced talks to buy the isle of Torsa, in Argyll for £3million.
The firebrand scholar – who already runs military-style training camps – hopes his organisation can build its own school, hospital and mosque on the mile-long island, where it intends to practise sharia law in preparation for the coming of their messiah.
In a video encouraging supporters to donate towards their £3.5million target, the cleric says he wants Muslims ‘from all over the world’ to be given a visa in order for them to live in their new ‘homeland’.
Al-Habib has been accused of stirring up sectarian hatred in Britain and in the Arab world between Shias and rival Sunni Muslims.
He has been fundraising through his controversial satellite channel Fadak TV, which he has run for several years from a £2million converted church hall in Buckinghamshire.
In one three-minute video on his TV station Fadak TV, al-Habib says: “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, who is filming from Torsa, says: “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.”
Despite repeated warnings from the regulator Ofcom, al-Habib has been permitted to continue broadcasting his lectures, spreading hate and inciting violence towards those from the Sunni faith at home and abroad.
One resident on nearby island Luing told the Mail on Sunday: “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.”
Al-Habib has repeatedly come to the attention of the authorities since his arrival in the UK in 2004, and MPs have tried to shut down his TV channel without success.
In one of his speeches, al-Habib called former Home Secretary Suella Braverman an ‘animal’ after she said she may impose restrictions on pro-Gaza marches.
Sarah Zaaimi, a deputy director for communications at the American think tank Atlantic Council, who has researched al-Habib, told the paper: “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.”
Khalid Mahmood, the former Labour MP for Birmingham Perry Barr, said: “This man has constantly attacked people of the Sunni faith with Fadak TV, which should not be allowed.
“If a far-Right group did this, there would be action against it, and so Ofcom should take action against him.
“I want his channel closed down.”
Al-Habib did not comment.
