A Muslim agitator has set his sights on an island on the US-Canada border to buy and turn into an Islamic state.
In a video to followers, Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, 45, an extremist scholar who already runs military-style training camps, revealed he is in advanced talks to buy an island off the west coast of Scotland.
His group plans to build its own school, hospital and mosque on the island, where it intends to practice Sharia law.
Al-Habib, who sought asylum in Britain 20 years ago after fleeing his native Kuwait, told his followers that when searching for his property they were looking at an “island situated on the border between the United States and Canada”.
However, they were unable to buy it because they could not afford its $8 million price tag and there was competition to buy the island from a Canadian charity.
Sheikh Yasser al-Habib (pictured), a 45-year-old Muslim cleric and activist, revealed he considered turning an island on the US-Canada border into his own Islamic state
It is unclear what the exact location of the island al-Habib was considering is, but the controversial figure said they were interested in making Canada their base because the country “is generally welcoming” to immigration.
Al-Habib, who preaches to millions of people online from his “global headquarters” in the picturesque village of Fulmer in south Buckinghamshire, England, has now set his sights on the uninhabited Scottish island of Torsa.
Torsa, one of the Slate Islands, is just over a mile long and features a cottage. It is only accessible by private boat from Luing (reached by ferry from the island of Seil, which is connected to the mainland by a bridge) and has not been permanently inhabited for over 50 years.
The sources said two representatives of al-Habib’s group visited the island and filmed it while showing it around.
Sarah Zaaimi, deputy communications director at the US think tank Atlantic Council, which has researched Al Habib, said: “They will have their own army, their own justice system, they will run their own schools and hospitals, and people from all over the world will be able to immigrate to this homeland.”
Al-Habib is an extremist scholar who already runs military-style training camps and is now in advanced talks to buy an island off the west coast of Scotland.
A video encouraging al-Habib’s supporters to donate to his cause shows a man filming from the Scottish island of Torsa (pictured)
“This calls into question the very notion of sovereignty. I find it disconcerting that the UK authorities would allow such talk. This is about raising funds for the creation of a sovereign country outside of another country.”
Encouraging his followers to make donations, al-Habib said Torsa will become an Islamic “homeland” that they will create to prepare for the arrival of their messiah, known as Mahdi.
Al-Habib has already raised more than $3 million of his $3.5 million goal to purchase the land.
In a three-minute video, al-Habib said: “If you want to live freely under the flag of the Imam (Shia leader), in a special homeland where you feel that everything in it reminds you of the long-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 big mosque, a school and a hawza (Shia seminary). We want this place to be the homeland of the Shias and the believers.”
The footage switches to images of al-Habib’s “army”, called Al-Shurta Al-Khamis, training and exercising on the grounds of his mosque in Fulmer.
His group plans to build its own school, hospital and mosque on Torsa Island (pictured), where it intends to practice Sharia law.
Al-Habib has repeatedly drawn the attention of the authorities since his arrival in the UK in 2004, and the government has tried unsuccessfully to shut down his television channel.
In a video released after the October 7 attacks in Israel last year, Al-Habib said: “Who among us does not enjoy the retaliation of the Zionist enemy? We are all encouraged by this news.” However, he criticised Hamas for desecrating corpses and raping women.
In June 2022, a film called The Lady in the Sky, written by al-Habib, was pulled from Cineworld cinemas and some Vue branches, after hundreds of people protested against the film.
Protesters accused it of blasphemy because it depicted the prophet himself, something Islam forbids. Cinema chains stopped showing the film because they feared for the safety of their staff, but critics accused Cineworld and Vue of “self-censorship”.