A firebrand Muslim clerk eyed up an island on the border of the United States and Canada to purchase and turn into an Islamic state.
In a video to his 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 claimed asylum in Britain 20 years ago after fleeing his native Kuwait – told his followers during their property search they considered an ‘island located on the border between the United States and Canada.’
However, they were unable to purchase it because they could not afford its $8 million price tag and there was competition to buy the island from a Canadian charity.
Firebrand Muslim clerk Sheikh Yasser al-Habib (pictured), 45, revealed he considered an island on the U.S.-Canada border to turn into his own Islamic state
It is not clear where the exact location of the island al-Habib considered, but controversial figure said they were interested in making Canada their base because the country is ‘generally welcoming’ for immigration.
Al-Habib, who preaches to millions 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, which is one of the Slate Islands, is just over a mile long and has one farmhouse. It is accessible only by private boat from Luing – itself reached via a ferry from the island of Seil, which in turn connects to the mainland via a bridge – and has not been permanently inhabited for more than 50 years.
Sources said that two representatives of al-Habib’s group have visited the island and filmed it as they were shown around.
Sarah Zaaimi, a deputy director for communications at the American think tank Atlantic Council, who has researched al-Habib, said: ‘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.
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 their cause showed a man filming from the Scottish island of Torsa (pictured)
‘It does challenge the notion of sovereignty. It’s puzzling to me how the UK authorities are allowing such a discourse. You are fundraising for the creation of a sovereign country on the margins of another country.’
Encouraging supporters to donate, al-Habib said Torsa will become an Islamic ‘homeland’ which they will create to prepare for the coming of their messiah, known as Mahdi.
Al-Habib has already raised more than $3 million of their $3.5 million goal to purchase the land.
In one three-minute video, al-Habib 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, who is 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.’
The footage switches to images of al-Habib’s ‘army’, called Al-Shurta Al-Khamis, training and doing drills on the grounds of his mosque in Fulmer.
His group plans to build its own school, hospital and mosque on the island of Torsa (pictured), where it intends to practice Sharia law
Al-Habib has repeatedly come to the attention of the authorities since his arrival in the UK in 2004, and the government has tried to shut down his TV channel without success.
In a video broadcast after the attacks in Israel on October 7 last year, al-Habib said: ‘Who among us does not enjoy retaliation of the Zionist enemy? We were all buoyed by this news.’ He did, however, criticize Hamas for desecrating bodies and raping women.
In June 2022, a film called The Lady Of Heaven, written by al-Habib, was pulled from Cineworld cinemas, and some branches of Vue, after hundreds protested against the film.
Protesters accused it of blasphemy as it depicted the Prophet himself, which Islam forbids. The cinema chains stopped showing the film as they feared for the safety of their staff, but critics accused Cineworld and Vue of ‘self-censorship.’
