Plot To Turn Scottish Island Into an Islamist “Homeland”
1st August 2024
A Shia sect claims to be raising money to buy a remote territory in Scotland, which it would rule under Shia law.
Sheikh Yasser al-Habib and his Mahdi Servants Union (MSU) group are preparing such a bid. The cleric was in advanced talks to buy Torsa, a 270-acre island off the coast of Oban, Western Scotland, reports the Telegraph. To date, nearly £3 million (€3,557,280) of a £3.5 million target has been raised towards this target.
An MSU supporter filmed Torsa and two smaller neighbouring islands. This footage was included in videos posted to his Fadak TV channel, based in Fulmer, Buckinghamshire, in which al-Habib says the island represents an “irreplaceable opportunity” to create a “homeland” for his brand of Shia Islam, administered under his interpretation of Sharia law. Promised new buildings include a Mosque, a hospital, and a hawsa (Shia seminary).