Hate cleric with his own ‘army’ raises £3m to create Islamic homeland on Scottish island

From the Mail on Sunday

A firebrand cleric who has been accused of spreading hate has raised more than £3 million to buy a small British island and turn it into his own Islamic state.

The Mail on Sunday can reveal that Sheikh Yasser al-Habib, 45 – who claimed asylum in Britain 20 years ago after fleeing his native Kuwait – and his followers are in advanced talks to buy the remote isle of Torsa, off the west coast of Scotland.

The extremist scholar, who already runs military-style training camps, hopes his organisation can build its own school, hospital and mosque on the island, where it intends to practise sharia law.

In a video encouraging supporters to donate towards their £3.5 million target, the cleric says he will negotiate with the Government to allow Muslims ‘from all over the world’ to be given a visa in order for them to live in their new ‘homeland’.

Residents on the neighbouring island of Luing reacted with concern when The Mail on Sunday revealed his plans to them.

Al-Habib, who is accused of stirring up sectarian hatred in Britain and in the Arab world between Shias and rival Sunni Muslims, has his ‘global headquarters’ in the picturesque village of Fulmer, South Buckinghamshire.

He has been fundraising through his controversial satellite channel Fadak TV, which he has run for several years from a £2 million converted church hall.

Despite repeated warnings from the regulator Ofcom, al-Habib – nicknamed the ‘Mullah of Fulmer’ – has been permitted to continue broadcasting his lectures, spreading hate and inciting violence towards those from the Sunni faith at home and abroad.

The cleric, who preaches only in Arabic, has amassed a huge following among Britain’s 400,000 Shias and millions more across the world.

Now he has set his sights on the uninhabited island of Torsa, in Argyll, where he wants to establish a new ‘homeland’ for his group called the Mahdi [Messiah] Servants Union (MSU).

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 told The MoS that two representatives of the group have visited the island and filmed it as they were shown around.

Al-Habib has since said on Fadak TV that Torsa, which comes with two little adjoining islets, is an ‘irreplaceable opportunity’.

In one three-minute video, 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.’ The footage switches to images of al-Habib’s ‘army’, called Al-Shurta Al-Khamis, training and doing drills in the grounds of his mosque in Fulmer.

One Luing resident said: ‘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’, adding that locals had been joking that singer Taylor Swift might buy Torsa.