On 27th March 2023, Pakistan-origin Hamza Yousaf became Scotland’s First Minister.  Surprisingly though, an occasion which should ordinarily have brought jubilance and celebration has instead created a clear division within the Muslim community.  The radical Islamic Twitter is up in arms about the audacity of Yousaf at trying to normalise homosexuality, which is declared as a sin punishable by death in the scripture.  In an interview to SKY TV, Yousaf had stated that although he does not deny that the scripture mentions homosexuality as a sin, he does not plan “to make personal faith the basis of legislation.”  This was enough for self-declared public speaker Muhammad Hijab, who quotes Quranic verses on homosexuality.

Hijab declares Yousaf a coward for being selective, and accuses him of demonstrating ‘kufr’ or apostasy.  Islam and its ardent followers condemn anyone who attempt to critique or negate any and all of its teachings.  In other words, a good Muslim is one who holds a staunch and non compromising attitude on scripture.  By declaring homosexuality ‘not a sin’ Yousaf has defied from the teachings of Islam.  In his words, you cannot be a Muslim and say this at the same time.  Hijab goes as far as calling Yousaf a coward, a Kafir and declares him excommunicated from Islam.


In saying all this, Muhammad Hijab is absolutely on point, because no human can interfere with the scripture as it is the word of Allah, and any adulation, denial or oversight will result in ex communication.

“Then do you believe in a part of the Scripture and reject the rest? Then what is the recompense of those who do so among you, except disgrace in the life of this world, and on the Day of Resurrection they shall be consigned to the most grievous torment. And Allah is not unaware of what you do.” 2:85 Quran

The criticism revolves around the fact that Hamza Yousaf chose to show himself and his family reading Namaz in his new official residence and appears to have no qualms about keeping Roza, but denies to give the same importance to homosexuality.

Another Islamic Twitter handle followed by thousands of believers, that of Daniel Haqiqatjou has condemned Muslims who are celebrating the occasion by declaring:

“Even if Humza Yousaf cursed the Quran and denounced the Prophet, you would still have these juhhal (illiterate) and munafiqin (hypocrite, false Muslim) defending him with dOnT bE bLaCk aNd WhITe oMg yOu dOnT kNoW wHaTs iN hIs HeArT nEvEr tAkFir.”

Roshan M Saleh is another social media influencer, who has condemned the act of Yousaf and is asking that he “pause for reflection as this could be a personal calamity for him spiritually-speaking”

One cannot imagine what kind of uproar there will be in the faithful community if Yousaf decides to stick to his commitment of “removing abortion from the criminal law”.  Currently, abortion is a crime under common law in Scotland.  Just for clarity, abortion is considered unlawful and a major sin (HARAM) in Islam regardless of the stage of pregnancy.

If being condemned by half of his community was not enough, Humza Yousaf is also under the magnifying glass for his association with Hamas.  According to an article published in the Jewish Chronicle of the United Kingdom, Yousaf met with a senior commander of the HAMAS (Mohammed Sawalha) who is also known to the world as Abu Odaba on March 2,2023.  Sawalha currently resides in London. He fled to Britain from the West Bank in 1990, where he was the military chief of Hamas.  He is associated with numerous questionable charities.  Yousaf has openly been a sympathiser of Palestine as an independent state earlier on his life, and he has not clarified his stand on the matter currently.

It seems that for now, Yousaf wants to focus on evading all uncomfortable questions thrown his way by his own community as well as his opponents.  He portrays himself as a moderate Muslim, with a non-Hijab observing wife, a person who will wear selective rituals of his religion on his sleeve.  For those who know a little bit more about Islam, all of this comes under the category of Taqiya (Islamic lying for the greater good).

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