Humza Yousaf sworn in as Scotland’s first Muslim leader. Who’s he?

Humza Yousaf has been sworn in as leader of the Scottish National Party (SNP), becoming the first Muslim and the youngest person to take the seat and lead the European country.

He succeeds Nicola Sturgeon who resigned after leading the country for eight years as first minister.

Mr Yousaf was sworn by the Scottish Parliament on Wednesday following his election on Monday.

The 37-year-old pledged an oath of allegiance to King Charles. He has said he wants to replace the monarchy with an elected head of state.

Here are key things to know about Mr Yousaf.

• Yousaf is a Glasgow native. His grandparents emigrated from Pakistan in the 1960s.
• Although his mother was born into a South Asian family in Kenya, his father, Muzzaffar Yousaf, was born in Punjab, Pakistan.
• Mr Yousaf did his primary education at Mearns Primary School and was later privately educated at Hutchesons’ Grammar School. Despite his parent’s preference love for medicine, accounting and law as careers for him, he chose to study politics. He was active in student politics and was president of the University of Glasgow Muslim Students Association. He graduated in 2007 with a Master’s degree in Arts.

• He was the volunteer media spokesperson for the charity Islamic Relief. While studying at the university in 2007, he joined the Scottish National Party where he extensively campaigned for the parliamentary elections which resulted in the first SNP government in the country and his first job in the Scottish parliament.
• He was appointed to the Scottish government at the age of 26. He took the role of Minister for Europe and International Development and he became the first from ethnic minority background to occupy such a position.
• Mr Yousaf’s first marriage with Gail Lythgoe, a Scotland National Party (SNP) worker, lasted six years, from 2010 to 2016.
  In 2019, he married a psychotherapist, Nadia El-Nakla. He has one child and a stepchild presently.
• In 2021, he and his wife filed a complaint against a nursery, claiming it refused to give their 2-year-old daughter a spot because she has a Muslim-sounding name. They dropped the complaint earlier this year.
• On September 5, 2012, he was appointed as Minister of External Affairs and International Development by the then first minister Alex Salmond. Mr Yousaf was promoted in 2018, as the Cabinet Secretary for Justice by Nicola Sturgeon. Since 2021, he has been serving as the Cabinet Secretary for Health and Social Care till date.
• While being sworn into Parliament in 2016, he gave his oath of office first in English and then in Urdu, while wearing a kilt.
• He is aligned with Sturgeon on a number of progressive policy stances, including support for same-sex marriage and additional protections for transgender people.
• He has said he wants Scotland to be its own republic and to return to the European Union, saying “Scotland is a European nation.”
• Mr Yousaf served as Scotland’s health secretary before his present position, and before that was the country’s justice secretary. He made history as Scotland’s first South Asian and first Muslim cabinet secretary.
• During his campaign, Mr Yousaf said apart from delivering independence for his people, he will accelerate the extension of free childcare to one and two-year-olds and that will make him spend about £100 million on this in the next financial year.
• He also promised to work with the Scottish Football Association (SFA) to ensure that young football lovers from low backgrounds in the country can access free football club membership.