Two Islamic colleges in Britain that train imams for British mosques have received full university accreditation—and they are run by radical Islamists, with unhidden connections to Jamaat-e-Islami and Hamas: British Islam colleges ‘link to terrorism’. (Hat tip: Annie.)

TWO British universities have given their approval to a pair of Islamic colleges with close links to fundamentalist scholars and political movements, The Times can reveal.

Ministers faced calls last night for an inquiry into the apparent connections between the colleges, which train imams for British mosques, and hardline Islamist groups.

The European Institute of Human Sciences (EIHS) and the Markfield Institute of Higher Education are both registered charities and their courses have received university accreditation.

The rector of the college at Markfield, near Leicester — where a new campus was opened by the Prince of Wales last year — is Professor Khurshid Ahmad. He is also vice-president of Jamaat-e-Islami, Pakistan’s largest hardline Islamic party.

Professor Ahmad has publicly praised the Taleban regime in Afghanistan. In an article in July 2003 on his party’s website, he wrote: “All of that area which was controlled by the Taleban had become the cradle of justice and peace.”

Markfield’s courses have been validated by the University of Loughborough and one of its lecturers is Azzam Tamimi, who has declared his support for the Palestinian militant group Hamas.

The EIHS, validated by the University of Wales, teaches courses in Arabic that are influenced by Yusuf al-Qaradawi, the cleric whose visit to Britain this month created a political storm. Dr al-Qaradawi was met by demonstrations of gay rights groups outraged by his denunciation of homosexuality as a disease and calls for him to be deported because of his defence of Palestinian suicide bombers. He chairs the council of scholars that devised the academic programme for the EIHS and its French counterpart.

MEMRI has a revealing selection of quotes from al-Qaradawi, the snake that was invited into Britain’s living room: “There is No Dialogue between Us and the Jews Except by the Sword and the Rifle.”