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.

Tim Collins, the Shadow Education Secretary, said he was extremely concerned about the colleges. “There needs to be an urgent investigation by the Charity Commission, the Department of Education and the Home Office into the exact nature of these institutions, how they came to be sited in the UK and whe-ther their presence threatens peaceful community relations in this country,” he said.

“Islamic education is a perfectly worthwhile activity as long as it is conducted in a way which promotes integration and harmony within British society.”

The Charity Commission disclosed that both colleges have been the subject of official investigations. It has opened an inquiry into the general management and administration of the EIHS, which is located in an 18th-century manor house in Llanybydder, West Wales. The inquiry is focusing on accounting procedures.

Last year the commission ordered the suspension of two trustees of the Islamic Foundation, the charity that established and controls Markfield, after they were linked to extremist organisations. The two men, who do not live in Britain, appeared on the United Nations Security Council list of individuals linked to the Taleban or al-Qaeda.

But the commission was unaware that Professor Ahmad was part of the leadership of Jamaat-e-Islami. Nor did it know of the connection between the EIHS and Dr al-Qaradawi. A commission source said: “This is significant information and bears looking into further.”

The decision by the University of Wales to accredit the EIHS was opposed by Neal Robinson, its Professor of Islamic Studies. “It is an institution with direct links to Dr Yusuf al-Qaradawi, one of the ideological leaders of the Muslim Brotherhood, and I consider it wholly inappropriate for a British university to be associated with it,” he said.

Mawil Izzidien, a trustee of the EIHS, confirmed Dr al-Qaradawi’s role but denied that it posed a threat. “The institute is there to build bridges between Islam and the West, to interpret Islam to fit with the Western understanding of society,” he said.

Dilwar Hussain, of Markfield, said that the college was aware of the potential conflicts arising from the dual roles of Professor Ahmad and Dr Tamimi. He said: “We are happy that the two individuals maintain a strict separation between their private views and outside activities and their work here in the institution.”