David Cameron intends to confront King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia today about the torrent of Saudi-sponsored extremist literature that is available in British mosques, The Times has learnt.

The Conservative leader will ask the Saudi King to curb the export of fundamentalist religious ideology in books and pamphlets that advocate the suppression of women’s rights, hatred for non-Muslims and the execution of lapsed Muslims.

His intervention will further destabilise the course of the Saudi state visit, which started badly when King Abdullah criticised Britain’s record on fighting al-Qaeda terrorism.

Mr Cameron will point to a study by the Policy Exchange think-tank that found extremist Saudi material at mosques in London, Edinburgh, Birmingham and Manchester. He will also refer to a report by Dame Pauline Neville-Jones, his security adviser, that highlighted the problem of the spread of Saudi fundamentalism. She said in July that the Saudi Government had cracked down on al-Qaeda but “has not yet stopped its religious establishment from exporting extremism, intolerance and Wahhabi ideology across the world”.

Courting compromise for the sake of stability

Britain has the unenviable role, at the US’s urging, of trying to sound out a compromise with King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia

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A spokesman for Mr Cameron said: “We will be discussing our cooperation on counter-terrorism issues across the board.”

Many of the publications that were found by the think-tank during its year-long study of extremist literature in mainstream mosques were produced by Saudi government ministries. Four pamphlets, published by the Ministry for Islamic Affairs, were presented to British Muslims in 1998 by King Fahd, the predecessor of the present monarch. They were produced in large numbers and marked “to be distributed free, not for sale”.

A ministry pamphlet entitled Correct Beliefs and What Opposes Them was found at a number of mosques and stated that Muslims who deserted their faith should be killed. A key passage stated: “The scholars have mentioned that a person may become apostate for many reasons which can nullify his faith. These reasons would make someone’s blood permissible to spill and his wealth permissible to be usurped because he is no longer a Muslim.”

Another Saudi pamphlet, entitled Warnings Regarding Laws Relating to Believing Women, attacks women who seek work outside the home.

The pamphlets have come to light as the Government prepares to enlist Muslim women to play a bigger role in isolating violent extremism within their communities. Hazel Blears, the Communities Secretary, will announce today the creation of an advisory group as part of a drive to give Muslim women a higher national profile and to allow their voice to be heard alongside that of Muslim men.

Ms Blears will tell a conference in Central London that the Government is to focus on teenagers and young people, the development of mentoring schemes for people aged between 16 and 35 and the huge expansion of work with women and youngsters in local communities.

“I think there has been a serious lack of strong, positive role models for both Muslim men and women. I think women’s voices are heard in the family but have not been heard in public as much as they should,” Ms Blears told The Times.

She added: “Women are impatient on this issue. They are practical and realistic. They have huge influence inside the family and I just don’t think they have been able to exercise that influence in the way they should.”

In her first big speech on tackling violent extremists, Ms Blears will say that they have moved from the mosques to gyms, cafés and snooker halls. She will add that extremists are using new media to put across slick and seductive messages aimed at men aged 16 to 35.

“This challenge will be with us for years to come and we must do more to support the next generation in winning it. That is why we will be putting work with young people and Muslim women centre stage, giving the silent majority a voice,” she will say at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre in Westminster.

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