Tuesday, December 07, 2010

Superstar Muslim Preacher Amr Khaled Battles Al-Qaeda

BBC: President Ali Abdullah Saleh does not give many interviews at the moment. The man who has governed Yemen for 32 years is fed up with the press characterising the country as a "cradle of terrorism".

But for Amr Khaled he was willing to make an exception. The Egyptian Muslim televangelist is, in the words of the president a "good guy", but there is of course more to it than that - in the Middle East Amr Khaled is like a rock star.

Dubbed "The Billy Graham of Islam" by Time Magazine, his television shows get more viewers than Oprah Winfrey, his videos have racked up 26m hits on YouTube, and he boasts two million friends on Facebook.

He is a sharp-suited, smooth-talking whirlwind of progressive Islam, preaching co-existence with the West while telling Muslims how to mix their faith with the modern world.

He is not even an imam, but a former accountant for multinational auditors KPMG. (+ videos) >>> | Tuesday, December 07, 2010