Tolerance for your fellow man. What a concept!

Love. Mercy. Tolerance. Coexistence. Certainly not the ideas normally attributed to Islamic Clerics. Yet one Egyptian Cleric, who seems to have quite a following, is preaching exactly that. Amr Khaled, an accountant turned televangelist, doesn’t look like your typical Islamic Cleric either. He is known for his stylish suits, his beaming smile, and his welcoming demeanor.

Now, you might expect that someone like Khaled would be somewhat of a controversial figure in the Islamic world, especially fundamental Islam. And that is certainly true. But Khaled has some powerful enemies other than the Ayatollahs. The Egyptian government, for one, doesn’t like this guy. Seems that Khaled’s popularity in Egypt made the government a bit nervous. So they decided to kick him out of the country in 2002.

Khaled and his family proceeded to set up shop in London, and he’s been preaching his message of tolerance ever since. Now, I’m certainly no expert on Islam. Never claimed to be. But I have read bits and pieces of the Koran, and I think this guy has got it right. While the later passages of the Koran preach of waging war against the infidels, the earlier chapters are much more tolerant of one’s fellow man. Sort of the reverse of the Christian Bible – The Old Testament is fire and brimstone, while the New Testament is peace and love.

Khaled has gotten some flak in recent days regarding his attendance at a conference in Copenhagen, Denmark on March 9th between European and Muslim leaders. The controversy over his trip was related to the earlier publication of cartoons depicting the prophet Mohammed in an unflattering light. The cartoons were first published in a Danish newspaper, and their publication triggered a wave of violence against western interests in the Middle East and elsewhere.

This week, Khaled is attending a conference in Bahrain to discuss the response to the publication of the cartoons. The conference is organized by one of Khaled's most vocal critics, hard-line Sheik Youssef el-Qaradawi. True to his form, Khaled has advocated tolerance and restraint in the reaction to the cartoons in the Muslim world. And true to their form, Islamic fundamentalists have slammed him for it every chance they get.

But Khaled has never been dissuaded from his mission to bring the Middle East a little closer to the west. He is quoted by the AP as saying: "For the past three years, with youth across the Islamic world, we've been working for a faith-based renaissance in this region, which will not take place by clashes but by coexistence.” Regarding his opposition: “An initiative by definition is something new, and I represent a school that has opposing schools of thought". Sounds like this guy actually practices what he preaches. Tolerance. Even for his vocal critics.

Jews. Christians. Muslims. In the end, no matter how you slice it, we are all the children of Abraham, and we are all God’s children. It shouldn’t matter whether you call Him Allah, Yahweh, or Jehovah. We are all in this thing together. Amr Khaled seems to understand that. Now we just need the rest of the world to figure it out.