Aril Edvardsen was a proponent of reconciliation between Christians and Muslims, and in 2004 directed heavy criticism against Carl I. Hagen, then leader of the Progress Party, for Hagen's derisive comments against the prophet Muhammad.
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He died 6 September 2008, in Mombasa, Kenya, where he was vacationing with his wife after a missionary campaign in Zanzibar, Tanzania.