Someone who really believes Islam is a religion of peace.

Moez Masoud is a Muslim televangelist, 29, who preaches about Islam in youthful Arabic slang. He says imams who outlawed art and music are misinterpreting their faith. He talks about love and relationships, the need to be compassionate toward homosexuals and tolerant of non-Muslims.

Television preaching in the Middle East was once largely limited to elderly scholars in white robes reading holy texts from behind a desk and sometimes inciting violence against nonbelievers. But as TV has evolved from one or two heavily controlled state channels to hundreds of diverse, private satellite offerings, Masoud and perhaps a dozen others have emerged as increasingly popular alternatives.

Masoud is fast becoming an influential star among youth. And as a product of American-founded schools in the region, Masoud is able to speak with authority about Western values in a way many others can’t. His most recent show, a 20-part series that aired this fall on Iqra, one of the region’s leading religious channels, attracted millions of viewers from Syria to Morocco.

The new Muslim televangelists are riding a satellite TV boom that began after the Persian Gulf War in 1991, when the region’s elites were shocked by the power of CNN. The Middle East now has at least 370 satellite channels, nearly triple the number three years ago. Among them are 27 dedicated to Islamic religious programming, up from five two years ago.

On a recent Monday night in Alexandria, the ancient Mediterranean city on Egypt’s north coast, more than 1,500 people poured into a huge hall to hear Masoud speak. The crowd divided by sex, as is customary in much of the Muslim world. They were mostly in their late teens or 20s, university students or young professionals.

Masoud, tall and trim, wearing corduroy pants and a maroon, open-necked shirt, descended stairs at the back of the stage to loud applause. “Salaam aleikum,” he said, urging his audience to bow their heads for an opening prayer. For the next 90 minutes, Masoud worked the stage like a seasoned performer, his voice rising and then falling to a whisper, mixing Koranic verses with jokes and parables.

“We will be responsible to God on Judgment Day,” he said, arguing that violence against non-Muslims violates God’s will. “He will ask: Did you represent our religion correctly? If you feel happy that non-Muslims are being killed, this is wrong. They are our brothers.”