He was brought up as a Christian, became a free-thinker at the age of 16 and was a follower of Hinduism for four years before eventually deciding on Islam, converting in 1982.

ISRA had its accounts frozen by the Danish authorities in late 2004 when the American Ministry of Finance erroneously linked it to the organisation Islamic African Relief Agency and allegations of supporting terrorism.

[7][8][9] Afterwards, in 2005 Pedersen was a co-founder of Danish Muslim Aid and for a number of years Secretary General of same organization.

DM-Aid has, among other things, rebuilt more than 500 homes for earthquake stricken people in the Kashmir area of Pakistan during the winter 2005 - 2006.

He is one of the European representatives of the Global Network of Religions for Children and is a board member of the Swedish Islamic Academy.