This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2007. This dataset mainly contains the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., among other authors on topics related to Muslim- Christian relations and interfaith dialogue. Additionally, this dataset features certain reports related to the Christian faith in Egypt, Monastic life and Coptic traditions.
Some of the articles address the media coverage of Muslim-Christian incidents and sectarian tensions, and how biased media reporting can often exacerbate existing tensions between groups. These articles feature a number of interviews conducted by Arab West Report with prominent social figures and scholars.
Additionally, reports from this dataset discuss conversion cases and interfaith meetings that were held at the time. This dataset also contains media critique from Arab West Report Editor-in-Chief Cornelis Hulsman, Drs.
Some of the themes that characterize this dataset include:
- Authors report on their trip to see the celebration of the Holy Family crossing the Nile River in a village in Upper Egypt. They reflect on their experiences and the need to improve dialogue between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.
- An overview of a forum organized by the Center for Civilizational Studies and Dialogue between Cultures at Cairo University to introduce a book written by Father Christian van Nispen, sj, entitled, ‘Christians and Muslims: Brothers before God.’ van Nispen’s principle argument is that both Muslims and Christians worship one and the same God, but according to different understandings.
- Another report highlighted the second conference on bias, entitled: ‘The International Conference for Dialogue between Civilizations and the Different Tracks of Knowledge.’ The 4-day conference, was sponsored by the Program for Civilizational Studies and Dialogue between Cultures at Cairo University, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought.
- The Arab West Report annual report: The Center for Arab-West Understanding presents its annual report for 2006.
Media critique:
- “Minister Of Awqaf Dr. Hamdi Zakzouk Falsely Accused Of Calling For The Death Penalty For Apostates From Islam”: Arab-West Report responds to media claims that Dr. Hamdi Zakzouk called for the death penalty for apostates from Islam.
-In another report, the authors stress that misguided media reporting often only serves to further tensions, particularly in cases of sectarian strife. Another article presents the transcript of a lecture for the Arab Thought Forum. It considers media distortions and mis-representation in the media that only serve to further antagonize Muslim-Christian relations and the perception of Islam / the Arab world in the West. Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., explains the role of the Center for Arab West Understanding, and the importance of constructive, unbiased, and fully researched journalism.
-Hulsman stressed in one of his articles that media frequently manipulate headlines in an effort to present stories in the context they desire. Headlines are also frequently sensationalized in an effort to attract a larger number of readers, but if this also distorts a story this should be questioned. Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., stresses the danger of ignorant media reporting, and the damage that inaccurate fact-checking can cause. He provides a number of examples from various intellectuals, commenting on stories that have been sensationalized in the media, and the negative effects this reporting had on Arab-West relations and on furthering dialogue between the Islamic and Arab world and the West.
Interviews:
-“An interview With Father Basilius About Father Matta Al-Maskin”: Father Basilius discusses the history and theological philosophies of Father Mattá al-Maskīn. The interview is mainly focused on theology and the practices of clergymen.
- An interview with Tarek Heggy at CIDT where Drs. Cornelis Hulsman and staff members discuss sensitive issues throughout the Arab world.
- An interview by AWR/ CIDT interns with Dr. Hala Mustafa, where she comments on her role in the National Democratic Party’s Policies Committee, her opinions on reform in Egypt, critiques the role of Egyptian security, and outlines the necessary steps needed for reform to take effect.
- “Saad Eddin Ibrahim Meets With CIDT Interns To Discuss How Islamists Have Changed”: Saad Eddin Ibrahim, is one of the most outspoken critics of the Egyptian government, who was imprisoned from 2000-2003 for his critique. Saad Eddin Ibrahim is a liberal secularist, but as a result of his strong democratic stance, he defends the rights of all groups in society, including Islamists, to participate in the politics of the country. CIDT-interns met with him for a talk about his life and his views.
-A review of the Annual Anglican-Al Azhar Interfaith Meeting Dialogue held in All-Saints Cathedral which implicitly dealt with dialogue and means of furthering it.
-A report on church response to poverty in Egypt and specifically how this issue is being addressed by the Coptic Orthodox Church in an attempt to alleviate the suffering of Egyptians.
-The following presents an investigative report authored by Mads Akselbo Holm, an intern for Arab-West Report, on the issue of Muslims leaving their faith. This study provides an excellent background to the commotion caused by Muḥammad Ḥijāzī announcing his conversion to Christianity. In addition to that, another article discussed “The Freedom to Change One’s Religion Or Belief”; and another spoke of “Article 18 Of The Universal Declaration Of Human Rights”, indicating that although Egyptian civil law does not prohibit conversion from one religion to another, there are discrepancies in an individual’s ability to convert.
-Debates about freedom of religion and conversion in Egypt focusing on legal cases of conversions, specifically changing one’s religious identity on identification cards.
- A report by Hulsman discussed the state of past and present relations between Muslims and Christians in Egypt. The paper opens by giving information about Pope Shenouda III and the most important incidents that have taken place during his reign. The second half of the paper then looks at specific examples of Christian contributions to Christian-Muslim tensions in contemporary Egypt.
- An article discusses the exaggerated interpretations of some Western Christians about the position of Christians in Egypt.
Authors featured in this dataset are:
Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., Ane Skov Birk, Salmā Ānwar, Drs. Sawsan Jabrah Ayyub Khalil, Katrin Koehler, Christian Fastenrath, Dr. Larry F. Levine, Wisām Muhammad al-Duwīnī, Maria Rezzonico, Mads Akselbo Holm, and Susan Richards-Benson
"}},{"dsDescriptionValue":{"typeName":"dsDescriptionValue","multiple":false,"typeClass":"primitive","value":"All reports are written in English, though some reports feature Arabic text or cite Arabic sources.
Team including job titles:
Sparks, MA M.R. (Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT))
Birk, A.S. (Intern-Center for Arab West Understanding (CAWU))
Anwar, Dr. S. (Intern-Center for Arab West Understanding (CAWU))
Gabra Ayoub Khalil, S. (Centre for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU))
Koehler, K. (Intern-Center for Arab West Understanding (CAWU))
Fastenrath, C. (Intern-Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU))
Levine, Dr. L.F.
Muhammad al-Duwīnī, W. (Intern-Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU))
Rezzonico, M. (Intern-Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU))
Akselbo Holm, M. (Intern-Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU))
Richards-Benson, S. (Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT))
This Thematic Collection contains links to the datasets of the Stichting Arab-West Foundation (AWF), in The Netherlands in close cooperation with the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT). These datasets cover the period 1994-2016. The data consists of the reporting of Dutch sociologist Cornelis Hulsman, reporting supervised by him, full-transcript interviews, audio recordings and summaries of these audio recordings.
The Arab-West Foundation was established in 2005 to support the work of Cornelis Hulsman and his wife Eng. Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Hulsman-Khalil in Egypt. Cornelis Hulsman left The Netherlands for Egypt in October 1994. Sawsan Hulsman followed suit in 1995. They focused primarily on the study of Muslim-Christian relations and the role of religion in society in Egypt and neighboring countries, while obtaining their income from journalism.
The purpose of this work was to foster greater understanding between Muslims and Christians in Egypt and to show non-Egyptians that relations between the two faiths in Egypt cannot be described in reductive black and white terms, rather they are diverse and complicated. Working towards mutual understanding of different cultures and beliefs helps to reduce tensions and conflicts. Too often, parties present themselves as the victim of the other which results in biased reporting. Sometimes this is done deliberately to gain support. What is lacking in cases like this, is an in-depth understanding of the wider context in which narratives of victimization occur. Hulsman found several patterns that are key to understanding Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt such as
- the impact of a culture of honor and shame and
- aversion in traditional areas for visible changes in public (which includes church buildings and making one’s conversion to another religion public).
The datasets also include material on the place of Islamists in society, as well as wider information about Egyptian society since this is the context in which religious numerical minorities in Egypt live (the term minority is widely rejected in Egypt since all Egyptians, regardless of religion, are one. But in terms of numbers Christians are a minority).
It was Hulsman’s ambition to obtain a PhD but the challenges of making a living in Egypt prevented him from accomplishing this goal. Up until the year 2001, Cornelis only had an income from traditional media reporting. After 2004 he became largely dependent upon working with Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), Missio and Misereor (Germany).
Hulsman was dedicated towards non-partisan Muslim-Christian understanding. This began starting with a large number of recorded interviews, followed by research into why so many Christian girls convert to Islam (1995-1996). This work in turn led to the creation of an electronic newsletter called Religious News Service from the Arab World (RNSAW) and a growing number of investigative reports. In 2003 the RNSAW was renamed Arab-West Report. In 2004 they attempted to establish an Egyptian NGO but since no answer was obtained from authorities, the procedure was taken to the Council of State who ruled in 2006 that the request for NGO status was valid. This in turn resulted in a formal registration of the NGO with the Ministry of Social Solidarity in 2007. Because the outcome of this process was insecure in 2005 the Hulsmans established the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT) . CIDT was established as a tawsiya basita (sole proprietorship) on the name of Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil since it was extremely complicated to do this on the name of a non-Egyptian. In the same year friends of the Hulsman family established the Arab-West Foundation (AWF). CIDT tawsiya basita was closed in 2012. A new company was established under the same name but now as limited liability company and again it was not possible for Cornelis Hulsman to become a partner.
As a consequence the Hulsmans have been working since 2005 with an Egyptian company and a Dutch support NGO. Since 2007 they have also been working with an Egyptian NGO. This was important, since Egyptian law prohibits companies from receiving donations and carrying out not-for-profit work. NGOs, on the other hand, need to request permissions from the Ministry of Social Solidarity for each donation they receive. Such permissions are hard to obtain.
CIDT functions as a thinktank with funding from Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), Missio and Misereor (Germany) and at times projects with other organizations. CIDT produces the electronic newsletter Arab-West Report and has built the Arab West Report Database based on these data. Publication of this data is accomplished through the Arab-West Foundation since it turned out to be extremely hard to register Arab-West Report in Egypt. CAWU became the prime organization hosting student interns from Egypt and countries all over the world, which was possible since CAWU does not charge student interns for its services and neither pays them for any work carried out. Student interns have been contributing on a volunteer basis to the database of Arab-West Report, writing articles and papers and being engaged in social media under the supervision of Cornelis Hulsman. Other student interns contributed to summary translations of Arabic media, always supervised by a professional translator of CIDT.
CAWU has been promoting intercultural dialogue through a variety of programs including meetings and forums with community members, religious leaders and politicians from Egypt and the West. CAWU's aim is to bridge the gap of misunderstanding between Arab and Western communities by exposing biased media reporting and informing the public and important persons on complicated issues.
- Availability -
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