This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2004.
This dataset mainly contains the writings of Cornelis Hulsman ,Drs., among other authors on topics related to Muslim- Christian relations and interfaith dialogue between the West and Islamic world. Additionally this dataset contains reports pertaining to certain Muslim –Christian incidents and reports about allegations of forced conversions of Coptic girls. Some of the articles addressed the issue of missionaries.
Further reports address monastic life and recommendations of Arab-West Report's work by other social figures.
Furthermore, the dataset included commentary on published material from other sources (reviews/critique of articles from other media).
Some of the themes that characterized this dataset:
-A description of the history of the conflicts around the development of the convent of Patmos on the Cairo-Suez road.
-An overview of a book titled “Christians versus Muslims in Modern Egypt: The Century-Long Struggle for Coptic Equality” by S. S. Hasan.
- Rumors of forced conversions Of Coptic girls: A report by Hulsman stated that the US Copts Association published a press release on March 25, 2004 with the title “Coptic Pope Denounces Forced Conversion of Coptic Girls.” He criticized that the US Copts Association for not making much of an effort, if any, to check the veracity of the rumors.
- A Glimpse into Monastic Life in Egypt: A Visit to St. Maqarius Monastery:
- Another report covered the incident in which a priest and two members of the church board of Taha al-ʿAmeda died after an accident with a speeding car driven by a police officer.
- A critique of Al-Usbuʿa newspapers: the author accused the newspaper of cherry-picking statements by Coptic extremists, who are much disliked in the US Coptic community and who have no following. He considered that quoting statements from such isolated radicals gives readers the impression that they represent much more than a few individuals. It has all appearance that al-Usbuʿa has highlighted these radicals to create fear and harm the reputation of US Copts in Egypt.
- A number of reports highlighted a visit and the speech delivered by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr George Carey (Lord Carey) at the Azhar entitled “Muslims/Christian Relationships: A New Age Of Hope?”
- A report covered the first visit made by Archbishop Rowan Williams to the Diocese of Egypt since he became the Archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop met with President Mubarak, Dr. Muhammad Sayyed Tantawi, the Grand Imam of the Azhar, Pope Shenouda and also laid the foundation stone of Harpur Community Health Centre in Sadat City.
- Updates on the developments of AWR’s work to create an electronic archive of information pertaining to relations between Muslims and Christians in the Arab-World in general and Egypt in particular.
Additionally, this dataset also provides updates of the then-under construction - Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU) web-based Electronic Documentation Center (EDC) for contemporary information covering Arab-West and Muslim-Christian relations.
- A report discussed the misconceptions of Christians in Islam.
- An editorial commenting on the assassination of Theo van Gogh resulted in a debate in Dutch media about the limits of the freedom of expression.
- An article calling on the western readers to be careful with Christian persecution stories from Egypt, they may be true but also may be rumours.
-The Muslim World And The West; What Can Be Done To Reduce Tensions?
-Text of a lecture for students and professors of different faculties at the University of Copenhagen, , about plans to establish the Center for Arab-West Understanding in Cairo, Egypt.
- Escalations following the alleged conversion of A priest’s wife to Islam
The list of authors’ featurd in this dataset goes as follows:
Cornelis Hulsman, Drs. , Wolfram Reiss, Rev. Dr. , John H. Watson, Kim Kwang-Chan, Dr. , Kamal Abu al-Majd, Fiona McCallum, Mary Picard , Jeff Adams, Dr., Rev., Jennie Marshall , Marcos Emil Mikhael, Usamah W. al-Ahwani, Sawsan Jabrah and Nirmin Fawzi, Hānī Labīb, George Carey (Lord), Rowan Williams, Lambeth Palace Press Office, H.G. Bishop Munir Hanna Anis Armanius, Eildert Mulder, Rīhām Saʿīd, Tharwat al-Kharabāwī, Geir Valle, Janique Blattman, Iqbal Barakah , Munā ʿUmar, Dieter Tewes, ʿAmr Asʿad Khalīl, Dr., Janique Blattmann, Vera Milackova, Tamir Shukri, and Christiane Paulus
All reports are written in English, though some reports feature Arabic text or cite Arabic sources.
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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 -
AWF's datasets are available to researchers upon request. Please go to the dataset you wish to download and request permission via the button 'Request Permission' on the tab 'Datafiles'. AWF will respond to your request.