ʿEīd Mubārak - DAB Quarterly Overview
After a little suspense, it was finally announced that the holiday which marks the end of the month of Ramaḍān, ʿEīd al-Fiṭr, will begin Monday morning in Egypt. Today is the last day of fasting. Because of the holiday, many sectors of the country will not resume regular working hours until Thursday. On Saturday, I was privileged to join a delegation from the Anglican/Episcopal Church in Egypt, led by Archbishop Samī Fawzī and Archbishop Emeritus Mouneer Anis, on a visit to the Grand Mufti of Egypt, H.E. Dr. Naẓīr ʿAyyād, in order to deliver greetings for the holiday.
(During the meeting, there was a lively conversation about how the end of Ramaḍān and the start of ʿEīd al-Fiṭr is determined by Islamic authorities.)
At the same time, our database editor and intern coordintor, Luka Renic, took the opporunity to visit St. Catherine's Monastery, often considered among the oldest continusly inhabited Christian monasteries in the world. Built at the foot of the traditional location of Mt. Sinai, the monastery is named after Catherine of Alexandria, who is believed to have been a Christian from the Egyptian coastal city who was martyred for her faith by the Roman Emperor Maxentius (d.312 CE).
(St. Catherine’s Monastery in the heart of the Sinai peninsula.)
As the ʿEīd break officially begins, we especially wish all our Muslim readers a warm holiday with family and friends.
Finally, please take a quick look below for an overview of our first quarter in 2025. It has been a rich beginning to the year and we remain grateful to be involved in the work of promoting interreligious and intercultural understanding in a complicated and polarized world.
Matthew Anderson
Director - Center for Arab-West Understanding
Executive Editor - Dialogue Across Borders (Brill)
March 30, 2025
January 7, 2025
On January 7th, the Orthodox Christian world celebrates Christmas, and Dialogue Across Borders extends warm wishes to its 300 million adherents. Reflecting on 2024, the The Center for Arab-West Understanding/Dialogue Across Borders expresses gratitude for its contributions to improving interreligious and intercultural relations and promoting constructive dialogue amid prevalent stereotypes.The organization wishes our readers a positive start to the new year.
January 21, 2025
On January 8th, 2012, amid the Arab Spring, al-Azhar Grand Imām Dr. Aḥmed al-Ṭayyib released The Al-Azhar Declaration on Essential Freedoms, calling for an Islamic perspective on human freedoms in a changing political landscape. This document addresses various freedoms, including belief, opinion, and creativity, and prompts dialogue on cultural and religious values. Recently, a seminar in Cairo, organized by the Woodberry Institute, engaged Christian and Muslim scholars in discussing these essential freedoms and related challenges. This dialogue highlighted the significance of mutual engagement on vital theological questions.
January 26, 2025
Last summer, DAB Executive Editor Matthew Anderson attended a lecture by Dr. Norman Russell at the Alexandria School’s Epiphany Conference, who is noted for his expertise in early Christian theology and Eastern Orthodoxy. He interviewed Dr. Russell about his work on John of Damascus, Greek theological traditions, and Orthodox-Oriental Orthodox relations, offering insights into a vital aspect of global Christianity that often goes underappreciated in the West. Selected excerpts and a video of his lecture are available for further exploration.
(Click here for full text)
February 2, 2025
The 2025 Cairo International Book Fair, held from January 23 to February 5, hosted over 1,300 publishers and attracted more than 3.5 million visitors. The fair's slogan, Read…in the beginning was the Word, highlights interreligious themes, with religious publishing houses playing a major role. An award ceremony honored Dr. ʿAlī al-Sammān for his interfaith work, recognizing his contributions to dialogue between religious communities. The 2025 ʿAlī al-Sammān Interfaith Award was given to Rev. Asʿad Talʿat for his efforts in fostering Christian-Muslim relations in Minya.
(Click here for full text)
February 9, 2025
On February 6th, a panel at the French Institute in Cairo discussed interreligious perspectives on solidarity, moderated by Dr. Fatma Keshk. Speakers from Christian, Muslim, and Jewish backgrounds explored solidarity as identifying with others in their suffering, often requiring the suspension of power or privilege. The discussion highlighted both the ideals and shortcomings of religious traditions in practicing solidarity. The event encouraged honest dialogue about the ways religious communities have struggled to uphold their values.
February 26, 2025
On Monday, February 24th, several CAWU staff and interns joined a field visit to the Al-Azhar Observatory for Combating Extremism (AOCE) and the Dār al-Iftāʾ organized by the Centre for Christian-Muslim Understanding and Partnership in Cairo. Both organizations exist close to the institutional heart of Egyptian Islam and play a significant role in shaping global perspectives.
March 4, 2025
The first day of the Ramaḍān fast started last week on Saturday, March 1st. For Muslims, Ramaḍān is the month during which the Holy Qurʾān was first revealed to the Prophet Muḥammad. For Coptic Orthodox Christians, the 55-day period before Easter known as the Great Fast, began on Monday, February 24th. The fast broadly corresponds to the season of Lent which extends for forty days before Easter and begins for many Western Christians tomorrow on Ash Wednesday.
March 9, 2025
Cairo remains a hub for scholars in interfaith and Islamic studies. At a 2023 IDEO conference, DAB Executive Editor Matthew Anderson met with Dr. Mykhaylo Yakubovich, a Ukrainian scholar whose book The Kingdom and the Qur’ān explores modern Qurʾān translation in Saudi Arabia. Now a postdoctoral researcher at the University of Freiburg, he has also completed the first full Ukrainian translation of the Qurʾān from Arabic. In a recent interview they covered Qurʾān translatability debates, Salafī tafsīr, and significant Qurʾān translation projects in Egypt and beyond.
March 26, 2025
In January, DAB Executive Editor Matthew Anderson joined a course on Christian-Muslim relations at the Cairo Institute for Liberal Arts and Sciences, where he met Sara ʿAllām Shaltout. A Muslim journalist covering Christian affairs, Sara has researched church-building controversies in Egypt and is now pursuing a PhD at St. Andrews. Our interview explored her work on the 2016 Church Construction Law. Her perspective embodies Dialogue Across Borders' mission of fostering understanding beyond religious divides.
Emerging Perspectives on Intercultural and Interreligious Relations
Dialogue Across Borders is a database of summary translations of Arabic newspaper articles with references to their sources about intercultural and interreligious relations, focusing primarily but not exclusively on Muslim-Christian relations. The database also contains articles with editorial analysis and interviews on the subject.