Diplomats of any country, can, if they do their work well, have a great impact on others in society. Daniel van der Meulen (1894-1989) was such an example. I first met with him in 1975 when he was 79 and I was 20. I found his stories about the Arab world absolutely fascinating.

Daniel van der Meulen, a committed Christian who had twice served as Consul-General in Saudi Arabia in the 1930s and 1940s, was not only a great story teller but genuinely loved his Arab friends and showed this in all he did. It was thus Daniel van der Meulen who inspired me to focus my studies on Muslim-Christian relations. He taught me that being Christian and showing respect for Muslims and Islam are not mutually exclusive, as one would think when reading Christian polemical literature. Daniel Van der Meulen did not live to see the day in 1994 when my family and I moved to Egypt, but his late widow, Heleen Van der Meulen-Duhm, did.  She had encouraged us to expand our work for Arab West Report, which developed out of the ideas that I as a young man had learned from Daniel Van der Meulen.

After Daniel Van der Meulen had passed away in 1989, I wrote with Guus (A. Th.) Boone, an old study friend of mine at Leiden University, an expert on Christianity in the former Dutch Indies (now Indonesia) an article about the life and work of Daniel van der Meulen. We are very grateful that, almost twenty five years later, Maya Williamson translated our article about Daniel van der Meulen in English. Please click here to read more about this most remarkable man.

February 2, 2016

Cornelis Hulsman,

Editor-in-chief Arab-West Report