- Bishop of the Episcopal (Anglican) Church of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa (since 2000)
- Member of The Joint Dialogue Committee of the Anglican Communion and al-Azhar al-Sharīf (since 2002)

Munīr Hannā Anīs was born in Egypt in 1950. He qualified as a medical doctor in 1974 at Cairo University, and went on to undertake post-graduate research at Hammersmith Hospital, London, the London School of Tropical Medicine, and University College, Los Angeles.

 

After returning to Egypt he became medical director of the Episcopal Church Hospital, Minūf and held the position from 1980 till 2000. During this period he was also a lay pastor at the local St Mark's Episcopal Church where he earned a reputation of being a man of great devotion and spirituality.

 

In 1998, he was ordained a deacon of the Episcopal Church in Egypt, and a priest the following year. In 1999, he also began a correspondence course of theology studies at Moore College, Sydney. At the end of the same year he was elected bishop of the Diocese of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. He was consecrated in May, 2000.

In 2000, Dr. Munīr Hannā Anīs succeeded Ghayth ^cAbd al-Malik as the Episcopal Church's bishop of Egypt, North Africa and the Horn of Africa. He is based in Cairo, Egypt.
For further background on his religious involvement refer to "Education, Career, and Personal Background" above, and to "Involvement in Arab-West/Intercultural/Interfaith Relations."

As a Christian authority in a Muslim country1, Bishop Munīr is widely experienced in interfaith relations. He strives for good Muslim-Christian relations, and advocates dialogue between different religious communities. Bishop Munīr is among the initiators of The Joint Dialogue Committee of the Anglican Communion and al-Azhar al-Sharīf. It is composed of a delegation from the Anglican Communion and the Permanent Committee of the Azhar for Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions. Relationships started with mutual visits in 1995, and The Joint Dialogue Committee of the Anglican Communion and al-Azhar al-Sharīf has been in existence since January 2002.

 

Bishop Munīr considers dialogue crucial for peaceful coexistence, and stresses that interfaith dialogue can occur without compromising one's own religion. In an interview with Arab-West Report he clarified this point of view.

 

"Dialogue is not about forming a third religion or compromising the doctrine at all. Dialogue helps to discover and rediscover the common ground where we can stand and look at our differences, where we can stand and work for peace, how we can resolve conflicts," he said. [AWR 2004, 36, art. 28].
In Egypt, Christian Arabs have lived alongside Muslims for 14 centuries. Thus, Bishop Munīr wants Egyptian Christians to play an important role in educating people in the Western World on how to live in coexistence.

"We have something to teach the other countries who have Islamic communities as newcomers like Britain, America, Europe. So I think it is so important that we be able to, through this dialogue, to also correct the misconceptions from the side of the followers of Islam about Christianity and vice versa." [AWR 2004, 36, art. 28]

Bishop Munīr believes Christians should publicly compliment Muslims when they have done something positive and does so himself. For example, he praised the Libyan government for generously supporting the Anglican Church in Tripoli. He did this to accentuate a positive story about Muslim-Christian relations that was contrary to the negative stories usually seen in the media, which according to him give a distorted picture of reality. [RNSAW, 2001, 19, art. 8]

- The bishop himself spells his name Mouneer Hanna Anis and the spelling Mounir Hanna Anis is also frequently seen. However, in this biography, the name is spelled Munīr Hannā Anīs to meet the general transliteration standards of Arab-West Report. For further internet research search for all spellings.
Nationality: Egyptian