Dr Jan Slomp, member of the Advisory Editorial Board of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs in Djeddah/London, recommends the work of the Centre for Arab West Understanding, acknowledging that its use of reliable information is working towards strengthening Muslim/Christian relations by providing source material for cultural, educational and religious dialogue and cooperation.
Years ago I met Kees Hulsman for the first time. It must have been in the late 1980s when he was the director of the Christian Emigration Center in the Netherlands. Already during that period his driving force was the desire to promote better understanding between people of different countries and cultures. Later I assisted him when he was collecting material for a comprehensive bibliography about the church and Christian community in Egypt and elsewhere. This study was a stepping stone for an even wider enterprise: the initiative to establish the Center for Arab-West Understanding in Cairo, Egypt. I have followed its development from the very beginning and I am amazed at the perseverance and creativity that Kees Hulsman and his wife Sawsan Jabra have demonstrated in getting this project well started.
I recognize many similarities with my own motivations during the last forty years. For most of my active life, I saw it as my calling to improve relations between Christians and Muslims. For good relations it is essential to have access to reliable information. The Center for Arab-West Understanding is doing just that. Their information should not be limited to the ephemeral use of the media. Quite often background information finds its way also into books. In a recent survey made about the presentation of Christianity in Egypt, it becomes evident that a lot of updating in these schoolbooks is taken from the media; television, radio, newspapers and last, but not least, the internet.* The information offered by the Center for Arab-West Understanding, can, in my view, strengthen centers of education and provide source material for cultural, educational and religious dialogue and cooperation.
It was a pleasure for me, as a professional Islamicist, to work once more with Kees Hulsman on a publication that he and Elizabeth Yell had prepared about the effects of polemics in Egyptian society. Polemics, from the Greek word polemos, meaning war, can do a lot of harm. Many people are often not aware of its insidious nature. Exposure can, if handled with care, become the first step in restoring mutual confidence and peace. Whatever small contribution I made to the improvement of this report should also be valued as a sign of appreciation for the important work the Center for Arab-West Understanding is doing for people in Egypt, the Middle and the West.
Dr Jan Slomp, Leusden, The Netherlands
Between 1964 and 1993 he was actively involved in promoting dialogue in Pakistan and Europe. Between 1978 and 1997, respectively secretary, moderator and adviser of the Islam in Europe Committee of the Conference of European Churches and the Council of Roman Catholic Episcopal Conferences in Europe. Since 1996, a member of the Advisory Editorial Board of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs, Djeddah/London.
See Wolfram Reiss, Die Darstellung des Christentums in Schulbüchern islamisch geprägter Länder, Teil 1: Ägypten und Palestina, Hamburg: EB Verlag 2005, pp.529
