DOI: 10.17026/dans-z45-mruz
title: Arab West Report 2004, Weeks 01-52: Insights into Muslim-Christian Relations and Interfaith Dialogue

description: 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 IslamThe 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