This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2007. This dataset mainly contains the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., among other authors on topics related to Muslim- Christian relations and interfaith dialogue. Additionally, this dataset features certain reports related to the Christian faith in Egypt, Monastic life and Coptic traditions.Some of the articles address the media coverage of Muslim-Christian incidents and sectarian tensions, and how biased media reporting can often exacerbate existing tensions between groups. These articles feature a number of interviews conducted by Arab West Report with prominent social figures and scholars.Additionally, reports from this dataset discuss conversion cases and interfaith meetings that were held at the time. This dataset also contains media critique from Arab West Report Editor-in-Chief Cornelis Hulsman, Drs.Some of the themes that characterize this dataset include:- Authors report on their trip to see the celebration of the Holy Family crossing the Nile River in a village in Upper Egypt. They reflect on their experiences and the need to improve dialogue between Muslims and Christians in Egypt.- An overview of a forum organized by the Center for Civilizational Studies and Dialogue between Cultures at Cairo University to introduce a book written by Father Christian van Nispen, sj, entitled, ‘Christians and Muslims: Brothers before God.’ van Nispen’s principle argument is that both Muslims and Christians worship one and the same God, but according to different understandings.- Another report highlighted the second conference on bias, entitled: ‘The International Conference for Dialogue between Civilizations and the Different Tracks of Knowledge.’ The 4-day conference, was sponsored by the Program for Civilizational Studies and Dialogue between Cultures at Cairo University, and the International Institute of Islamic Thought.- The Arab West Report annual report: The Center for Arab-West Understanding presents its annual report for 2006.Media critique:- “Minister Of Awqaf Dr. Hamdi Zakzouk Falsely Accused Of Calling For The Death Penalty For Apostates From Islam”: Arab-West Report responds to media claims that Dr. Hamdi Zakzouk called for the death penalty for apostates from Islam.-In another report, the authors stress that misguided media reporting often only serves to further tensions, particularly in cases of sectarian strife. Another article presents the transcript of a lecture for the Arab Thought Forum. It considers media distortions and mis-representation in the media that only serve to further antagonize Muslim-Christian relations and the perception of Islam / the Arab world in the West. Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., explains the role of the Center for Arab West Understanding, and the importance of constructive, unbiased, and fully researched journalism.-Hulsman stressed in one of his articles that media frequently manipulate headlines in an effort to present stories in the context they desire. Headlines are also frequently sensationalized in an effort to attract a larger number of readers, but if this also distorts a story this should be questioned. Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., stresses the danger of ignorant media reporting, and the damage that inaccurate fact-checking can cause. He provides a number of examples from various intellectuals, commenting on stories that have been sensationalized in the media, and the negative effects this reporting had on Arab-West relations and on furthering dialogue between the Islamic and Arab world and the West.Interviews:-“An interview With Father Basilius About Father Matta Al-Maskin”: Father Basilius discusses the history and theological philosophies of Father Mattá al-Maskīn. The interview is mainly focused on theology and the practices of clergymen.- An interview with Tarek Heggy at CIDT where Drs. Cornelis Hulsman and staff members discuss sensitive issues throughout the Arab world.- An interview by AWR/ CIDT interns with Dr. Hala Mustafa, where she comments on her role in the National Democratic Party’s Policies Committee, her opinions on reform in Egypt, critiques the role of Egyptian security, and outlines the necessary steps needed for reform to take effect.- “Saad Eddin Ibrahim Meets With CIDT Interns To Discuss How Islamists Have Changed”: Saad Eddin Ibrahim, is one of the most outspoken critics of the Egyptian government, who was imprisoned from 2000-2003 for his critique. Saad Eddin Ibrahim is a liberal secularist, but as a result of his strong democratic stance, he defends the rights of all groups in society, including Islamists, to participate in the politics of the country. CIDT-interns met with him for a talk about his life and his views.-A review of the Annual Anglican-Al Azhar Interfaith Meeting Dialogue held in All-Saints Cathedral which implicitly dealt with dialogue and means of furthering it.-A report on church response to poverty in Egypt and specifically how this...

The "Religious Fundamentalism and Radicalization Survey (RFRS)" is a large-scale cross-sectional survey conducted among Muslims, Christians, Jews, and non-believers in Cyprus, Germany, Israel, Kenya, Lebanon, the Palestinian territories, Turkey, and the USA. The survey is designed specifically to test hypotheses related to determinants of religious radicalization. It includes a broad range of variables concerning religiosity, religious knowledge, and fundamentalism, as well as a survey experiment concerning the effect of religious scripture on religious violence legitimation. The data collection in Cyprus, Germany, Israel, Kenya, Lebanon, Palestine, and Turkey was funded by the WZB Berlin Social Science Center, whereas the data collection in the USA was funded by the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council of Canada (#435-2012-0922). The fieldwork for the survey took place between November 2016 and June 2017.

The data set currently only includes the variables used in the following publication: Koopmans, Ruud; Kanol, Eylem; Stolle, Dietlind (2020): Scriptural legitimation and the mobilization of support for religious violence: Experimental evidence across three religions and seven countries. In: Journal of Ethnic and Migration Studies. Latest articles. https://doi.org/10.1080/1369183X.2020.1822158 Analyses of other parts of the data set are ongoing. Once these are completed, the entire data set will be made publicly available.

Context

This is believed to be an unbiased fact-based dataset to get a better understanding of how much damage that the Islamic extremists are doing to the world.

Content

These are not incidents of ordinary crime involving nominal Muslims killing for money or vendetta. Incidents of deadly violence that are reasonably determined to have been committed out of religious duty - as interpreted by the perpetrator - are only included. Islam needs to be a motive, but it need not be the only factor.

For example, the Munich mall shooting in July, 2016 was by a Muslim, but it is not on the list, because it was not inspired by a sense of religious duty.

The incidents were collected each day from public news sources. There is no rumor or word-of-mouth involved. Although every attempt is made to be accurate and consistent, we are not making the claim that this is a scientific product.

Acknowledgements

This dataset is available here on Kaggle, thanks to TheReligionofPeace.com

Inspiration

The point of this dataset is not to convince anyone that they are in mortal danger or that Muslims are innately dangerous people (they are not, of course). Rather it is to point out the sort of terrorism that some of "Religion of Peace" believers produce. It should be acceptable to question and critique the teachings and phrases interpretation particularly those that are supremacist in nature.

The Religion and State (RAS) project is a university-based project located at Bar Ilan University in Ramat Gan, Israel. The general goal is to provide detailed codings on several aspects of separation of religion and state for 183 states on a yearly basis between 1990 and 2014. This constitutes all countries with populations of 250,000 or more, as well as a sampling of countries with lower populations.

This module recodes the governmental and societal discrimination variables used in the Religion and State, Round 3 except that it uses a minority group within a state as the unit of analysis. For example, in the UK, Buddhists, Hindus, Jews, Muslims, Orthodox Christians, and Sikhs are all coded separately. The dataset includes all minorities which are at least 0.2% of the population as well as the following categories of minorities regardless of their population size: (1) Christians in Muslim countries, (2) Muslims in Christian countries, and (3) Jews in Christian-majority and Muslim-majority countries, where present.

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 All reports are written in English, though some reports feature Arabic text or cite Arabic sources.

This data set is part of the following publication:

Jetten, M. (2018). Knowledge of interaction styles and dimensions of interpretation in interreligious adult education. An empirical study of the effects of a hermeneutic-communicative curriculum. Radboud University. Münster: LIT Verlag.

This book reports on an evaluation study of a curriculum on interreligious dialogue among Christian and Muslims adults in the Netherlands. It was organized as a PhD-project between 2007 and 2013 at the Faculty of Philosophy, Theology and Religious Studies of Radboud University, financed by Stichting Nieuwegen.

The primary aim of this research is to explain the contribution of a curriculum to knowledge of interaction styles and hermeneutic distinctions that are used to express and interpret the views on religious phenomena of adherents from different religious traditions. We consider knowledge of communication and interpretation conditional for mutual understanding between adherents of different religious traditions. We refer to this as hermeneutic-communicative learning. The focus of this dissertation is not solely religious phenomena, but the way that participants express and interpret these phenomena. Hence, the research goal of this study is: explaining the contribution of a hermeneutic-communicative curriculum using the method of mediated learning to the acquisition of knowledge of interaction styles and dimensions for interpreting religious phenomena.

This study uses a quasi-experimental design with pre-test and post-test, based on two non-equivalent groups (“untreated non-equivalent control group design with pre-test and post-test”, Cook & Campbell 1979, 103-129). To study the effects of participation in our curriculum, we distinguish two research groups, an experimental group that participates in the intervention, and a control group that does not participate. In both groups a pre-test and a post-test is held, respectively before and after the intervention.

Our research population are Christian and Muslim adults in the Netherlands who are interested in interreligious meetings. To be able to reliably estimate the characteristics of the research population, we required a sample of at least 400 respondents in total, with 200 participants in the experimental group and 200 in the control group. Regarding the experimental group, we aimed at 20 curriculum locations, each with about twelve participants, making sure that respondent still feel secure to exchange religious beliefs and practices in a personal and informal way. We sought a group distribution of at least a third Christians or a third Muslims at each location. Regarding religion, the relative number of Christians in the control group appeared to be higher than in the experimental group. Therefore, in the analyses, we randomly reduced the number of Christians in the control group by 40%, by deleting the third and fifth of each five Christian respondents in the control group. This resulted in a total number of 260 respondents in the experimental group and 132 respondents in the control group.

Part of this research project of Radboud University is the material for an interreligious course. It has been developed for Christian and Muslim adults with interest in interreligious communication. Participants get acquainted with a practical method that eases interreligious dialogue, focused at both enriching one’s own religious identity as well as getting familiar with the religion of the other. Focus is learning to communicate from the personal perspective, applied to substantive themes from Christianity and Islam. You are welcome to re-use and adjust all available curriculum materials and guidance sheets. Feel free to use part of the material, split up the material in separate units, or adjust to materials to your own needs, as long as you respect the copyright. Please refer to this dataset and the aforementioned publication.

The data set contains various types of files, which are further explained in the read me first file. - Read me first file - Data files (SPSS files) - Documentation on the data set (methodology and measuring instruments) - Documentation on the interreligious curriculum (including the full program and guidance sheets for educators)

Hadith QA Pair Dataset

This dataset contains Hadith-based question-answer pairs extracted from four renowned Hadith collections: Musnad Ahmad, Sahih Muslim, Sahih Bukhari, and Jami` at-Tirmidhi.

The dataset is structured as question-answer pairs, where each question is answered using a relevant Hadith along with its reference. It can be utilized to train Large Language Models (LLMs) for text generation and question-answering tasks in Islamic studies.

Features

The dataset consists of the following features:

Example 1

• Question: What is the responsibility of believers when they witness evil in their society?
• Hadith (English Translation):
  "Abu Bakr stood up and praised and glorified Allah, then he said: O people, you recite this verse:
  O you who believe! Take care of your own selves. If you follow the (right) guidance (and enjoin what is right (Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do) and forbid what is wrong (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden)], no harm can come to you from those who are in error. (Al-Ma'idah 5:105)
  We heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say:
  If the people see evil and do not change it, soon Allah will send His punishment upon them all."
• Reference: Musnad Ahmad 1, Book 1, Hadith 1
• Hadith Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)
• Question Number: #1

Example 2

• Question: What are the consequences mentioned for a community that fails to address wrongdoing?
• Hadith (English Translation):
  "Abu Bakr stood up and praised and glorified Allah, then he said: O people, you recite this verse:
  O you who believe! Take care of your own selves. If you follow the (right) guidance (and enjoin what is right (Islamic Monotheism and all that Islam orders one to do) and forbid what is wrong (polytheism, disbelief and all that Islam has forbidden)], no harm can come to you from those who are in error. (Al-Ma'idah 5:105)
  We heard the Messenger of Allah (ﷺ) say:
  If the people see evil and do not change it, soon Allah will send His punishment upon them all."
• Reference: Musnad Ahmad 1, Book 1, Hadith 1
• Hadith Grade: Sahih (Darussalam)
• Question Number: #2

Both questions are related to the same Hadith. This allows generating multiple variations of questions that can be answered using the same Hadith.

Final Split Sizes

Both Sahih Muslim and Sahih Bukhari contain the highest number of Hadiths. In this dataset, we have created a varying number of repeated questions for each Hadith. Depending on the dataset, the number of questions per Hadith varies between 3 to 6. The table below shows the total number of rows in each dataset:

Why This Dataset is Useful

This dataset allows multiple questions to be mapped to the same Hadith.
For example, in the cases above, different questions were generated from the same Hadith. This structure:

• Enables diverse question formats while maintaining Hadith accuracy.
• Enhances LLM training by creating multiple variations of question-answer pairs.
• Improves contextual understanding of Hadith-based answers.

Potential Applications

• Islamic Question-Answering Systems → Helps build AI-powered Hadith assistants.
• Text Generation Models → Trains LLMs on structured Islamic knowledge.
• Religious Studies & Research → Provides an organized dataset for scholars.

Citation

If you use this dataset in your research or project, please cite it as follows:

📌 Dr. Wasif Masood (2024). Hadith QA Pair Dataset. Version 1.0.
Available at: https://huggingface.co/datasets/rwmasood/hadith-qa-pair

BibTeX:

@dataset{rwmasood2024,
 author  = {Dr. Wasif Masood and Empirisch Tech GmbH},
 title   = {Hadith QA Pair Dataset},
 year   = {2024},
 publisher = {Hugging Face},
 url    = {https://huggingface.co/datasets/rwmasood/hadith-qa-pair},
 version  = {1.0},
 license  = {CC BY 4.0},
 institution = {Empirisch Tech GmbH}
}

This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2010. This dataset mainly contains the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., and Jayson Casper among other authors on topics related to Muslim-Christian relations, sectarian tensions, incidents between Muslims and Christians in Egypt, and papers submitted by the staff and interns at the Center for Arab West Understanding (CAWU) on societal reconciliation sessions that follow sectarian strife. This dataset also features reports on the peace building initiative launched by CAWU. Several reports also discuss the Christian faith in Egypt, Coptic monastic life, Coptic political participation and Coptic engagement in national elections. The reports in this dataset also include interviews by Arab West Report staff and interns with prominent social figures and scholars.

Additionally, this dataset contains reporting on workshops and forums hosted or attended by CIDT/CAWU at the time. Furthermore, this dataset contains commentary on published material from other sources (media critique).

Several reports discuss the religious tensions that surround the building of churches and mosques. 2010 also witnessed a controversial Supreme Court ruling that requested the Coptic Church to abide by a verdict that grants Christians the right to remarriage; a measure which was strongly opposed by the then-Pope Shenouda. Some adherents took to the street to express their frustration.

This dataset contains the Arab West Report special reports published in the year 2003. The majority of the material in this dataset focuses on in depth analysis of Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt, however, Judaism is also the subject of a great deal of analysis in these reports. A number of the reports address relations between religious minorities such as 'dhimmi' status, and the complex relationship between national identity and religious identity. A number of reports are also media critique, a staple of AWR’s work.The AWR reports in this dataset also describe the early work of AWR, and introduce several of its early board members and affiliates. Authors include:- Cornelis Hulsman, Drs.- Sunni M. Khalid- Jeff Adams (Dr. Rev.)- Larry F. Levine (Dr.)- Victor M. Ordonez- Michael Reimer (Dr.)- Wolfram Reiss, (Rev. Dr.)- Johanna Pink (Dr.)- Nirmīn Fawzī- Hedda Klip- Munīr Hannā Anīs Armanius (Bishop)- Cassandra Chambliss- Adam Hannestad- David Weaver- Konrad Knolle (Rev.)- Usamah Wadi‘ al-Ahwani- Marjam Van Oort- Nawal al-Sa‘dawi- M.E. van Gent- Subhi ‘Uwaydah, (Rev. Dr.)- Andreas Van Agt, (Dr.)Institutional authors include AWR Editorial Board, AWR Board of Advisors, Center for the Study of Christianity in Islamic Lands (CSCIL), and EKD Presservice. All reports are written in English, though some reports feature Arabic text or cite Arabic sources.Team including job titles:Sparks, MA M.R. (Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT))Adams, Rev.Dr. J. (Religious News Service from the Arab-World (RNSAW))Levine, Dr. L.Khalid, S.Reimer, Dr. M. (American University in Cairo)Ordonez, Dr. V.Reiss, Rev. Dr. W.Pink, Dr. J.Fawzi, N. (Religious News Service from the Arab World (RNSAW))Klip, Rev. H. (Swiss Reformed Church)Hannā Anīs Armanius, Bishop M. (Episcopal Church)Chambliss, C. (Intern-Center for Arab-West Understanding (CAWU))Hannestad, A.Weaver, D. (Church World Service, USA)Knolle, Rev. K. (German Reformed Church in Cairo)Al-Ahwani, U. (Religious News Service from the Arab-World (RNSAW))Oort, M. Van (Roos Foundation)Al-Sa'adawi, N.Gent, M.E. VanUwaydah, Rev. Dr. S. (Coptic Evangelical Church Ismailia, Egypt)van Agt, Dr. A.EKD Press ServiceCenter for the Study of Christianity in Islamic Lands (CSCIL)AWR Editorial BoardAWR Board of AdvisorsHulsman, Drs. C. Mr. (Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation

This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2001. It should be noted that at the time the articles were published, Arab-West Report did not exist. Religious News Service from the Arab World, the organization which would ultimately become Arab-West Report, originally published the following documents.

The dataset contains primarily the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., reporting on the affairs of Coptic Christians in Egypt, and subjects related to the Copts in the US and the west in general. A number of articles serve as a media critique of Coptic organizations’ (namely, the US Coptic Association) press releases issued abroad which present biased information on certain incidents that took place in Egypt.In addition to the reports and journalistic work of Hulsman, the dataset also contains commentary from RSNAW on published material from other sources (reviews/critique of articles).

Some of the themes that characterized this dataset includes:

• An article about H.H. Pope Shenouda and Father Matta el-Meskeen, two major reformers in the contemporary Coptic Orthodox Church in addition to the Ubur-city church incident. The dataset also includes interviews conducted by RNSAW with the governor and the Bishop of the church.

• Articles refuting claims by a number of Coptic organizations abroad through collecting testimonials from local Bishop and Officials. These reports denied false and inaccurate claims and criticized the press releases that lead to confusion, negatively impacting the Copts in Egypt.

• An interview conducted by RNSAW with Bishop Marcos and highlighted his remarks on the war against terrorism led by the United States following September 11 events and the war on Afghanistan which broke out subsequently.

• A report written by Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd shed light on the media debate on Islam in the West, and his criticism of the widespread views in the western media that Islam should be held responsible for terrorist attacks.

• The RNSAW database also included highlights of an interview with Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., by the by Egyptian TV where he concluded from the questions directed at him that there is a deep mistrust of western reporting about the Arab and Islamic world.

• Other editorials by Hulsman criticized the adoption of a resolution by the Anglican General Synod of Australia addressing the persecution of Christians in Egypt, without consulting the Anglican Bishop in Cairo or Anglican experts in England who are well acquainted with the church in Egypt.

• The reports also highlighted the issue of conversions from Christianity to Islam in Egypt. The reports refuted claims by Coptic activists in the US that two Christian were abducted by the Egyptian Government from their own mother, who then handed them over to strangers, under the name of Islam. One of the articles highlighted a film script entitled: “Hurghada...the Magic of Love" which deals with the issue of mixed marriages between Muslim men and Christian women which is a sensitive and painful matter for Christians.

• Coverage of Coptic feasts in Egypt, such as Palm Sunday and the Coptic Christmas celebration which was broadcast on the National Egyptian TV and showed senior officials attending the ceremony in the Cathedral.

• Additionally, some of the reports included an update on the trial of the renowned human rights activist Dr. Saad Eddin Ibrahim. In line with the aforementioned, this dataset contained an article penned by Saad Eddin Ibrahim explaining his motive behind declining to attend a meeting with members of the US Commission on International Religious Freedom as advised by his defense lawyer. Ibrahim was being tried at the time before the Higher State Security Court on charges made against his lectures and writings on religious freedom and minority rights, including those of Egyptian Copts.

The authors of this material include Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., Dr. Graham Leitch, Dr. Rudolph Yanni, John H. Watson, Dr. J. J. G. Jensen, Katherin Spencer, Michael Munīr, Monk Father Yuhanna al-Maqari, Monk Basilius al-Maqari, Mamdūh Nakhlah, Fr. Dr. Christiaan van Nispen, Saad al-Din Ibrahim, Munir Hanna Anis Armanius, Bishop Ghubriyal, Dale Gavlak, Mike Newton, Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, CAIR-NET, Tareq Mitri (Prof. Dr.), Wolfram Reiss (Rev., Dr.) among others.

This dataset contains the Arab-West Report special reports that were published in 2006.This dataset mainly contains the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., among other authors on topics related to Muslim-Christian relations and interfaith dialogue. The writings in this dataset are mostly reports concerning Coptic Christian culture, Muslim-Christian dialogue, and the state of the Christian faith in Egypt.Some of the articles address the controversial book "The Da Vinci Code" and the debates that ensued after its publication surrounding its historicity and freedom of expression.Additionally this dataset contains recommendation for the work of Arab-West Report by other social figures and the development of its affiliated NGO, the Center for Arab West Understanding. Furthermore, this dataset contains commentary and critique on published material from other sources (media critique).Some of the themes that characterize this dataset:Development of the Center for Arab West Understanding (CAWU) and recommendations of the work of Arab West Report:- Recommendation for Arab-West Report and the Center for Arab-West Understanding from Dutch musician and entertainer, Herman van Veen, Pastor Dave Petrescue ( Maadi Community Church in Cairo, Egypt) and Lord Carey of Clifton, former archbishop of Canterbury. Additionally, this dataset contains special recommendations of the work of Corneliss 'Kees' Hulsman and Sawsan Gabra by Dr. Jan Slomp, member of the Advisory Editorial Board of the Journal of Muslim Minority Affairs in Jeddah. Dr. Slomp acknowledges that Arab West Report’s use of reliable information is working towards strengthening Muslim-Christian relations by providing source material for cultural, educational and religious dialogue and cooperation.-Another report mentioned that the Former Dutch Prime Minister Andreas van Agt visited Egypt to support the foundation of the Center for Arab-West Understanding.-A report about NGO Status of CAWU, “After Three Years of Struggle”. This report came as a result of the February 18 ruling of the Egyptian Council of State that granted the Center recognition as an NGO under Egyptian law.-Annual report: Arab-West Report presents the annual report for 2005.-Arab West Report’s American intern writes about 220 years of religious freedom in the U.S., arguing that one standard must be applied to all.-A discussion of homosexuality and Egyptian law taken from a bachelor’s thesis on Egyptian law.-Book review of Jamal Al-Banna’s "My Coptic Brethren".-“Christian Minorities in the Islamic World, an Egyptian Perspective”: A paper presented at the annual interfaith dialogue meeting of the Anglican Communion and the Permanent Committee of the Azhar al-Sharif for Dialogue with the Monotheistic Religions. This paper prompted criticism from Metropolitan Seraphim for the portrayal of Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt.Media Critique:-An author criticizes an article by the German magazine Der Spiegel about Christians in the Middle East. She claims that the article distorts the reality of the situation in the declining Christian communities in the region.- Interview with Egyptian artist Farid Fadil, , including discussion of his views on Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt, ’Christian art’, Leonardo da Vinci and the controversial book, The Da Vinci Code.-Excerpts from the speeches of Mr. Ahmad Māhir, former foreign minister of Egypt, Sir Derek Plumbly, British ambassador to Egypt , Mr. Tjeerd de Zwaan, Dutch ambassador to Egypt, Mr. Lasse Seim, Norwegian ambassador to Egypt, and Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., director of the Center for Arab-West Understanding, on ’Freedom of expression and respect for the other. How to respond if one is offended.’- Highlights of the meeting held at El-Sawy Culture Wheel on May 7, 2006, to launch the CAWU website. Highlights include a welcome address by Mr. Muhammad al-Sāwī, comments from former ministers Dr. Mamdouh al-Biltājī, Mr. Ahmed Māhir, Dr. Ahmad Juwaylī, head of the Protestant Community Council, Dr. Safwat al Bayādī, and former prime minister of the Netherlands, Prof. Van Agt.- Aran West Report asked our former intern Maria Roeder, a student of media science at the University of Jena in Germany, to summarize a study commissioned by the Austrian Federal Ministry of Interior. This study is a comparative study concerning Austrian media reporting on Muslims and media from countries with Muslim majorities reporting about the integration of Muslims in Europe.-A review of the media coverage following the Alexandria church stabbings concludes that both Muslims and Christians condemned the attacks and spoke of the need for change in the citizenship rights of Christians.-Apostolic Nuncio to Egypt, Archbishop Fitzgerald, responds to polarization following the Regensburg lecture of H.H. Pope Benedict XVI.-Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., presented a text at the recent roundtable discussions of the European Institute of the Mediterranean, concerning “Journalism and freedom of...

Negative binomial model of the relationship between ethnic religion interaction and male fertility (Monogamist MEN aged 15–59 years).

This Thematic Collection contains links to the datasets of the Stichting Arab-West Foundation (AWF), in The Netherlands in close cooperation with the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT). These datasets cover the period 1994-2016. The data consists of the reporting of Dutch sociologist Cornelis Hulsman, reporting supervised by him, full-transcript interviews, audio recordings and summaries of these audio recordings.The Arab-West Foundation was established in 2005 to support the work of Cornelis Hulsman and his wife Eng. Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Hulsman-Khalil in Egypt. Cornelis Hulsman left The Netherlands for Egypt in October 1994. Sawsan Hulsman followed suit in 1995. They focused primarily on the study of Muslim-Christian relations and the role of religion in society in Egypt and neighboring countries, while obtaining their income from journalism.The purpose of this work was to foster greater understanding between Muslims and Christians in Egypt and to show non-Egyptians that relations between the two faiths in Egypt cannot be described in reductive black and white terms, rather they are diverse and complicated. Working towards mutual understanding of different cultures and beliefs helps to reduce tensions and conflicts. Too often, parties present themselves as the victim of the other which results in biased reporting. Sometimes this is done deliberately to gain support. What is lacking in cases like this, is an in-depth understanding of the wider context in which narratives of victimization occur. Hulsman found several patterns that are key to understanding Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt such as- the impact of a culture of honor and shame and- aversion in traditional areas for visible changes in public (which includes church buildings and making one’s conversion to another religion public).The datasets also include material on the place of Islamists in society, as well as wider information about Egyptian society since this is the context in which religious numerical minorities in Egypt live (the term minority is widely rejected in Egypt since all Egyptians, regardless of religion, are one. But in terms of numbers Christians are a minority).It was Hulsman’s ambition to obtain a PhD but the challenges of making a living in Egypt prevented him from accomplishing this goal. Up until the year 2001, Cornelis only had an income from traditional media reporting. After 2004 he became largely dependent upon working with Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), Missio and Misereor (Germany).Hulsman was dedicated towards non-partisan Muslim-Christian understanding. This began starting with a large number of recorded interviews, followed by research into why so many Christian girls convert to Islam (1995-1996). This work in turn led to the creation of an electronic newsletter called Religious News Service from the Arab World (RNSAW) and a growing number of investigative reports. In 2003 the RNSAW was renamed Arab-West Report. In 2004 they attempted to establish an Egyptian NGO but since no answer was obtained from authorities, the procedure was taken to the Council of State who ruled in 2006 that the request for NGO status was valid. This in turn resulted in a formal registration of the NGO with the Ministry of Social Solidarity in 2007. Because the outcome of this process was insecure in 2005 the Hulsmans established the Center for Intercultural Dialogue and Translation (CIDT) . CIDT was established as a tawsiya basita (sole proprietorship) on the name of Sawsan Gabra Ayoub Khalil since it was extremely complicated to do this on the name of a non-Egyptian. In the same year friends of the Hulsman family established the Arab-West Foundation (AWF). CIDT tawsiya basita was closed in 2012. A new company was established under the same name but now as limited liability company and again it was not possible for Cornelis Hulsman to become a partner.As a consequence the Hulsmans have been working since 2005 with an Egyptian company and a Dutch support NGO. Since 2007 they have also been working with an Egyptian NGO. This was important, since Egyptian law prohibits companies from receiving donations and carrying out not-for-profit work. NGOs, on the other hand, need to request permissions from the Ministry of Social Solidarity for each donation they receive. Such permissions are hard to obtain.CIDT functions as a thinktank with funding from Kerk in Actie (Netherlands), Missio and Misereor (Germany) and at times projects with other organizations. CIDT produces the electronic newsletter Arab-West Report and has built the Arab West Report Database based on these data. Publication of this data is accomplished through the Arab-West Foundation since it turned out to be extremely hard to register Arab-West Report in Egypt. CAWU became the prime organization hosting student interns from Egypt and countries all over the world, which was possible since CAWU does not charge student interns for its services and neither pays...

This dataset consists of the articles and reports of the RNSAW content that were published in the year 2002. As previously noted that at the time the articles were published, Arab-West Report did not exist. Religious News Service from the Arab World, the organization which would ultimately become Arab-West Report, published the following documents.The dataset contains primarily the writings of Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., reporting on Christians situation in Egypt and subjects related to the Copts in the US with a number of editorials serve as a media critique of the Coptic organizations press releases issued abroad and other articles published in the local Egyptian newspapers.The reports covered the following topics:- A report that addressed a conflict between the Coptic Orthodox and Brethren Churches in Al- Ashmonein and described the relations between the two denomination there as “tense”.- A critique of what the authored believed as” Distorted Reporting” About Coptic Christians in Egypt. The three authors criticized a report in the Layman, an American Presbyterian publication, claiming Christians in Egypt are persecuted. They believe the author of this article was ill-informed and provided readers with wrong information.- An overview of the contents of the three books about Coptic Orthodox ecclesiastical law, published by the Monastery of Makarios.- A List of Churches in Assiut Governorate for Which Governorate Decrees For Restoration And Presidential Decrees For Building And Renovated Were Issued.-An overview of the activities of the Coptic Catholic peace movement, Justice and Peace in EgyptMedia critique:Press release of the US Copts Association about the decision of the governor of Assiut instructing to remove an illegally built section of the church which the association does not mention and thereby providing only part of the information needed to form an accurate picture of this issue. The press release is also very aggressive in the last paragraph where it calls the governor an Islamic extremist.- Criticizing the press release of the US Copts Association. Some Copts frequently resort to claims of Islamic extremism if they are dissatisfied with the decisions made.- An Interview with Bishop Marcos about the Succession of Pope Shenouda, Father Matta Al-Meskeen, Ecommunications and Other Subjects. In Addition to that the dataset included an Interview with Father Johanna and Father Basilius of the Monastery of Makarios.-Summary of the Ph.D. thesis of Revd. Dr. Wolfram Reiss about the Sunday School movement in the Coptic Orthodox Church with a focus on the role of Pope Shenouda III and Father Matta el-Meskeen and the place of the church in a Muslim society. Reiss´ study provides an excellent insight into the contemporary history of the church and explains differences between church leaders in the past decades.- A crisis in the Egyptian Church Resulting from an article in the Sunday School magazine requesting the pope to avoid public [political] activities.-A text of the statement of the Anglican/Al-Azhar Dialogue Commission- Egyptian TV Addresses Inter-Religious Dialogue-Egyptian Cultural TV broadcasted on October 27 a live discussion with Patrick Haenni, social researcher at the CEDEJ in Cairo and Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., on inter-religious dialogue.A report about A group of Germans belonging to the YMCA [Young Men´s Christian Association] and Evangelical Church of Saxony, Germany [Evangelische Kirche Deutschland] who discovered a very different Christian Egypt from what they had expected from press reports in their home country. The group had followed the trail of the Holy Family between Beni Suef and Assiut and met with many different people.- A report about a claimed apparition of the Holy Virgin In Giza- An analysis of the Arab and Western Press in terms of the biases of the Western media and the limits imposed on political and freedom press in Egypt.- A report about Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, sympathizer and supporter of the RNSAW, receiving the Franklin Delano Roosevelt prize for his contribution to the Freedom of Worship- Media criticism of ‘Reckless, Anti-Islamic Statement’ of major US Christian leader.- An evaluation of the RNSAW workshop for Egyptian journalists. The report shed light on the objectives and program of a RNSAW workshop for Egyptian journalists in cooperation with the Al-Ahram Institute for Regional Journalism. The workshop was financed by the Dutch Embassy and Friedrich Ebert Stiftung and covered human rights issues, women, Western and Arab media, freedom of expression and reporting about the Israel-Palestinian conflict.- The Dialogue Agreement between the Azhar and the Church of EnglandThe authors of this material include Cornelis Hulsman, Drs., Jos Strengholt, Rudolph Yanni, Peter Zarqah, Dr. Kamal Burayqa‘ ‘Abd al-Salam, Israel Shamir, Holger Jensen, Phil Reeves, Philip Smucker, Paul Perry, Michael Fowler, Michael Sabah, Dr. Naṣr Ḥāmid Abū Zayd, Yusuf Sidhom, Nirmin Fawzi, Chris...