Cornelis Hulsman, founding editor of Arab-West Report, and Gurjinder Khambay, second-year student in International Studies at Leiden University, The Netherlands, specializing in the Middle East, interviewed Dr. Jan Slomp, a major leader in Christian-Muslim dialogue at all levels, through Webex, on June 9, 2020, in preparation for the Webinar on Muslim-Christian relations in Egypt, June 22-24, 2020.

Cornelis Hulsman was introduced by the late Henk Glimmerveen to the Stichting Oecumenische Hulp (SOH). The Stichting SOH asked Hulsman to visit the Tur Abdin region in South-East Turkey in the autumn of 1984 to investigate the position of the local Syrian Orthodox community. This visit later resulted in a report for the Stichting SOH which in turn was presented to the Committee on Migrant Workers of the Netherlands Council of Churches. Hulsman and Slomp met for the first time in that committee. Hulsman later expanded his report into an academic article titled “Migration and a Future for the Syrian Orthodox Church in the Tur Abdin,” Bevolking en Gezin, 1989/2.  

In the following interview Dr. Slomp focuses on two major needs for Muslim-Christian dialogue: firstly, do not mix religion with ideological thinking, - yet this happens all the time with disastrous consequences - secondly Muslims need experts on Christianity and Christians need experts on the Islamic world. These experts are much in need to explain to their own faith communities how to fight common stereotypes about the other faith community and help their own communities better understand the great diversity in the other faith community. Gurjinder had, prior to this interview, prepared a number of questions for Dr. Slomp. These questions were not repeated in the text below but Dr. Slomp sometimes did refer to them. This is the transcript of a recorded interview that was slightly edited for readability and presented to Dr. Jan Slomp who has done the final editing of this text.