On August 30, 2009, I suddenly received a phone call from my wife Sawsan in Egypt with the sad message that Mrs. Helene Marie van der Meulen-Duhm had passed away on August 24, 2009. Both Mr. and Mrs. Van der Meulen had played a tremendously great role in my life, encouraging me to devote my life to a cause which has become, under their influence, dialogue between Muslims and Christians and work to preserve Arab Christianity in the Arab World.
Mrs. Van der Meulen, born in 1916, had seen Arab Christianity decline. She told us of her youth days in Jerusalem (sometime in the late 1920s or 1930s) that then counted a large Arab Christian population that today has largely vanished.
I wanted to understand, study, and address this decline of Arab Christianity in my life. With the influence of the Van der Meulens, I decided to study development sociology at Leiden University (1977-1984) with a focus on Christianity in the Arab and Islamic world. Both attended my graduation ceremony in 1984. Of course I was happy for family and friends to attend, but that the Van der Meulens (he was then 90 years old!) made the effort to travel from Gorssel (not far from the border with Germany in the East) to Leiden (close to the sea in the West) was for me a major moment and encouragement to continue in the path I had chosen.
Following my graduation, I went for the Stichting Oecumenische Hulp to the Tur Abdin region in Turkey to report about the remains of a once-strong Syrian-Orthodox community. I then went to Egypt to further understand the Coptic Orthodox Church, the largest Christian church in the Arab world. In 1986, I became the director of the Christian Emigration Center then became emigration coordinator of the Netherlands Migration Institute and director of the Netherlands Emigration Foundation. I resigned from this position because in 1994, I had been asked to become correspondent for the Evangelische Omroep, TROS, Reformatorisch Dagblad and Katholiek Nieuwsblad in Egypt. In 1988, I had married my Egyptian wife Sawsan, which greatly strengthened my understanding of indigenous Egyptian Christianity.
We had returned to Egypt and I had given up the well-paid job of director of a privatized emigration foundation for which I had fought for years in return for a position that was uncertain and much lower paid, but in line with our ideals. To Mrs. Van der Meulen, this came as no surprise. Neither was it a surprise to her that in 1997 we founded the Religious News Service from the Arab Word, which later became Arab-West Report. Mrs. Van der Meulen always read our newsletters and was always supportive of our work, encouraging us to continue whenever she could.
In the spring of 1995 we decided, after checking many schools in Cairo, to send our children to the Deutsche Evangelische Oberschule. It is not easy for children to be admitted at this school because of the great demand for places. Non-Egyptian children are already expected to know German and thus Mrs. Van der Meulen who was German, looked in her own family and found in her niece Julia, a young German girl, willing to help us out in the summer of 1995 with a crash course of German for our daughter Petra. I joined in reading German children books for her. Our daughter, nearly five years old, succeeded in the language test. She was accepted in September that year and once the first child was admitted the admittance of following children became easier (but never easy!).
This was Mrs. Van der Meulen! Always supportive! Always encouraging!
I last visited Mrs. Van der Meulen with my son Paul in July 2006 at her home on the Flierderweg 9 in Gorssel, a beautiful home with a nice garden close to a small forest. Her house was full of photos and memorabilia reminding of Daniel van der Meulen and his explorations through Arabia and to a lesser extent his period in the Dutch Indies. She treasured Daniel, a great story teller of the many adventures he had experienced and people he had encountered. She supported him in writing and publishing his stories in several books.
After his death, she worked tirelessly to preserve his heritage, donating most of their book collection to the Tropeninstituut in Amsterdam and Leiden University, encouraging others to write about her late husband, including the AO publication Guus Boone and I wrote in 1991. I wanted to write this text. I wanted to write something about the man who had so greatly influenced my life. She encouraged this, read the manuscript, made minor corrections, and approved our way of describing Daniel van der Meulen`s life. Today I read the booklet again. The text is based on the books Van der Meulen wrote and the stories he had told me. The booklet therefore reflects how he and his wife viewed his life, rather than how others saw him.
It was always obvious to me that she has fully supported her own husband, from the first moment we met in 1975 until the last time we met in 2006. In 1975, I had returned from Israel where I had first met with Palestinian Christians including Father Elias Chacour. Until that visit, I wasn't even aware that Arab Christians existed. I was fascinated and wanted to know more. Prof. Dr. Willem van`t Spijker, professor at the Theological University of the Christelijke Gereformeerde Kerken in Apeldoorn, heard of my fascination and strongly encouraged me to contact the Van der Meulens of whom I had not heard until that moment. I well remember my first phone call. Mrs. Van der Meulen answered and kept distance. Her husband (then 81) was old and she wanted to protect him from too many visits that would exhaust him, but I kept insisting and she asked Daniel van der Meulen who approved that I would come. What a visit this was. Daniel van der Meulen told me one story after the other about his experiences in the Arab World. The old man loved talking and the young man loved listening. I came back again and again to listen to more stories. Mrs. Heleen van der Meulen was no longer reserved, but encouraged these visits.
Just prior to my studies, I founded the Werkgroep Midden-Oosten, initially focused on Israeli-Palestinian dialogue, but gradually moving to a wider understanding of the Arab world. Whenever it was needed Mr. Van der Meulen would travel by train to meetings we organized in Apeldoorn or – one time in Amsterdam – to speak about his experiences and encourage the young people I had gathered in this organization. Most important was a meeting in the town hall of Apeldoorn, where a young MP Hans van den Broek, later Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs and Commissioner for the European Union, and Van der Meulen were speaking. The photo on the cover of the AO publication was taken here. These meetings must have been a tremendous effort for the old man, but he obviously loved it and his wife, initially so cautious, encouraged this.
During my studies I had met with Hans Bemelmans, working at an organization promoting awareness of the third world that had been housed in the Volkenkundig Museum in Rotterdam. We decided to record Mr. Van der Meulen`s life story on video. Hans took care of the equipment and we recorded at the Van der Meulen`s house. More stories were told while Mrs. Van der Meulen hosted us for lunch. Fantastic! Unfortunately, after I left for Egypt I lost contact with Hans Bemelmans and when I inquired about him in the museum in 2006 no one knew about him. I thus have no idea what happened with this film, which I hope one day will be found.
Daniel van der Meulen wrote several letters of recommendation to support me in my travels. The first letter was for Dr. El-Sayyed Yassin, then head of the Al-Ahram Institute for Strategic Studies. Another letter was for the Dutch Embassy in Cairo and mayor of Luxor, encouraging the development of a partner town relation between Apeldoorn and Luxor. These were the ideas of Mr. Van der Meulen and I was more than glad to try to carry this out. He also introduced me to the Saudi Ambassador in The Hague for a visa to Saudi Arabia, at that time almost impossible to obtain. It did not work in The Hague, I then tried again with the help of the Dutch Embassy in Cairo and when that did not work I tried again with help of Dutch consul-general Raouf Abu Jaber, another old friend of Van der Meulen, in Amman and it worked. I was able to visit Jeddah, the city where Van der Meulen had worked and Taif, a city he believed also could be a good partner town for Apeldoorn.
The Apeldoorn municipality was supportive, but to the officials in Luxor and Taif it was something strange and presented by a young man who was too young in their eyes. Due to lack of response from the side of Luxor and Taif, none of these potential partner town relations were ever realized.
Introductions were not easy. Because of the old age of Daniel van der Meulen, most of his friends of earlier days had already passed away. Yet, the few remaining contacts such as Dr. El-Sayyed Yassin and Raouf Abu Jaber were utilized. With the Saudis he had more difficulties. He had no personal relations with the Saudi Ambassador and none of the kings and princes he had once known were still alive.
Mrs. Van der Meulen came to call me Daniel`s student. How I treasured that description! I feel I am his student and feel strongly indebted to him.
During the many visits to Gorssel I also met with Rijanto, a student from Indonesia to whom they wanted to give a chance to study in The Netherlands and Bernd, the only son from their marriage. Rijanto was like an adopted son, but the apple of her eye was Bernd. She frequently told us how proud she was of him and of his academic achievements. Also in 2006 she told us of Rijanto, now an engineer in industrial robotics, and others the family had housed and helped and of course, Bernd.
I also remember Mrs. Van der Meulen’s activities for the Wereldwinkel in Gorssel, encouraging fair trade and attention for third world countries. Those activities of course were increasingly passed on to others with the increasing years, but it showed her commitment and cause in life.
I had met with my future wife Sawsan in 1987 in Alexandria and told Mrs. Van der Meulen about this. She then cautioned me. Are you sure? A marriage between a couple representing two different cultures is not easy. She cautioned me only once, asked me to be certain of my decision, but when she knew I was certain she was supportive and received us shortly after Sawsan had come to The Netherlands in 1988. We then met with Daniel van der Meulen on his sickbed, no longer able to tell his stories. Now it was my turn to tell Sawsan of the stories he had told me. Daniel van der Meulen passed away in 1989 and we both attended his funeral.
We visited Mrs. Van der Meulen a few times before we left for Egypt in 1994. Mrs. Van der Meulen visited us during my father’s funeral in 1996 and later, my mother’s funeral in 2005. Our visit to her in 2006 was thus important. What a happy get together this was. She inquired about our work and family. She liked to hear about the work of Arab-West Report which she could not read because it was electronic and she no longer wanted to make the effort to understand the internet. Her information was primarily based on our Dutch newsletters, which she kept in a file in her house. She then told us about the diaries of Daniel van der Meulen in which he had written about his meetings with major Muslim leaders and travels. We talked about digitalizing this and adding this to our website. Again she asked for the preservation of the heritage of her husband, not that of her own. How typical this was of her, asking for others, not herself. We agreed that adding electronic copies of a selection of the diaries dealing with Muslim-Christian dialogue would be an enrichment for the website, adding historical depth and giving students the opportunity to compare between the 1950s and 1960s and today. I asked through our newsletter friends in The Netherlands for help to digitalize the archive that she had kept. No support came and the thought was never carried out.
In 2006, Mrs. Van der Meulen gave me a photo album with photos from the days when Daniel van der Meulen was exploring the Arab world. What a treasure this was.
On February 7, 2007, she wrote that most of her husband`s life work had been handed over to Leiden University. Dr. Ronald Kon, she wrote, is planning to focus most of his professional life on Daniel van der Meulen`s life work and possibly write his biography. Heleen van der Meulen then also wrote that Muslim-Christian dialogue was one of his main subjects, dialogue not between colonial rulers and ruled but between equals, free people. Daniel, Heleen wrote, liked to refer to three events/activities that had deeply moved him:
- The meeting (initiated by Americans) between 40 prominent Christians and 40 prominent Muslims in Lebanon which he attended;
- The work of the White Fathers in Algeria as Christian presence in a Muslim country;
- Building a dam in Morocco by Christians and Muslims, later also joined by Jews, with support of King Muhammad V in 1958.
These were all different activities; all three effective, but evil forces are strong. The activities that Van der Meulen described in his diaries all took place in the 1950s, all giving hope but, later Lebanon was torn by a horrible civil war and Algerian extremists also killed White Fathers, creating fear and disbelief. Should we give in to this and give up hope? Of course not!
In July 2009, I was in the Netherlands briefly to sign a contract for a flat in The Hague, preparing for a return to The Netherlands after 15 years of working in Egypt. Of course, I called Mrs. Van der Meulen and for the first time she was disappointed that I had not been able to visit her. In the past she would understand that I was not always able to visit her. Visits on public transportation from The Hague or Leiden to Gorssel were time consuming and tiresome, first going by train to Zutphen or Deventer and then taking the bus and walking from the bus stop for another 10 to 15 minutes to her home. But this time she had hoped I would come, telling me she felt she would not live much longer. I told her I would be back again soon and would visit her with my daughter Petra. How wrong I was. One day before my return with Petra to The Netherlands Mrs. Van der Meulen passed away. The family was unaware that I had returned to The Netherlands and had sent the invitation for the funeral to Egypt where it arrived after the funeral was passed. I could have attended if I had only known.
I read the AO booklet again—it was among the few publications I was able to take with me to The Netherlands. Daniel and Heleen van der Meulen remain great examples for me. They were committed Christians—committed to the belief that Arab Christianity needs to remain in the Arab world and to dialogue with Muslims.
Two things in the booklet stand out: The committed Christian Daniel van der Meulen opposed Christian mainstream thought about colonialism and Islam.
Daniel van der Meulen was born and raised in a Dutch Reformed [Gereformeerd] family and was at home in the Anti Revolutionaire Party (that later became part of the current Christian Democratic Party), but had strongly opposed the parties advocacy to continue colonialism after the Second World War as so well expressed in his book Don't you Hear the Thunder? The signs that Indonesians wanted independence were widespread and clear, in particular after the Second World War, but Christian leaders in those days didn`t want to see them and even believed they could suppress them, which resulted in unprecedented cruel and also futile Dutch military campaigns against the Indonesian resistance.
After the founding of Israel in 1948, Daniel and Heleen van der Meulen did not follow the almost blind support for Israel in Dutch Christian circles that often went on at the expense of the Palestinians. They asked for attention for their human suffering and advocated dialogue between Israel and its Arab neighbors. Daniel van der Meulen met with Jordanian top officials in the late 1940s who wanted peace and spoke highly of Moshe Sharet, then Minister of Foreign Affairs of Israel, believing that he genuinely wanted peace with Israel`s Arab neighbors. However, they saw a continuing polarization between Israel and the Arabs, the consequence of hardliners on both sides, including major political leaders, who through their continuous and often well planned fierce provocative behavior and polemics gained ground and weakened the position of the doves on both sides. Daniel and Heleen van der Meulen did not fear criticizing mainstream thought in their own Christian circle. This was not always appreciated, but that did not weaken the belief in their cause.
Today Sawsan and I experience much of the same sentiment. Many Coptic expatriate hardliners, often supported by strongly pro-Israeli Western Christian organizations, don`t want to hear about dialogue and mutual understanding, mistakenly believing it would weaken their cause for equality between Muslims and Christians. Several pro-Israeli Western Christian organizations give support to Coptic expatriates in the West, in particular when they are showing anti-Islamic sentiments, because they mutually encourage each other in their anti-Islamic sentiments. If Coptic expatriates in the U.S. or other Western countries speak about Muslims attacking Christians, it confirms already existing anti-Islamic sentiments and that attracts people who are already Islamophobic. It is thus no wonder that Islamophobic Coptic expatriates obtain support from pro-Israeli Western Christian organizations. You even see advertisements on Coptic websites for low-cost visits to Israel and of course such visits also boost anti-Islamic sentiments among Coptic expatriates.
And thus, in Christian circles where one finds most interest in Arab Christianity one also finds the greatest opposition to our approach because Arab-West Report shows that tensions between Muslims and Christians are often NOT related to Muslim belief but to a wide range of socio-economic circumstances. That is not what these pro-Israeli Western organizations want to see and read and thus our work is often not liked in these circles.
The Van der Meulen`s belonged to the same circle of Christians, but were a most welcome exception to this general tendency. We advocate the same equality between Muslims and Christians, but not at all of the polemics these hardliners believe they need to employ for their purpose. They churn out superficial, ideologically-motivated (mis)information to a largely uninformed Christian audience, just as Dutch reformed Christians were misled by their Dutch party leaders in the years leading to the Indonesian independence after the Second World War.
It is not easy to see mostly ideologically-motivated distortions in the circles that seem to be closest to one`s own. Yet like the Van der Meulens, we believe we need to follow our own course in life, following what we believe to be truth, not giving in to misguided beliefs of large segments of the Christian public. Just as the Van der Meulens saw that the end of colonial rule was both just and inevitable and wondered why many others did not see the thunder coming, so we see that current policies of Western countries and Christian organizations greatly add to the decline of Arab Christianity. Still, many Christians sadly refuse to see the signs that show that their own actions contribute to this decline.
Just as Daniel and Heleen van der Meulen we believe we must pass on our beliefs to a younger generation.
Daniel and Heleen van der Meulen will always remain great examples for us. We will miss Heleen and will greatly treasure our remembrance of both her and her late husband.
Helene Marie van der Meulen, born October 30, 1916 in Basel, descends from her mother’s side from the Fast family. Part of this family had gone upon the invitation of Empress Catherine the Great (ruling Russia from 1762-1796) to the Caucasus to modernize agriculture. The deeply devout Christian Fast’s later left to Palestine where they belonged to the so-called Templers (Tempel Geselschaft) where they were waiting for the return of Christ. Mrs. Duhm’s (great?) grandfather founded in these years the then famous hotel Fast. Mrs. Van Der Meulen was well aware of her family’s history. She studied medicine at several universities in Germany taking her final exams in the winter of 1944/5 in Berlin while around her allied bombs fell, went in 1957 to Yemen where she on Christmas eve 1958 met with Dutch diplomat and explorer Daniel van der Meulen, 22 years her senior, whose first wife had passed in 1956. They married in 1959 and have one son, Bernd (1960) now professor of Law and Governance at Wageningen University.
More information:
A. Th. Boone and C. Hulsman, Daniel van der Meulen, in: Actuele Onderwerpen (AO), no. 2385, October 4, 1991 (Dutch).
Earlier references to Daniel van der Meulen in AWR:
Ahmad Zaki Yamani. “Annemarie Schimmel,” in: AWR, 2003, week 8, art 7. URL: http://www.arabwestreport.info/year-2003/week-8/7-annemarie-schimmel
Cornelis Hulsman. “Editorial,” in: AWR, 2006, week 5, art. 1. URL: http://www.arabwestreport.info/year-2006/week-5/1-editorial
Cornelis Hulsman. “Media distortions: Presenting a new media-watch project,” in: AWR, 2007, week 14, art. 3. URL: http://www.arabwestreport.info/year-2007/week-14/3-media-distortions-pre...
Johann Hari. “We all fund this torrent of Saudi bigotry,” in; AWR, 2007, week 7, art. 18 URL: http://www.arabwestreport.info/year-2007/week-7/18-we-all-fund-torrent-s...
Timothy C. Morgan, “First love for Egypt,” in: AWR, 2001, week 51, art. 11
URL: http://www.arabwestreport.info/year-2001/week-51/11-first-love-egypt
