“In the definitive sura five [of the Qu'ran], the subject of his recent book, Cuypers finds verses that give guidance on relations with Jews and Christians. There is both an explanation of the existence of other religions; and there is a pronouncement on the status, in terms of salvation, of adherents of the Jewish and Christian faiths. And the story is very different from the commonly held notion that these people should simply be made to “submit” to Islam in terms of salvation, of adherents of the Jewish and Christian faiths. And the story is very different from the commonly held notion that these people should simply be made to 'submit' to Islam."

Excerpted from "Among the Believers," an interview with Michel Cuypers by James Roberts in The Tablet (June 19, 2010). Available on-line (accessed December 14, 2010) at the link given below.

Michel Cuypers, a Belgian, is a Brother of Jesus, the religious community founded in the twentieth century by Charles de Foucauld. Cuypers resided in Iran for twelve years, first at a leper colony in Tabriz, and later studying Persian language and literature in Teheran. He obtained a doctorate in Persian literature from the University of Teheran in 1983. He studied Arabic in Syria and Egypt, and in 1989 he moved to Cairo, where he presently resides. Cuypers is a researcher and professor at the Dominican Institute for Eastern studies which was founded in Cairo half a century ago, and is a member of the International Society for the Studies of Biblical and Semitic Rhetoric at the Papal Gregorian University in Rome. Since 1994 Cuypers has utilized the method of rhetorical analysis in focusing his studies entirely on the composition of the Qur’an text. His articles and essays are being increasingly appreciated by Muslim scholars.

Convivium Press, 2009.