The Anawati Chair (2023-2027) is part of Idéo’s programme to promote the excellence of its researchers’ research and training. Supported by the Human Rights Section of the European Union Delegation, its mission is to help deconstruct extremist and exclusivist discourse and build a world that promotes dialogue between religions and universal brotherhood.
Born in Alexandria in 1905, Father Georges Chehata Anawati joined the Dominicans in 1934. Trained as a pharmacist, he became a world-renowned specialist in medieval Arab philosophy, the field that helped bridge the gap between the Greek heritage and medieval thought. His work on Avicenna and Averroes is still as authoritative as his Introduction to Muslim Theology or his translation of Avicenna’s Shifāʾ. Having spent his life building bridges between the Christian and Muslim worlds, he was also a decisive player in the advances made by the Second Vatican Council on dialogue with Islam. He died in 1994, on St Thomas Aquinas Day, and is still a point of reference for Idéo members who wish to combine expertise and friendship in their approach to the Muslim world (for more information, see the book by Jean-Jacques Pérennès, Georges Anawati (1905-1994), un chrétien égyptien devant le mystère de l’islam, Paris, Ed. du Cerf, 2008).
This documentary presents the life and intellectual legacy of Father Georges Chehata Anawati, a Dominican friar and a pivotal figure in the dialogue of cultures and religions during the twentieth century.
A Pioneer of Dialogue: Father Anawati was born in the multicultural city of Alexandria and devoted his life to building bridges of understanding between Christianity and Islam. He was one of the founders of the Dominican Institute for Oriental Studies (IDEO) in Cairo in 1953, established to study Islamic history, philosophy, and theology.
Competence and Friendship: The documentary highlights the unique approach Father Anawati brought to interreligious relations, built on two essential pillars: personal friendship and scholarly competence. He believed that genuine engagement with another faith required rigorous scholarly study of its heritage — as shown in his extensive work editing and translating Islamic philosophical texts, including the works of Avicenna (Ibn Sina).
A Global Impact: Father Anawati played a pivotal role during the Second Vatican Council. His expertise and advocacy for interreligious dialogue were instrumental in drafting the Council’s declaration Nostra Aetate (“In Our Time”), which redefined the Catholic Church’s relationship with other religions, particularly Islam.
An Ongoing Legacy: The documentary features reflections from contemporary scholars on how Father Anawati’s mission continues today — through the Institute’s library, which holds more than 170,000 volumes, and through the “Anawati Chair,” launched in 2024 to support new generations of researchers.
The deconstruction of violent extremist discourses cannot be limited to the production of a theological counter-discourse or by the production of an alternative discourse. It also involves the development and dissemination of critical reading methods: text without context is only the ruin of man, to paraphrase a famous aphorism. The action will therefore aim to promote seminars and meetings between young people and teachers within their institutions in order to contribute to giving keys to reading. In other words, the challenge is not to oppose one discourse to another, to oppose a discourse that promotes dialogue, equality, and openness to a discourse that justifies discrimination, hostility to minorities, and justifies violence, but rather to promote a critical methodology that makes it possible to deconstruct the discourses of violent extremism in an axial and profound manner. The action will contribute to strengthen the promotion of diversity and the values of humanism (human dignity), through the publication and broadcasting of videos on internet.
The Chair supports the work of Egyptian institutions, in particular al-Azhar University, in their fight against extremism and contributes through its research and training to creating a network of young people involved in the social and political world in order to promote the values of openness, respect and equal citizenship.
The Chair continues and develops the work covered by the two previous programmes supported by the Delegation of the European Union to Egypt: The 200 Project and Adawāt. The work will be based on the established network of partners, in particular with al-Azhar University, but will also be open to other partners who are in line with the Chair’s perspective.
The Chair is in line with the philosophy and initiatives covered as part of interreligious dialogue in al-Azhar for the past ten years and which led the Great Imam to sign with Pope Francis a document on human fraternity in order to promote the deconstruction of violent ideologies, deconstruct mutual prejudices between the East and the West, support the fight against discrimination and promote equality between men and women. It is in this context and in this line drawn in Abu Dhabi on February 4, 2019, a day that has since been proclaimed by the General Assembly of the United Nations as the International Day of Fraternity, that the action of the Chair is part of.
