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About us |
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Al Kalima was founded by Arab writer Mazhar Mallouhi and his wife Christine to publish and distribute books which help Muslims understand Christ, to build bridges of understanding between Muslims and Christians. Most Arab Muslims have never read the gospel and most Christian books are written for Christians; those that are produced for a Muslim readership are often written in a very unsympathetic way. It is the goal of Al Kalima to make the Bible accessible for all literate Arabs. Most Arab Muslims come to the conclusion that Christianity is a western religion, and Christ a western figure. How far from the truth this is: Christ was born a Palestinian Jew and lived under Roman occupation, something which modern Palestinians readily identify with. Al Kalima seeks to replace these stereotypes with the image of Christ as a Middle-Easterner who speaks to the hearts of Arabs. Al Kalima works with writers and academics in several Arab countries to help produce our books. These people may be Muslim or Christian, but they all share our goal of bridge-building and are happy to endorse our books. All of our books have endorsements by prominent Arab intellectuals, greatly adding to their credibility amongst readers. The presentation of Arabic books is really important: the cover sells the book in the Arab world just as it does in the west. Thus our Bible commentaries are presented in hardback in a style which suggests they are serious religious books. All of Al Kalima's books are published through Dar Al Jil, a major Arab publisher and distributor, who have an online bookstore (in Arabic) www.daraljil.com. We frequently hear stories about how our books are appreciated. The next page tells you more... |
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Mazhar has written many novels in Arabic, five of which are currently in print with Al Kalima. Christine writes in English and is the author of Waging Peace on Islam and Miniskirts, Mothers and Muslims. |
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Some of our books are produced from scratch in response to requests from our Arab Muslim friends, principally our commentaries on Luke, Genesis and John, with explanatory articles.John was singled out as one of the most significant books of 2004 by the Arab Publishers' Journal. Our other books are either significant books which we have had translated to Arabic, or novels by Mazhar Mallouhi in the original Arabic. In 2005 Al Jazeera TV did a 30 minute programme on Mazhar and Christine, and some of Al Kalima's books were shown on it. |
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An Eastern
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