Lesley Hazleton: A "tourist" reads the Koran

翻译人员: Bowen Yang 校对人员: Qian Yue

你可能听过

You may have heard about the Koran's idea of paradise

可兰经里对天堂的描述，

being 72 virgins,

那里有72个处女。

我保证待会儿会回到处女这个话题。

and I promise I will come back to those virgins.

事实上，在我们（美国的）东北部，

But in fact, here in the Northwest, we're living very close

我们生活在

to the real Koranic idea of paradise,

跟真正可兰经里的天堂极为相似的地方，

defined 36 times as "gardens watered by running streams."

（在书中）它的定义出现过36次，

即“流水灌溉的花园”。

Since I live on a houseboat on the running stream of Lake Union,

因为我恰好住在同盟湖水流经的船房里，

所以说我太理解这个定义了。

this makes perfect sense to me.

But the thing is, how come it's news to most people?

但问题是，为什么绝大多数人对这一点却很陌生？

I know many well-intentioned non-Muslims

我知道很多怀着善意的非穆斯林

who've begun reading the Koran, but given up,

试着开始读可兰经，但最后还是放弃了，

disconcerted by its "otherness."

因为它的另类而不安。

史学家托马斯.卡莱尔

The historian Thomas Carlyle considered Muhammad

认为穆哈默德是世界上最伟大的英雄之一，

one of the world's greatest heroes,

yet even he called the Koran

可即便是他也认为可兰经，

“是我有生以来读得最费劲的读物，

"as toilsome reading as I ever undertook; a wearisome, confused jumble."

叫人厌烦，而且含糊不清。”

(Laughter)

（笑声）

部分原因，我认为，

Part of the problem, I think, is that we imagine

是我们把可兰经想象成一本像

that the Koran can be read as we usually read a book --

我们平时信手拈来就可以读的书 --

as though we can curl up with it on a rainy afternoon

仿佛我们可以在一个细雨蒙蒙的下午，蜷缩在椅子里悠闲品读，

with a bowl of popcorn within reach,

手边还放着一碗爆米花，

as though God --

仿佛上帝 --

and the Koran is entirely in the voice of God speaking to Muhammad --

可兰经完整记录了上帝对穆哈默德的话语 --

仅仅是另一本畅销书榜单上的作者。

were just another author on the best-seller list.

Yet, the fact that so few people do actually read the Koran

然而事实上，只有极少数人

真正研读可兰经，

这就是为什么可兰经这么容易被引用 --

is precisely why it's so easy to quote -- that is, to misquote.

或者说，错误地被引用。

(Laughter)

人们断章取义

Phrases and snippets taken out of context

in what I call the "highlighter version,"

截出我称之为“划重点版”的章节，

which is the one favored by both Muslim fundamentalists

穆斯林原教旨主义者和

and anti-Muslim Islamophobes.

反穆斯林的恐伊斯兰教者都乐衷于此。

所以在过去的这个春天，

So this past spring,

当我正筹备着

as I was gearing up to begin writing a biography of Muhammad,

开始撰写穆哈默德传记的时候，

I realized I needed to read the Koran properly --

我意识到我必须好好地读一读可兰经 --

当然，尽可能好地。

as properly as I could, that is.

我的阿拉伯语已经退化到

My Arabic is reduced by now to wielding a dictionary,

要靠翻字典才能过活的地步，

so I took four well-known translations

所以我找了四本著名的（可兰经）译本，

and decided to read them side by side, verse by verse,

决定把它们并排并放一起读，

一行一行地读，

along with a transliteration and the original seventh-century Arabic.

同时参考一本音译本和

一本七世纪阿拉伯语的原版。

我的确有个优势。

Now, I did have an advantage.

My last book was about the story behind the Shi'a-Sunni split,

我最近的一本书

讲的是关于叶什和逊尼两派（伊斯兰教的两个分支）纷争的故事，

and for that, I'd worked closely with the earliest Islamic histories,

因为它，我跟伊斯兰的早期历史打过交道，

so I knew the events to which the Koran constantly refers,

所以我很熟悉那些历史事件，

可兰经里反复提及的事件，

its frame of reference.

即它的历史背景。

I knew enough, that is, to know that I'd be a tourist in the Koran --

我知道足够多，或者说会知道

我会像一个游客，游历可兰经 --

an informed one,

我至少是一个见识过的游客，

an experienced one, even,

甚至是一个有经验的游客，

but still an outsider,

但无论如何始终是一个局外人，

an agnostic Jew reading someone else's holy book.

一个不知可论（哲学观点）的犹太人，

阅读其他宗教的神圣经文。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

So I read slowly.

所以我读得很慢。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

I'd set aside three weeks for this project,

我打算用三个星期完成这个计划，

and that, I think, is what is meant by "hubris" --

而这，就是所谓的自大。

（笑声）

(Laughter)

因为最后我花了三个月的时间才完成。

because it turned out to be three months.

(Laughter)

I did resist the temptation to skip to the back,

我有抵制住翻到最后看结局的诱惑，

在读到那些较短的，但明显更神秘的章节时。

where the shorter and more clearly mystical chapters are.

但每次我以为我开始

But every time I thought I was beginning to get a handle on the Koran --

要对可兰经开窍的时候 --

that feeling of "I get it now" --

那个“我终于明白了”的感觉 --

在一夜之间又会悄然而逝。

it would slip away overnight,

第二天早晨醒来，

and I'd come back in the morning,

wondering if I wasn't lost in a strange land.

我会纳闷我是否曾在一个陌生的领地迷了路。

而那个地带却又很熟悉。

And yet, the terrain was very familiar.

The Koran declares that it comes to renew the message

可兰经声明了它是来

更新律法和福音的（基督教经文）。

of the Torah and the Gospels.

So one-third of it reprises the stories of Biblical figures

所以它的三分之一

都在重新叙述圣经里人物的故事，

like Abraham, Moses, Joseph, Mary, Jesus.

像阿伯拉罕，摩西，

约瑟夫，玛利，耶稣。

上帝本身是绝对的熟悉，

God himself was utterly familiar

from his earlier manifestation as Yahweh,

从一开始以雅威为化身 --

jealously insisting on no other gods.

心存嫉妒，坚持世上除他之外再没有其他神明。

The presence of camels, mountains, desert wells and springs

书中出现的骆驼和高山，

绿洲和泉水

took me back to the year I spent wandering the Sinai Desert.

都把我带回了我在

西奈沙漠游走的那年。

还有语言，

And then there was the language, the rhythmic cadence of it,

那带着韵律的抑扬顿挫，

reminding me of evenings spent listening to Bedouin elders

让我回想起那些夜晚，倾听贝都因老人

背诵几小时的长篇叙事诗

recite hours-long narrative poems

完全凭记忆。

entirely from memory.

然后我开始明白

And I began to grasp why it's said

为什么说

that the Koran is really the Koran only in Arabic.

只有阿拉伯语的可兰经

才是真正的可兰经。

Take the Fatihah, the seven-verse opening chapter

拿Faatihah来说，

七行的开篇，

that is the Lord's Prayer and the Shema Yisrael of Islam combined.

由主祷文和伊斯兰的施玛篇组成。

It's just 29 words in Arabic,

它只是29个阿拉伯语单词，

但翻译都至少要用到65至72个单词。

but anywhere from 65 to 72 in translation.

然而添加的越多，

And yet the more you add, the more seems to go missing.

本意似乎也丧失得越多。

阿拉伯语有一种咒语般的，

The Arabic has an incantatory, almost hypnotic quality

近乎于催眠的特质，

that begs to be heard rather than read,

它祈求被聆听，而非阅读，

被感受，多于解析。

felt more than analyzed.

It wants to be chanted out loud,

它希望被大声吟咏，

to sound its music in the ear and on the tongue.

让它的旋律传出舌尖，传进耳朵。

所以英文版的可兰经

So the Koran in English is a kind of shadow of itself,

只不过是它的影子，

or as Arthur Arberry called his version,

或者如亚瑟.阿伯里所说，

"an interpretation."

“一种释义”。

But all is not lost in translation.

但不是所有都会在翻译中被丢失。

正如可兰经承诺的那样，耐心会得到回报，

As the Koran promises, patience is rewarded,

and there are many surprises --

（读可兰经）会带来很多惊喜 --

a degree of environmental awareness, for instance,

譬如一定程度上对环境的认知，

and of humans as mere stewards of God's creation,

人类仅仅是上帝创造的副手，

这些都是圣经无法比拟的。

unmatched in the Bible.

And where the Bible is addressed exclusively to men,

相对于圣经里那些仅仅是对男同胞的讲解，

using the second- and third-person masculine,

即以第二和第三男性人称的叙述部分，

可兰经顾及到了女同胞 --

the Koran includes women --

talking, for instance,

例如，

of believing men and believing women,

信男和信女 --

honorable men and honorable women.

可敬的男人和可敬的女人。

Or take the infamous verse about killing the unbelievers.

再比如那句臭名昭著的，

关于杀死异教徒的句子。

是的，可兰经里有这么说，

Yes, it does say that,

but in a very specific context:

但是是在一个非常特定的情况下才被允许的：

the anticipated conquest of the sanctuary city of Mecca,

即将来临的

对圣城麦迦的入侵

where fighting was usually forbidden.

在这座禁止打斗的城市里。

And the permission comes hedged about with qualifiers.

而且这许可是带有限制的。

Not "You must kill unbelievers in Mecca,"

不是说，你一定要杀死麦迦城的异教徒，

but you can, you are allowed to,

而是说，你可以，你被允许这么做，

but only after a grace period is over,

但只有等到宽限期结束之后，

and only if there's no other pact in place,

只有当没有其他条约存在的时候，

and only if they try to stop you getting to the Kaaba,

只有当他们企图阻止你到达克尔白天房，

and only if they attack you first.

只有当他们先攻击你。

And even then -- God is merciful;

就算到了那个时候 -- 上帝还是仁慈的，

宽恕至上 --

forgiveness is supreme --

and so, essentially,

所以，本质上，

better if you don't.

最好不杀。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

This was perhaps the biggest surprise --

这也许是最大的惊喜 --

how flexible the Koran is,

可兰经是多么变通啊，

at least in minds that are not fundamentally inflexible.

至少对那些

不是完全固不可化的人来说是这样的。

"Some of these verses are definite in meaning," it says,

“有些语句很明了”，它说，

“而另一些则有歧义。

"and others are ambiguous."

心术不正的

The perverse at heart will seek out the ambiguities,

会去寻找有歧义的部分，

trying to create discord by pinning down meanings of their own.

用他们自己扭曲了的解释，

企图制造不和。

Only God knows the true meaning.

只有上帝才知道真正的意义。”

The phrase "God is subtle" appears again and again,

“上帝是不可捉摸的”这句话

出现了一次又一次。

and indeed, the whole of the Koran is far more subtle

事实上，整个可兰经

than most of us have been led to believe.

比我们中大多数所相信的要难以琢磨得多。

譬如，

As in, for instance, that little matter of virgins and paradise.

在

处女和天堂的那个小议题中。

Old-fashioned orientalism comes into play here.

老式的东方主义发挥了它的作用。

The word used four times is "houris,"

有个词被用了四次

那就是Houris，

意为

rendered as dark-eyed maidens with swelling breasts,

有着深色眼睛、丰盈乳房的少女，

or as fair, high-bosomed virgins.

或者是白皙而又胸部高挺的处女。

然而在阿拉伯语原版中，有的仅仅是

Yet all there is in the original Arabic is that one word: houris.

那一个词：Houris

Not a swelling breast or high bosom in sight.

根本没有任何暗示，提及丰盈的乳房或高挺的胸部。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

Now this may be a way of saying "pure beings," like in angels,

它也许是用来描述

纯洁生物 -- 如天使 -- 的一种方式，

或者它是类似于希腊语中的Kouros，亦写作Kórē，

or it may be like the Greek "kouros" or "kore,"

即长生不老的青年。

an eternal youth.

But the truth is, nobody really knows.

但它真正的释义没人知道，

And that's the point.

那就是它的本质。

Because the Koran is quite clear

因为可兰经很明确地说

when it says that you'll be "a new creation in paradise,"

你将会成为

“一个新的生命体出现在天堂”，

and that you will be "recreated in a form unknown to you,"

你将被”重新创造成

一种未知的形式“，

which seems to me a far more appealing prospect

在我看来比成为一个处女

than a virgin.

更具有吸引力。

(Laughter)

（笑声）

And that number 72 never appears.

还有，72这个数字从未出现过。

There are no 72 virgins in the Koran.

在可兰经里，没有72个处女

这么一说。

That idea only came into being 300 years later,

这种说法是在可兰经写成后过了300年才出现的，

and most Islamic scholars see it as the equivalent

大多数伊斯兰教学者把它等同于

of people with wings sitting on clouds and strumming harps.

那些坐在云上，弹着竖琴

带着翅膀的人儿。

Paradise is quite the opposite.

天堂其实恰恰相反。

它不是童贞，

It's not virginity;

it's fecundity;

它是富饶，

it's plenty.

是丰盛，

是流水灌溉的

It's gardens watered by running streams.

花园。

谢谢。

Thank you.

(Applause)

（掌声）