The United States and Islam美国和伊斯兰教
Let nations speak peace让各国握手言和吧！
Jun 4th 2009
From The Economist print edition
After the chill of the Bush era, ties between America and Islam can only get better—but how much better?
美国与伊斯兰教的关系在经过布什时代的冰封之后只能是改善，但会改善到何种程度呢？
IS three years since Senator Barack Obama pronounced that America “is no longer a Christian nation—at least, not just.” The words sounded harsher than he intended: he meant to make the point in a more positive way, stressing that the United States was as much a Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu or non-believing polity as a Christian one. In Turkey in April the president seemed to turn the formula on its head, declaring that “We do not consider ourselves a Christian nation or a Jewish nation or a Muslim nation” but “a nation of citizens” bound by values.
自参议员贝拉克奥巴马宣称美国“不再是一个基督教国家——至少，不仅仅是”已有三年了。这话听来较其初衷更为刺耳：他意在以一种更积极的方式表明这一观点，强调在美国犹太教、伊斯兰教、佛教或无信仰团体与基督教具有同等地位。4月在土耳其奥巴马总统似乎就套用了这一模式，宣称“我们不把自己看作是一个基督教国家，或是犹太教国家，亦或是穆斯林国家”，而是看作一个受价值规范约束的“子民国家”。
And in a warmly received speech in Cairo on June 4th, which repeatedly cited the Koran, he called for a “new beginning between the United States and Muslims around the world” based on the “truth that America and Islam are not exclusive, and need not be in competition.”
6月4日奥巴马在开罗发表了一场深受欢迎的演讲，重复引用了《古兰经》中的内容，他呼吁通过基于“美国与穆斯林间并非相斥且无需去竞争这一事实”开启“美国与世界范围内的穆斯林的一个新起点”。
The philosophy may not be perfectly coherent, but the mood music is clear—absolute opposition to sectarianism, to any emphasis on religious difference rather than commonality. And quite a lot of Muslims seem willing to hear it.
所涵盖的哲学理念或许不那么十分清晰，但其背后之意却再清楚不过了，即完全反对宗派主义、反对任意强调宗教分歧而非共性的观念。而相当多的穆斯林们似乎都愿闻其详。
Take the reaction to a recent appointment that caused far more interest outside America than inside it. When Dalia Mogahed, an Egyptian-American social scientist, was invited in April to join a White House advisory panel, the press in her native land gushed with excitement.
看看最近一项任命的反响，它所引起的兴趣，在美国之外更甚于其国内。当埃及裔美国社会学家Dalia Mogahed于4月受邀加入白宫顾问小组时，她的祖国兴奋之情溢于言表。
This was not just because Ms Mogahed, who analyses the Islamic world for Gallup, a polling organisation, is a devout Muslim. Her appointment (to a 25-strong panel on “faith-based and neighbourhood partnership”) was also hailed as an endorsement of her argument that Islamic and Western values are more compatible than civilisational warriors think.
这不仅仅因为Mogahed女士是一名虔诚的穆斯林，她为一民意调查机构，盖洛普，分析了伊斯兰世界。她的任命还意味着对其观点的赞同，即伊斯兰与西方价值观念比文明卫兵所想更相容。
The exuberant reaction to Ms Mogahed’s nomination suggests that, for those willing to look, there are easy ways to warm up relations between the United States and the Muslim world (including America’s Muslims); the Obama presidency is busy finding them. Such was the suspicion between most Americans and most Muslims in the Bush era that it did not take much to improve the climate. One thing that helps is big presidential speeches (in Turkey in April and in Cairo this week); another is a sprinkling of domestic job offers, mostly to younger Muslim Americans.
对Mogahed女士提名的热烈反响表明了，对那些有所期待的人来说，美国与穆斯林世界（包括美国裔穆斯林）关系的回暖就有易行之法；奥巴马在其任内就为找寻这些方法而奔波。在布什时代大多数美国人与大多数穆斯林之间的猜疑就是没有费心去改善他们间的气氛。目前起到补救作用的一件事就是总统发表的重要演讲（4月在土耳其及本周在罗马所发表的）；另一件事就是提供了点儿国内工作机会，大多是给予美国穆斯林年轻人的。
In Turkey Mr Obama’s visit is remembered less for what he said, than for some neat choreography that managed to please devout Muslims without upsetting secularists. His body language went down well—“He’s like us, eastern, warm.”
在土耳其，奥巴马的访问被铭记并不是因其所言，而是一些意在取悦虔诚的穆斯林所做的简单编排，而同时并未打压非宗教主义者。他的肢体语言受到欢迎——“他是喜欢我们东方人的，令人温暖。”
And as some recent Gallup findings show, the change of guard in the White House led to an immediate upturn in attitudes to America’s leadership among most Arab Muslims (see chart 1), with the exception of Lebanese and Palestinians. Meanwhile the American public perceives the Muslim world as hostile to the United States, but it does not—to anything like the same extent—reciprocate that hostility. Although a steady 80% of Americans believe Muslim countries are unfavourably disposed to their homeland, only 39% of Americans (see chart 2) return the compliment by voicing “unfavourable” attitudes to the Muslim world.
而正如近期的民意调查所示，白宫中的权利更迭导致美国在阿拉伯穆斯林的领导姿态直线好转（见表1），但在黎巴嫩和巴勒斯坦除外。同时美国公众认为穆斯林世界对美国存有敌意，但是并未——在某种相同的程度上——冤冤相报。尽管有趋于80%的美国人相信穆斯林国家对美国报有“恶感”，但仅有39%的美国人回复对穆斯林世界报有“恶感”（见表2）。
This suggests that a section, at least, of America’s electorate is open to the idea of better links with Islam. In Washington’s establishment, meanwhile, venerable figures like Madeleine Albright (who as secretary of state gave military help to the Balkan Muslims) are rehearsing reasons why America and Islam can be friends.
这意味着，在美国的选民中至少有一部分人同意与伊斯兰国家保有更好的联系。同时，在华盛顿当局，如马德琳·欧布莱特（Madeleine Albright为巴尔干穆斯林提供军事援助的国务卿）之类的有名望人士一直在详述着美国与伊斯兰国家可成为朋友的理由。
For groups committed to that principle, the change in climate feels dramatic. Daisy Khan, co-founder of the American Society for Muslim Advancement, predicts that a wave of second-generation Muslim-Americans will now enter politics, unlike their cautious, apolitical parents. In Obama’s America, she thinks, the overseas ties of Muslims can help with civic diplomacy.
数个组织团体按此准则行事，气氛的变化令人侧目。美国穆斯林进步会（American Society for Muslim Advancement）的共同创始人Daisy Khan预计，一波第二代美裔穆斯林将步入政坛，并不像其谨慎、不关心政治的父辈。她认为，奥巴马任期内的美国，穆斯林的海外联系能有助于公民外交。
Well, perhaps not all overseas ties. Parts of the American Muslim world are still in shock over long sentences handed out in May to five leaders of the Holy Land Foundation, a charity, on charges of helping Hamas. As a result of the trial, America’s law enforcers have scaled down once-friendly ties with some Muslim-American bodies.
或许并不是所有的海外联系会有帮助。5月份，慈善组织圣地基金会（Holy Land Foundation）的五名领导人因帮助哈马斯而被处以长期监禁，部分美国穆斯林仍对此深感震惊。审判的结果就是美国的执法者相应减少了与穆斯林–美国团体间的一贯友好联系。
In its choice of Muslim personnel, the Obama administration has artfully sought out people with little involvement in the messy world of institutional Muslim politics. But making easy gains, and dodging controversies, including religious ones, has its limits. Hard choices may lie ahead in the area of religious liberty.
在穆斯林人员抉择方面，奥巴马政府已颇为巧妙地找出了与混乱的穆斯林政局鲜有关联的人。但是如此简单受益之举，且规避了包括宗教方面的争端，也有其局限性。而关于宗教自由问题的艰难抉择或许已迫在眉睫。
Philosophically, America’s Commission on International Religious Freedom (a bipartisan body that advises Congress and the White House) is in step with the Obama mood. Its latest global report stresses that in many places, Muslims are victims of discrimination, not its perpetrators. Suffering Muslims (be they Uighurs in China or Shias in repressive Sunni states like Saudi Arabia) need America’s support—as part of a foreign policy that favours just, tolerant societies. So the commission believes, and so the Obama people, in theory, say too.
哲学上，美国国际宗教自由委员会（U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom）是一个为国会和白宫提供建议的两党派团体，唯奥巴马情绪马首是瞻。其发布的最新全球报告强调，在许多地区穆斯林深受歧视所害，而并不是歧视的罪魁祸首。遭受折磨的穆斯林（也许是中国的维吾尔人，亦或是在像沙特这样的逊尼派国家受压迫的什叶派人）需要美国的支持——作为其支持正义、宽容社会的外交政策的一部分。委员会如是认为，理论上，奥巴马政府的子民亦如是以为。
But how far will the president go in scolding states identified by the commission? Its report adds five new countries (including Iraq, Nigeria and Pakistan) to the eight already classed as “countries of particular concern” over religious liberty. Among 11 countries placed on the commission’s “watch list” are Afghanistan, Indonesia, Tajikistan, Turkey—and Egypt. Hillary Clinton, the secretary of state, will meet the commissioners soon, and they will have some hard questions for her.
但奥巴马谴责被该委员会列名的国家的行为会延伸至几何呢？其报告新增五国（包括伊拉克、尼日利亚和巴基斯坦），现在已有八个国家被归于在宗教自由方面需给予“特别关注的国家”之列。其中有十一个国家被列入委员会的“观察名单”，即阿富汗、印度尼西亚、塔吉克斯坦、土耳其及埃及等国。国务卿希拉里克林顿即将与委员们会晤，他们会有些棘手的问题丢给她。
《经济学人》（The Economist ( http://www.economist.com ))
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