《妇女》（完美的社会道德）15 - 28 - 《古兰经》的荫庇之下

《妇女》（完美的社会道德）15 - 28 - 《古兰经》的荫庇之下 | Quran Course

本章的第一段论及穆斯林社会的组织，以及如何通过为孤儿提供保障、在家庭与社会中保护其财产，从其制度中彻底清除异教信仰的一切痕迹。它也论及继承制度。所有这些保障，都在真主所规定的伊斯兰制度之内运行，真主是全人类的主宰。他创造了他们所有人，源于一个人，并以家庭为社会的基本单位而建立人类社会，以相互关爱为其指导原则。此外，他们的一切事务都必须依照真主所设定的界限加以规范，而真主的知识完美无缺，智慧无穷无尽。人们是否服从或违抗真主在这一切中的命令，决定了他们将获得的报酬或遭受的惩罚。

The first passage of this sūrah dealt with the organisation of Muslim society and the eradication of all traces of pagan beliefs from its system by providing guarantees to orphans and protecting their wealth within their families and within the community. It has also dealt with the system of inheritance. All these guarantees work within the Islamic system outlined by God, the Lord of all people. He has created them all of a single soul, and He has established human society with the family as its basic unit, making mutual care its guiding principle. Moreover, all their affairs must be regulated within the bounds set by God on the basis of His perfect knowledge and infinite wisdom. They receive their reward or suffer their punishment according to whether they obey or disobey Him in all this.

在这第二段经文中，本章继续其组织穆斯林社会的宗旨，旨在使社会摆脱一切丑恶的淫秽行为。它规定了对犯此类淫秽之罪的男女加以隔离，同时为其中愿意悔过、自洁并过清白贞洁生活的人敞开大门。它还使妇女摆脱了在蒙昧制度下所遭受的屈辱与不公，使家庭得以建立起稳固而健全的根基。唯有如此，社会才能建立在坚实的基础之上，并处于清洁的风气之中。最后，本段列出了伊斯兰教法禁止男子娶为妻室的女性名单。这构成了家庭生活组织的一部分。

In this second passage, the sūrah continues with its purpose of organising Muslim society, aiming at purifying it of all gross indecency. It provides for the isolation of those who commit such indecency, men and women, while at the same time opening the door for those of them who want to repent, purify themselves and lead a clean and chaste life. It also rescues women from what they used to suffer of humiliation and injustice under ignorant systems, so that the family could establish its firm and sound basis. That was the only way to build the society on firm foundations and within a clean atmosphere. It concludes with giving a list of the women whom a man is forbidden to marry under Islamic law. This constitutes a part of the organisation of family life.

“至于你们中行为淫秽的妇女，你们当从自己人中召集四个人为她们作证。他们若作证，你们就把这些妇女拘禁在家中，直到死亡召取她们，或者真主为她们另开出路。”（第15节）“你们中两个行此事的人，你们应当惩罚他们两个。他们若悔过自新，你们就不要再为难他们。真主确是至验收悔罪的，确是至慈的。”（第16节）

As for those of your women who are guilty of gross immoral conduct, call upon four from among you to bear witness against them. If they so testify, then confine the guilty women to their houses until death takes them or God opens another way for them. (Verse 15) And the two from among you who are guilty of the same, punish them both. If they repent and mend their ways, then leave them alone. God is the One who accepts repentance, the Merciful. (Verse 16)

伊斯兰在此确立了其方法，旨在净化和纯洁社会。首先，伊斯兰选择在通奸罪名确凿之后，将犯此罪的妇女与社会其他成员隔离开来。对于性行为变态的男子，伊斯兰则选择施以身体上的惩罚，但并未明确规定惩罚的类型或性质。后来，伊斯兰对此类男女施以相同的刑罚：依《古兰经》第24章《光明章》（Sūrah Al-Nūr）所述施以鞭刑，依圣训（Sunnah）所述施以石刑致死。这两种刑罚的最终目的，都在于保护社会，维护其荣誉与道德。

Islam defines here its method, which aims at the cleansing and purification of society. In the first instance, it chooses to isolate those women who commit adultery from the rest of the community, once their guilt is proven. It also chooses to inflict physical punishment on those men who are sexually perverted, without specifying the type of punishment or its nature. At a later stage, Islam chose to mete out the same punishment to such men and women, which is flogging as explained in Sūrah 24, The Light, or Al-Nūr, and stoning to death as explained by the Sunnah. The ultimate aim of either punishment is to protect society and to guard its honour and morality.

在任何情况下、对任何刑罚而言，伊斯兰立法都提供了保障，使得不公正之事极难发生，也几乎不可能仅凭怀疑或认错人而施加刑罚。鉴于所立之刑可能对人的生活造成如此严重的影响，这一点尤为重要：“你们的妇女中若有犯淫乱罪的，你们中间当有四人为她们作证；如果他们作了证，你们就把那些妇女禁闭在家里，直到死亡来召取她们，或者真主为她们另立一条出路。”（第15节）

In every situation and with every punishment, Islamic legislation provides guarantees which make it extremely difficult for injustice to take place and which make it almost impossible for punishment to be inflicted on the basis of suspicion or mistaken identity. This was especially important given that the punishment legislated could leave such a serious effect on people’s lives: “As for those of your women who are guilty of gross immoral conduct, call upon four from among you to bear witness against them. If they so testify, then confine the guilty women to their houses until death takes them or God opens another way for them.” (Verse 15)

首先，可以施以此刑罚的女性是这样界定的："你们的女人中"，即仅指穆斯林女性。此外，被召来作证此罪行发生的男子也有明确规定："你们中召集四人"，即他们也必须是穆斯林。因此，这是一种对特定类型女性的刑罚，而其罪行须由特定男子的证言来证明。

Great care is being taken here. Firstly, the women on whom this punishment may be inflicted are defined as follows, “As for those of your women”, meaning Muslim women only. Furthermore, the men who are called in to testify to the occurrence of the offence are specified as follows, “Call upon four from among you”, meaning that they must also be Muslims. It is, then, a punishment for a certain kind of woman once the offence is proven by the testimony of certain men.

伊斯兰教不允许非穆斯林男子就穆斯林妇女的淫秽行为作证。四名男性证人必须信奉伊斯兰教，属于穆斯林社群，服从其律法，接受其领导，关心其福祉，并且了解社群内部发生的事情。涉及穆斯林妇女的名誉时，非穆斯林的证词是不被接受的，因为我们无法确定他的诚实与正直。他没有维护社群清白与贞洁的利益，也不见得特别关心在该社群中维护公正。即使此类案件的裁决已经改变，通奸的刑罚也更明确地规定为鞭刑或石刑，这些保障依然有效。

Islam does not allow non-Muslim men to testify against Muslim women, when they commit indecency. The four male witnesses must belong to the Islamic faith and the Muslim community, submit to its legislation, accept its leadership, care for its welfare and know what takes place within it. When it comes to the honour of a Muslim woman, the testimony of a non-Muslim is unacceptable, because we cannot be certain of his honesty and integrity. He has no interest in safeguarding the cleanliness and chastity of the community and he is not particularly interested in maintaining justice in that community. These safeguards have remained in effect even after the ruling in such cases was changed and the punishment for adultery was more clearly defined as flogging or stoning.

“如果她们作证，那就把犯淫的女人禁闭在家中。”（第15节）如此一来，她们便不与穆斯林社会往来，也不污染穆斯林社会，并且不被允许结婚或从事任何活动。这一惩罚将持续“直到死亡将她们带走”，她们被关在家中，“或者真主为她们开辟另一条出路”。这意味着她们自身可能会改变，或者她们所受的惩罚可能会被更改。这也意味着真主可能会决定对她们做出任何祂所愿意做的安排。所有这些都表明，这并非最终的裁决，而是一项临时性的判决，它考虑到了社会中的某些情况。因此，人们可以预料到会有另一种更为持久的裁决。后来，裁决和惩罚被改为《光明章》（第24章）以及圣训中所规定的内容，这一点确实发生了。然而，这里为确立罪行而提供的严格保障，则始终保持不变。

“If they so testify, then confine the guilty women to their houses.” (Verse 15) Thus they do not mix with or contaminate the Muslim society, nor are they allowed to marry or undertake any activity. This punishment continues “until death takes them” while they are confined in their houses, “or God opens another way for them”. This means that they themselves may change, or that their punishment may be changed. It also means that God may decide to do whatever He will with them. All this suggests that this is not a final ruling, but an interim verdict that takes into account certain circumstances in society. A different verdict which would be more permanent was, then, to be expected. This took place when the verdict and the punishment were changed to those outlined in Sūrah 24 and in the Sunnah. The strict guarantees which are provided here for the establishment of guilt have, however, remained the same.

伊玛目艾哈迈德转述，乌巴德·本·萨米特传述：每当真主降示启示给先知时，先知都会明显地受到影响，面色改变，显得很不安。有一天，先知在接受启示之后恢复了气色，他说："你们从我这里学习这条规定。真主已为他们开辟了另一条道路：无论是已婚的男子与已婚的女子，还是未婚的男子与未婚的女子。对于已婚者，是一百鞭和石刑；对于未婚者，是一百鞭和流放一年。"这段圣训也由伊玛目穆斯林及其他人转述，但措辞有所不同。

Imām Aĥmad relates on the authority of `Ubādah ibn al-Şāmit that the Prophet used to be visibly affected every time revelations were bestowed on him from on high. His face changed and he looked ill at ease. One day, after he received revelations and he regained his colour, he said: “Learn this from me. God has opened another way for them, both in the case of a married man and a married woman and that of an unmarried man with an unmarried woman. For the married, one hundred lashes and stoning, and for the unmarried one hundred lashes and exile for a year.” This ĥadīth is also related by Imām Muslim and others but using different wording:

“向我学习，向我学习。真主为他们开辟了另一条道路：未婚男子与未婚女子通奸，应处鞭刑一百下并流放一年；已婚男子与已婚女子通奸，应处鞭刑一百下并用石头砸死。”先知的实践也证实了这一点，即在马assiz（Mā`iz）与那位哈米迪耶女子（Ghāmidī）的案例中，先知用石头将他们砸死，而没有施以较轻的鞭刑。穆斯林所编的圣训集中记载了此事。两名犹太通奸者的案件被提交给他裁决时，情况也是如此：他的判决是用石头砸死，而非鞭刑。因此，先知的实践表明，这是最终的、永久的判决。

“Learn this from me; learn this from me. God has opened another way for them: For an unmarried man with an unmarried woman, one hundred lashes and exile for a year; and for a married man with a married woman, one hundred lashes and stoning.” The practice of the Prophet confirms this in the case of Mā`iz and the Ghāmidī woman. It is stated in the authentic compilation of ĥadīth by Muslim that the Prophet stoned them to death, and did not inflict on them the lesser punishment of flogging. The same occurred when the case of two Jewish adulterers was put to him for judgement. His verdict was stoning to death and not flogging. The Prophet’s practice, then, shows that this is the final and permanent verdict.

接下来的经文也规定了一项临时措施:"你们中若有二人行此淫秽之事,就要惩罚她们二人。如果她们悔改并改正,你们就由她们去吧。真主是至宥的,是至慈的。"(4:16)显然,经文中"你们中若有二人行此淫秽之事"这一表述所指的,是两名同性恋男子。一些学者认为,"就要惩罚她们二人"这句话中所说的惩罚,是指言语上的斥责以及用鞋子殴打他们。

The next verse also prescribes an interim measure: “And the two from among you who are guilty of the same, punish them both. If they repent and mend their ways, then leave them alone. God is the One who accepts repentance, the Merciful.” (Verse 16) It seems clear that the reference in the expression to “the two from among you who are guilty” of gross immoral conduct refers to two homosexual men. A number of scholars say that the punishment meant in the words `punish them both” is in the form of verbal rebuke and beating them with shoes.

“如果他们悔改并改正行为，那就放过他们。”悔改与改正行为表明品性、方式、行为和举止发生了根本的转变。随着这种转变，惩罚就应当停止，社会也应当停止对悔改的同性恋者施加任何伤害。在此语境中，“放过他们”意味着停止惩罚他们。

“If they repent and mend their ways, then leave them alone.” Repentance and mending one’s ways indicate a fundamental change in character, method, action and behaviour. With this change, punishment should stop and the community should cease to inflict any harm on repenting homosexuals. In this context, leaving them alone means to cease punishing them.

这段话以一句意味深长的结语作结：“真主是悔罪的接受者，是至慈的。”（第16节）施行刑罚是真主的命令，当犯罪者悔改、改正行为时，要停止刑罚，同样也是真主的命令。无论是施行刑罚，还是暂停刑罚，人都没有置喙的余地，人只是执行真主的律法和指令。真主接受悔罪，并以慈悯之心眷顾改过自新的犯罪者。

This is followed by a profound concluding remark: “God is the One who accepts repentance, the Merciful.” (Verse 16) It is He who has ordered punishment, and it is He who orders that it must stop when the offender repents and mends his ways. People have no say in either the infliction of punishment or in its suspension. They only implement God’s laws and directives. He accepts repentance and turns in mercy to reformed offenders.

这段评注中还有另一处精妙之处,它引导人们以慈悲和怜悯作为彼此交往的基础。上帝接纳悔过,祂的恩典是无限的。因此,人们之间应当更加宽容,对于真诚悔改之后的过失与冒犯,应当予以宽恕。这并非变相的姑息纵容。对于顽固不化的罪人,并没有慈悲可言。这种怜悯只施与那些想要改过自新的悔悟者。他们会被社群所接纳。既然他们已经改正了自己的行为,就不应再有人提醒或指责他们过去的过错。社群有责任帮助他们开始崭新、纯洁的生活,也有责任忘却他们过去的过错,以免产生怨恨,从而诱使悔悟的罪人重走错误的道路。这样的重蹈覆辙,必然会使他们在今世和后世都走向毁灭。此外,他们还会对整个社会心怀怨恨。

Another fine touch contained within this comment directs people to make mercy and compassion the basis of their dealings with one another. God accepts repentance and His grace is limitless. People, then, should be more tolerant of one another, overlook past mistakes and offences when they are followed by true repentance. This is not complacency in disguise. There is no mercy to hardened sinners. This is compassion extended only to repenters who want to reform themselves. They are accepted within the community. No one reminds or reproaches them again of their past offences, since they have mended their ways. The community is required to help them start a new, clean and pure life. It is also required to forget their past offences so that no ill-feeling is aroused which may tempt the repenting sinners to go back to their erring ways. Such a return will inevitably ensure their ruin in this life and in the life to come. Moreover, they will harbour grudges against the society as a whole.

这一惩罚后来经过了修正。关于此事，先知ﷺ曾说："若你们看见有人做鲁特族人所做的事，就杀死这两个人。"

This punishment, however, was later amended. In this respect, the Prophet is quoted as saying: “If you see anyone doing what the people of Lot used to do, kill both partners.”

这些裁定清楚地表明，伊斯兰从其早期起就致力于消除穆斯林社会中的不道德行为。它并非等到在麦地那建立国家之后，才颁布由统治当局执行的法律。

These rulings show very clearly that Islam was intent, from its very early days, to eradicate immorality from Muslim society. It did not wait until it established its state in Madinah before it promulgated laws to be implemented by the ruling authority.

相反,禁止通奸的律例在麦加降示的第17章《夜行》(Al-Isrā’)中已有叙述:"你们不要接近通奸,因为它是丑事,也是恶劣的道路。"(17:32)此外,在第23章《信士》(Al-Mu'minūn)中,成功的信士被描述为"保守贞操的人,除了对妻子或侍妾外,他们是不受谴责的"。(23:4-5)同样的描述在第70章《天梯》(Al-Ma'ārij)中再次出现。

Instead, the prohibition of adultery was stated in Sūrah 17, The Night Journey, or Al- Isrā’, which was revealed in Makkah: “Do not come near to adultery: for it is an abomination and an evil way.’’ (17: 32) Again, in Sūrah 23, The Believers, or Al- Mu’minūn, successful believers are described as people “who are mindful of their chastity, [not seeking to satisfy their desires] except with their wives”. (23: 4-5) The same description is repeated in Sūrah 70, The Ascending Stairways, or Al-Ma`ārij.

这些苏拉都是在麦加降示的,那时伊斯兰既没有国家,也没有权力。因此,尽管这一罪行的禁令在麦加已经确立,却并未为此规定具体的刑罚。只有当在麦加建立起一个掌握权力的国家之后,刑罚才得以明确。此时,口头的劝诫与指示已不足以制止此类罪行、保护社会。伊斯兰是一种注重实践的宗教,它认识到法律的实施需要国家的权力。依伊斯兰的观点,宗教是规范人们现实生活的体系,而不仅仅是情感和抽象的价值观念。

All these sūrahs were revealed in Makkah when Islam enjoyed neither a state nor authority. Hence, no specific punishments were given for this offence, although its prohibition was established in Makkah. Only when a state that exercised power was established in Madinah, were punishments defined. Verbal directives and instructions were no longer sufficient to put an end to such crimes and protect society. Islam is a practical religion that appreciates that the power of the state is needed for the implementation of laws. According to Islam, religion is the system by which to regulate people’s practical life. It is not mere feelings and abstract values.

自伊斯兰教在麦加开始被一些人接受起,它就开始净化他们。当伊斯兰在麦地那建立起国家时,这个国家有权威作后盾,能够执行明确的法律制度,并能以切实可行的形式塑造伊斯兰的生活方式,于是它开始采取实际步骤,保护社会免受不道德行为的侵害,并为其指令增添了适当惩罚的强制力。正如我们已经说过的,伊斯兰不仅仅是一般性原则和抽象价值。它还为这些原则增添了真正的权威,使其能够在实践中得到执行。它的结构不能只靠一条腿站立。

From the outset of the Islamic faith being accepted by some people in Makkah, it started to purify them. When Islam established its state in Madinah, which was backed by an authority able to implement a well defined legal code and able to shape the Islamic way of life in a practical form, it began to take practical steps to safeguard society against immoral conduct, adding to its directives the force of proper punishment. As we have already said, Islam is not merely general principles and abstract values. It adds to these a real authority to implement the principles in practice. Its structure cannot stand on one leg.

这一点适用于所有的天启宗教,尽管有些人错误地宣称,曾经存在过一些神圣的宗教,它们并未规定任何法律、制度或统治权威。每一种宗教都是一种生活方式,它是务实而贴近现实的。人们只服从真主,他们的信仰观念、道德价值和实际立法都只从祂那里获得。这样的立法必须由一个能够执行这些规则、惩罚违规者,并保护社会免受无知之恶侵害的政府来实施。因此,一切顺服都专属于真主。这意味着,无论以何种形式,都不存在有权立法、确立价值标准、法律或规章制度的神灵。这一切的权利唯独属于真主。任何声称拥有这种权利的受造物,实际上都是在为自己宣称神性。没有任何由真主启示的宗教允许任何人成为神,也不容许他有此主张并将其付诸实施。

This applies to all Divine religions, even though some people wrongly claim that there were Divine religions that did not enjoin any law, system or governing authority. Every religion is a way of life, which is practical and down to earth. People submit themselves to God alone and receive their concept of faith, moral values, and practical legislation from Him only. Such legislation must be implemented by a government that can enforce such rules and punish those who violate them, and also protect society from any encroachment by the evils of ignorance. Thus, all submission is dedicated to God alone. This means that there are no deities, in any shape or form, who have the authority to legislate and establish values, standards, laws or regulations. The right to do all this belongs to God alone. Any creature that claims such a right is, in effect, claiming Godhead for himself. No religion revealed by God allows any man to be god or suffers him to make such a claim and put it into effect.

因此,任何神圣的宗教都不会仅仅停留于信仰层面,而不以法律和管理权威来支撑它。

Hence, no Divine religion would limit itself to mere beliefs without supporting them by a law and a governing authority.

在麦地那,伊斯兰教开始通过付诸实施的立法来净化社会,真正显现其存在。它为各种罪行规定了刑罚,正如我们在本章所包含的律例中所见。其中一些后来经过修订,定为由真主所确定的最终形式。

In Madinah, then, Islam started to make its real presence felt by purifying the society through legislation which was put into practice. It defined punishment for offences, as we have seen in the rulings included in this sūrah. Some of these were later amended to take their final forms as determined by God.

不应令我们感到意外的是,伊斯兰教对淫乱行为持非常严肃的态度,并致力于将其彻底根除。纵观各个时代的蒙昧(Jāhili,无知)社会,正如我们今天在全球所见,其最重要的特征便是放纵,以及摒弃一切道德与法律的约束。于是,滥交便成了个人自由的一个方面,只有不宽容的古板之人才会反对。生活在蒙昧社会中的人们,或许会自愿或被迫放弃他们所有的人类自由,但不会放弃他们"动物性"的自由。对于任何反对滥交、试图规范其道德标准的人,他们也会拿起武器加以反抗。

It should not come as a surprise to us that Islam takes a very serious view of immorality and works hard for its total eradication. The most important feature of Jāhili (ignorant) societies throughout all ages, as we see today across the globe, is permissiveness and the shedding of all moral and legal inhibitions. Thus, promiscuity becomes an aspect of personal freedom that is only opposed by intolerant prudes. People living in ignorant societies may agree to forgo, willingly or unwillingly, all their human freedom but not their “animal” freedom. They will also rise up in arms against anyone who opposes promiscuity and tries to regulate their moral standards.

在无知的社会里，各种体系都在协同作用，破坏道德屏障，削弱人内在的自然约束，为放纵披上无害的外衣，并任由过度的淫乱在没有任何监督和约束的情况下肆意蔓延。这必然导致家庭和社会约束的削弱，导致对那些厌恶放纵的自然、健康情感的嘲讽，以及对身体和情感上的裸露及其一切表达方式的美化。

In ignorant societies, all systems collaborate to destroy moral barriers, weaken natural controls within man, give an innocent appearance to permissiveness and allow excessive promiscuity to run without checks or controls. This inevitably leads to the weakening of family and social controls, to the ridicule of natural, healthy feelings which are disgusted by permissiveness, and to the glorification of both physical and emotional nudity and all its methods of expression.

伊斯兰教致力于净化人类的情感与社会，使其摆脱这种放纵无知的种种特征。只要读一读前伊斯兰时期阿拉伯著名诗人伊姆鲁·凯斯的诗作，就会发现它与古希腊和古罗马的诗歌有着惊人的相似之处。你还会发现，它与当代蒙昧无知（或称“贾希利耶”）时代的阿拉伯及非阿拉伯地区的艺术和文学也十分相近。此外，如果我们考察古今所有贾希利耶社会的社会传统、妇女地位和放纵风气，就不得不得出结论：它们都源自同一种观念，并采用了相似的口号。

Islam tries to purify human feelings and societies from all these characteristics of promiscuous ignorance. You have only to read the poetry of Imru’l-Qais, the renowned poet of pre-Islamic Arabia, to find close similarities with the poetry of ancient Greece and that of the Roman Empire. You will also find close similarities with the arts and literature of contemporary Jāhiliyyah (or state of ignorance), Arabian and non-Arabian. Moreover, if we examine social traditions, the status of women and permissiveness in all Jāhiliyyah societies, ancient and contemporary, we are bound to conclude that they all start from the same concept and adopt similar slogans.

这种放纵必然导致文明的毁灭和其所在民族的崩溃。古希腊、古罗马和波斯文明正是如此覆亡的。今天，欧洲和美国的文明也正在如此：尽管工业领域取得了巨大进步的表象，它们却已开始走向衰落。这一点一直令西方的明智之士忧心忡忡，但他们感到自己过于软弱，无力遏止这种破坏性的趋势。社会与文明的彻底毁灭是不可避免的结局，然而，无论在哪个时代、哪个社会，jāhiliyyah（蒙昧）之人仍全速奔向放纵。事实上，只要能够享受兽性的纵欲，他们甘愿牺牲自己的一切自由，过着奴隶般的生活。

Such permissiveness always leads to the destruction of civilisation and the collapse of the nation in which it spreads. This is exactly what happened to the ancient Greek, Roman and Persian civilisations. It is also happening today to European and American civilisations, which have started their decline despite all the appearances of great advances in the industrial field. This is something that has been worrying men of wisdom in the West, although they feel that they are too weak to be able to check this destructive trend. The total destruction of society and civilisation is the inevitable end, yet the people of Jāhiliyyah, in all ages and societies, push forward towards permissiveness at full speed. Indeed, they are willing to sacrifice all their freedoms, and live the life of slaves, provided that they have the freedom to enjoy their animal indulgences.

这确实既不是放纵,也不是自由。它是对肉欲的彻底奴役,使人堕落到远低于动物的水准。动物在这方面遵循其天性的指令:它们有特定的发情季节,其性机能也严格服务于繁衍后代的目的。雌性只在其受孕期接受雄性,而雄性也只在雌性准备就绪时才向其求偶。然而,真主将人留给了他自己的理性,并使信仰成为控制这种理性的力量。如果人挣脱了信仰,他就会发现自己软弱无力,承受着巨大的压力,无法克制和控制自己的欲望。因此,除非通过信仰,否则不可能提供真正的社会约束,也不可能使社会真正纯洁。然而,信仰还需要有组织的权威作为后盾,以惩罚那些违犯真主所定界限的人。如此,信仰便将人从动物性欲望的深渊中拯救出来,并使他在真主的一切受造物中居于尊贵的地位。

This is indeed neither indulgence nor freedom. It is total enslavement to carnal desires, which makes man sink far below the standards of animals. Animals follow the dictates of their nature in this connection. They have special seasons when they become sexually active. Moreover, their sexual function is strictly linked to the purpose of procreation. A female does not accept the male except in her season of fertility. The male, on the other hand, does not make any advance towards the female except when she is ready. But God has left man to his own reason and made faith the power to control that reason. If he breaks loose from faith, he will find himself weak, subjected to much pressure. He cannot check and control his desire. It is impossible, therefore, to provide any real social checks and to make society truly clean except through faith. Yet faith needs to be backed by an organised authority to punish those who violate the bounds set by God. In this way, faith saves man from the depths of animal desire and elevates him to a position of honour among the rest of His creation.

今天的人类过着一种把信仰置于非常次要地位的生活。他们没有一个由信仰获得权威的统治机构可以依靠。因此，西方社会中的明智之士徒然呼吁建立制约与控制机制。他们大可不必费这个力气，因为没有人会回应那些得不到执行权威和威慑性惩罚支持的空话。教会和神职人员也对淫乱之风作出了自己的努力，但一切都是徒劳。没有人会回应一种失落的信仰，因为它缺乏执行其律法与指令的权威。于是，人类在没有任何得救希望的情况下，朝着深渊一往直前。

Humanity today lives a life that gives faith a very secondary position. It does not have the benefit of a ruling body that derives its authority from faith. Hence, wise individuals in Western societies call in vain for the establishment of checks and controls. They may well save themselves the trouble because no one responds to mere words that are not backed by an executive authority and deterrent punishments. The church and the clergy also make their contribution against promiscuity, but it all goes in vain. No one responds to a lost faith lacking the authority to undertake the implementation of its laws and directives. Thus, mankind moves headlong towards the abyss without any hope of salvation.

这一文明终将走向毁灭，这一点绝对确定，过往人类的全部经验都表明了这一点。尽管这一文明表面上十分强大，并拥有宏大的根基，情况依然如此。人确实是所有这些根基中最为重要的一个。当人走向毁灭时，文明便无法存续，即使仅靠工厂和新近投入使用的机器人生产来支撑，也无济于事。

That this civilisation will ultimately be destroyed is absolutely certain, as is evident by all past human experience. This is true despite the apparent strength of this civilisation and its great foundation. Man is indeed the greatest of all these foundations. When man is destroyed, civilisation cannot remain in existence, supported only by factories and newly-implemented robotic production.

如果我们能充分体会这一真理的深刻之处,就能认识到伊斯兰教的伟大。因为伊斯兰教为淫乱和严重的猥亵行为规定了严厉的刑罚,以保护人免于自我毁灭。这是人类生活得以建立在正当的人性根基之上的唯一途径。我们也会认识到,那些通过美化淫乱和放纵,并冠以"艺术"、"自由"、"进步"等诱人名称,从而共同摧毁人类生活根基的体系,其罪行是多么严重。任何导致人类毁灭的手段都是一种罪行,必须如此称呼它。而且,必须以良言劝诫和严厉惩罚来加以抵制。伊斯兰教正是这样做的,因为它是一个拥有完善体系的宗教。

If we fully appreciated how profound this truth is, we would be able to recognise the greatness of Islam. For it has legislated its severe punishment for promiscuity and gross indecency in order to protect man from his own destruction. This is the only way for human life to be established on proper human foundations. We would also recognise the extent of the crime committed by those systems which collaborate to destroy the foundation of human life through the glorification of promiscuity and permissiveness, giving them such appealing names as “art”, “freedom” and “progress”. Every means that contributes to the destruction of man is a crime and it must be called as such. Moreover, it must be countered with sound advice as well as stern punishment. This is what Islam does because it is a religion with a perfect system.

真主只接受那些因无知而作恶、随后不久便悔改之人的忏悔。真主必会垂怜他们。真主是全知的，是至睿的。那些一直作恶、直到死亡降临时才说“我现在悔改了”的人，他们的忏悔不被接受；那些至死都不信道的人，也不被接受。我为这些人预备了痛苦的刑罚。

God will indeed accept the repentance of only those who do evil out of ignorance, and then repent shortly afterwards. It is they to whom God turns in His mercy. God is All-Knowing, Wise. Repentance shall not be accepted from those who indulge in their evil deeds and, when death comes to any of them, he says: “I now repent”; nor from those who die as non-believers. For those We have prepared grievous suffering.

（第17-18节）

(Verses 17-18)

虽然伊斯兰教规定了刑罚，但它并不会把大门关在犯罪者的面前；只要他们意识到自己的罪过，并希望重新回归社会，伊斯兰教便不会拒绝他们。

While Islam prescribes punishment, it does not slam the door in the face of sinners, should they want to return to society after having realised their guilt.

诚然，伊斯兰鼓励他们悔改，并为他们开辟了悔过自新、洁净自身的道路。这种鼓励是如此强烈，以至于真诚、纯正的悔改一经发生，真主便以祂的荣耀，出于祂自己的意愿，将接受悔改定为祂自己承担的责任。在这一点上，祂的恩典远超任何人的期望。

Indeed, Islam encourages them and opens the way for them to repent and purify themselves. The encouragement is so emphatic that God makes acceptance of repentance, once it is genuine and sincere, a duty which He in His glory imposes on Himself by His Own free will. In this, His grace is more than anyone can expect.

我们过去曾讨论过悔罪及其被接受的问题,当时我们评注了这节经文,它描述真正的信士是那些“当他们犯下可耻的罪行或自欺时,便记念真主,并为自己的罪过求饶”的人。(3:135)我们在那次所陈述的一切,在此同样适用。

We have spoken about repentance and its acceptance in the past, when we commented on the verse which describes the true believers as those who “when they commit a gross indecency or wrong themselves, remember God and pray for the forgiveness of their sins”. (3: 135) All that we have stated on that occasion is relevant here.

这里提到了忏悔（悔罪），但目的不同，它借此来阐明其真正的本质。

Repentance is mentioned here, however, for a different purpose, and by which it seeks to explain its true essence.

真正的悔罪，是真主出于恩典而自愿承诺接纳的那种悔罪。它是悔罪者深切感受到的，表明他或她已经经历了彻底的转变。这意味着对过去的过错真诚地懊悔，而这份懊悔促使他全面地改变态度，此时此人仍然身体健康，并且仍然渴望更加光明的未来。这样的悔罪通常伴随着真诚的自我净化愿望，以及决心走上另一种生活道路。

True repentance which God, out of His Grace, has bound Himself to accept is the one which is deeply felt by the repenter and which indicates that he or she has undergone a total transformation. It means that past mistakes are sincerely regretted, and that regret has prompted a total change of attitude when the person concerned still enjoys good health, and still aspires to a brighter future. Such repentance is normally accompanied by a genuine desire for self-purification and a resolve to follow a different way of life.

“真主必定接受那些因无知而作恶、随即在不久之后悔罪之人的悔悟。真主必恕饶他们，真主是全知的，是至睿的。”（第17节）此处所说的"因无知而作恶"，指的是任何犯罪之人。学者们几乎一致认为，这里的"无知"指偏离神圣的引导，无论时间长短，只要不延续到临终之际即可。"不久之后悔罪"指的是在死亡降临、感到生命即将结束之前，及时悔罪。这样的悔罪表明真诚的懊悔和改过自新的坚定决心，也表明一个人的良知已重新发挥作用。因此，真主必恕饶的正是这样的人。"真主是全知的，是至睿的"，祂的一切行为都基于祂的全知与至睿，并给予祂的仆人重返善人行列的机会。当他们真诚地寻求祂的庇护、渴望得到祂的慈恩时，祂从不拒绝他们。我们必须记住，真主——祂的荣耀无限崇高——并不需要祂的仆人或他们的悔悟。他们悔罪，受益的只是他们自己；改善并变得幸福的，是他们的生命以及他们所生活的社群。因此，他们随时都有机会回归正道。

“God will indeed accept the repentance of only those who do evil out of ignorance, and then repent shortly afterwards. It is they to whom God turns in His mercy. God is All-Knowing, Wise.” (Verse 17) What is meant by “those who do evil out of ignorance” is anyone who commits sin. Scholars are almost unanimous that “ignorance”, as it is used here, means deviation from Divine guidance, whether for a long or short period, as long as it does not continue until one is in the throes of death. Repenting “shortly afterwards” refers to repentance in good time, before death overtakes one and one’s life is felt to have reached its end. Such repentance reveals genuine regret and strong resolve to mend one’s ways. It indicates that one’s conscience is back at work. Hence, it is to those people that “God turns in His mercy.” For “God is All-Knowing, Wise.” Any action of His is based on His knowledge and wisdom and gives His servants the chance to return to the ranks of those who are good. He never chases them out when they have a genuine desire to seek refuge with Him and receive His mercy. We have to remember that God — limitless is He in His glory — has no need for His servants or their repentance. When they repent, they benefit only themselves. It is their lives and the life of the community in which they live that improve and become happy. Hence, the way is open for them to return to the true path at any time.

“悔罪不会被接受于那些一直作恶、直到死亡临近时才说‘我现在悔罪了’的人，也不会被接受于那些以不信之身死去的人。为这些人，我已预备了痛苦的刑罚。”（第18节）

Repentance shall not be accepted from those who indulge in their evil deeds and, when death comes to any of them, he says: “I now repent”; nor from those who die as non- believers. For those We have prepared grievous suffering. (Verse 18)

这种悔罪属于走投无路之人的悔罪。他在有生之年沉溺于罪恶，陷得很深。如今死亡即将降临，他再也无法继续犯罪，因为已没有时间去犯了。因此，真主拒绝这样的悔罪，因为它并没有改善他的心灵，也没有改变他的生活方式。它也不表明他误入歧途的行为有任何改变。真诚的悔罪之所以被接受，是因为它为误入歧途的人敞开了大门，使他们能够回到善良者的阵营，从错误中重新找回自己。事实上，当他们曾一度沦为邪恶和撒旦的俘虏之后，人性会使他们重新站回来。如果他们在悔罪之后仍能活上一段时间，他们便能够行善。反之，如果他们很快就被死亡所追上，至少他们已经宣告了自己战胜了错误。

This sort of repentance is that of one who is cornered. During his lifetime, he indulged in sin up to his ears. Now that death is overtaking him, he can no longer commit any more sins, for he has no time to do so. Hence, God rejects such repentance because it does not improve one’s heart or reform one’s style of life. Nor does it indicate any change in one’s erring ways. Genuine repentance is accepted because it is the door that is open for erring people to return to the camp of the good, thus regaining themselves from error. In fact, humanity regains them after they have been among those who have been lost to evil and Satan. They will be able, if they remain alive for sometime after their repentance, to do well. If, on the other hand, they are overtaken by death shortly afterwards, they have at least declared their triumph over error.

“也不要为那些至死都是不信道者的人（求饶）。”（第18节）这些人已断绝了一切可以使他们诚心悔罪、归向真主、获得宽恕的途径。

“Nor from those who die as non-believers.” (Verse 18) Those have severed all that could enable them to turn to God in sincere repentance and gain His forgiveness.

“为那些我们所预备的，是痛苦的刑罚。”（第18节）它正等待着他们，准备依公正的惩罚将他们吞没。

“For those We have prepared grievous suffering.” (Verse 18) It is waiting for them, ready to engulf them as just punishment.

神圣的律法规定了严厉的刑罚，但始终为悔罪保留着一扇门。正是这种独特的平衡，使它能够像其他任何古今律法都无法做到的那样，深刻地影响人类的生活。

The Divine constitution then prescribes severe punishments but it keeps the door open at all times for repentance. This gives it a unique balance, helping it to influence human life as no other constitution, ancient or modern, can ever do.

接下来的主题是女性。伊斯兰前的阿拉伯地区，女性遭受了非常恶劣的对待，周边所有蒙昧社会中的女性同样如此。

The next theme in this passage is women. Women were treated very badly in pre- Islamic Arabia, as they were treated badly in all surrounding ignorant societies.

在那一地区,人权从未延伸到女性。事实上,女性的地位远远低于男性,以至于她们更像是无生命的物品。与此同时,她们被用于娱乐和享乐,被当作满足肉欲的性对象。此外,女性还被用作色情艺术和文学的题材。伊斯兰来到世上,是为了将女性从所有这些污秽中净化出来,使她们回归自然的地位,以便在家庭和人类社会中发挥应有的作用。伊斯兰赋予女性的地位,符合本章开篇所阐明的总原则:“人类啊!你们应当敬畏你们的主,他从一个人创造了你们,并从那一个人创造了他的配偶,又从他们两人身上滋生出许多男人和女人。”(第1节)伊斯兰还致力于将夫妻关系中的情感从低级的动物层面提升到最高的人性层面。它在其中注入相互尊重、慈爱和关怀的内涵,并将婚姻奠定在更加坚实的基础上,使其能够经受住冲击与情绪的爆发。

Nowhere in that area were human rights extended to women. Indeed, women were given a position much inferior to that of men so much so that they were more akin to inanimate objects. They were, at the same time, used for entertainment and pleasure, treated as sexual objects in order to satisfy carnal desires. Moreover, women were used as subject matter for pornographic arts and literature. Islam came to purify women of all that filth, giving them back their natural position in order to play their role in the family and in human society. The position Islam gives to women is that which accords with the general principle stated at the outset of this sūrah: “Mankind, fear your Lord, who has created you from a single soul, and from it created its mate, and from the two of them spread abroad so many men and women.” (Verse 1) Islam also sought to raise the standard of feelings in marital relationships from the low animal level to their highest human level. It adds to them overtones of mutual respect, affection and care, and places them on a much more solid foundation so that they can withstand shocks and outbursts of temper.

信道的人们啊！你们不得违背妇女的意愿而继承她们；你们也不得阻止她们再嫁，以便你们侵占你们所给予她们的部分财物，除非她们犯了明显的淫行。你们应当善待她们。你们即使厌恶她们，也许你们厌恶的事物，真主已在其中赐予了许多好处。（第19节）

Believers, it is unlawful for you to inherit women against their will, or to bar them from remarrying so that you may make off with part of what you have given them, except when they are guilty of a flagrant indecency. Consort with them in a goodly manner. Even if you are averse to them, it may well be that you are averse to something in which God has placed much good. (Verse 19)

这节经文禁止将妇女作为遗产来继承。在伊斯兰到来之前，阿拉伯人陷于蒙昧的深渊，当时一些阿拉伯部族认为，亡者的亲属对其遗孀拥有优先的权利。伊斯兰将阿拉伯人从这一蒙昧中拯救了出来。

This verse outlaws inheriting women altogether. Before Islam rescued the Arabs from the depths of ignorance into which they had sunk, some Arab clans used to consider that the relatives of a deceased man had an overriding claim to his widow.

他们像继承他的牲畜和财产一样继承她。他们中的任何一人若想要娶她，便可以娶她。另一方面，他们也可以把她嫁给别人，并将她的聘礼据为己有。换言之，她不过是一件可以随意售卖的牲畜。另一方面，他们还可以阻止她嫁给任何人，让她留在家中，直到她用钱向他们赎回自由。

They inherited her like they inherited his animals and property. Anyone of them could marry her if he so wanted. On the other hand, they could marry her to someone else and take her dowry for themselves. In other words, she was no more than an animal that could be sold at will. On the other hand, they could bar her from marrying anyone, leaving her at home until she bought her freedom from them.

另一项在阿拉伯流行的习俗是：如果一名女子成了寡妇，她已故丈夫的某位亲属可以把自己的外衣披在她身上。这一举动就足以确立他对她的主张，表示她现在归他所有，就如同他劫掠了某件财物一样。如果她长得漂亮，他就可能娶她为妻。

Another tradition practised in Arabia, was one whereby if a woman became a widow, a relative of her deceased husband could throw his garment over her. This gesture was sufficient to assert his claim over her. It signified that she was now his, in the same way as if he had looted something. If she was pretty, he might marry her.

如果她长相丑陋，丈夫可能会把她关在家中，直到她死去，他便可以继承她的遗产；或者她会通过付钱给他来为自己赎身。另一方面，如果她迅速逃离丈夫的家，在丈夫还来不及把衣服披在她身上之前就回到了自己娘家，她便获得了安全和自由。

If she was ugly, he might confine her to his house until she died when he would inherit her, or else, she would buy her freedom by giving him money. If, on the other hand, she was quick to flee from her husband’s home, reaching her own family’s home before he could throw his garment over her, she was safe and free.

一些阿拉伯人在与妻子离婚时会附加条件，规定她们在改嫁他人之前必须先得到前夫的同意。在这种情况下，女子想要重获自由，唯一的途径就是向前夫退还他们初婚时所收取的全部或部分聘礼。

Some Arabs used to divorce women and stipulate that they could not marry anyone without the consent of their former husbands. The only way for a woman in such a position to regain her freedom was to refund her former husband part or all of the dowry she received from him when they were first married.

在阿拉伯其他部落中，寡妇会被留着不嫁，直到某个年幼的男孩长大到可以结婚，然后娶她。若有人监护一名孤女，他就会阻止她出嫁，直到他年幼的儿子长大，届时便让儿子娶她，并据为己有她的全部财产。

In other Arabian tribes, a widow was kept without marriage until a young boy became old enough to marry her. If one of them had an orphan girl under his charge, he would bar her from marriage until his young son grew up, when he would marry her, taking all her money.

除了上述做法，还有许多类似的习俗与伊斯兰教看待女性的崇高观念相悖。伊斯兰教认为男女是同一灵魂的两个部分。这些习俗既贬低了女性，也贬低了男性，因为它把两性之间的关系变成了一种交易式的关系。

There were many other similar practices that conflicted with the honourable view with which Islam looked at women, stating that both man and woman were two parts of a single soul. These practices degraded both women and men alike. For it transformed the relationship between the two sexes into a mercenary one.

正是从这样一个低下的处境出发，伊斯兰将男女之间的关系提升到了如此崇高、尊贵的境界，与人的尊严相称——真主赐予人尊荣，使其高于祂所造的一切。正是伊斯兰关于人和人类生活的观念，使男女关系的提升成为可能。

It is from that low position that Islam raised the relationship between man and woman to such a high, honourable level befitting the dignity of man, whom God has honoured and placed higher than all His creatures. It is indeed the Islamic concept of man and human life that made the elevation of relations between men and women possible.

伊斯兰教禁止了任何将女性视为已故男子遗产的可能，将她们当作牲畜或无生命之物来继承的做法。它也禁止对女性施加会使她们受害的束缚和限制，除非她们明显犯有严重的淫秽行为。不过，这一规定适用于后来规定通奸惩罚之前的情形。此外，伊斯兰教赋予女性选择丈夫的自由，这一自由为每一位女性所享有，无论是处女、寡妇还是离婚妇女。再者，善待妻子是每个男人的义务，《古兰经》称之为"以善道与她们相处"，即使男人厌恶自己的妻子，这一义务依然适用。在此背景下，伊斯兰教为未来可能出现的情况留下了希望，而这只有真主才知道。这起到了一种约束作用，使男人在因一时的情绪而解除婚姻关系之前有所迟疑。诚然，他可能厌恶自己的妻子，但同样真实的是，如果他克制自己的情绪，继续与妻子生活，他可能从中获得许多益处："信士们啊！你们不得违反妇女的意愿而继承她们，也不得阻止她们再嫁，以便你们取去你们所给她们的一部分财物，除非她们犯了明显的淫行。你们要以善道与她们相处。如果你们厌恶她们，那么，你们所厌恶的事物，也许真主使其中含有很大的福利。"（第19节）这节经文的最后一部分帮助人们满怀希望地转向真主。它抑制了仇恨的情绪，使人在冷静地思考自己的处境之前不致轻率行事。因此，婚姻关系不再像随风飘散的稻草，而是从最持久、最坚固的关系中获得力量，即信士与其主之间的关系。

Islam outlawed any possibility of a woman being treated as part of a deceased man’s inheritance, like an animal or inanimate object. It also forbade the imposition of shackles and constraints on women that caused them harm, except in the case of their being manifestly guilty of gross immoral conduct. That, however, applied before the later punishment for adultery was prescribed. Moreover, Islam makes women free to choose their husbands. That freedom is enjoyed by every woman, virgin, widow or divorced. Moreover, kind treatment, which is expressed in the Qur’ān as “consorting with them in a goodly manner,” is a duty which applies to all, even when a man dislikes his wife. In this context, Islam raises the hope of what may come in the future, which is known only to God. This serves as a restraining factor, which makes man hesitate before severing a marital relationship in response to his initial feelings. It may be true that he is averse to his wife but it is also equally true that there is a great deal of good by which he may benefit if he restrains his feelings and continues to live with his wife: “Believers, it is unlawful for you to inherit women against their will, or to bar them from remarrying so that you may make off with part of what you have given them, except when they are guilty of a flagrant indecency. Consort with them in a goodly manner. Even if you are averse to them, it may well be that you are averse to something in which God has placed much good.” (Verse 19) The last part of this verse helps people to turn to God in hope. It restrains feelings of hatred until man has thought coolly about his situation. Thus, marital relationships are no longer like straw blown with the wind. Rather, they derive their strength from the permanent and strongest of all relationships, namely, the relationship between a believer and his Lord.

这句《古兰经》经文体现了伊斯兰教对家庭关系的看法。

This Qur’ānic statement is indicative of the Islamic view of family relationships.

伊斯兰教视家庭之家为宁静之所，在其中家庭的每一位成员都感到安全。从伊斯兰的角度看，夫妻关系是建立在爱与慈悲之上的关系。因此，它必须基于自由的选择而产生，从而营造出一种氛围，使彼此之间的爱、同情与慈悲之情得以繁荣滋长。考虑到这一点，伊斯兰教对丈夫们说，即使他们不喜欢自己的妻子，也可能恰恰是他们所不喜欢的妻子，对他们大有益处，这是最为恰当的。婚姻的纽带是值得珍视的，不应因一时的心血来潮而被割断。

Islam views the family’s home as a place of peace, where every member of the family feels secure. The marital relationship from the Islamic standpoint, is a relationship based on affection and compassion. It must, therefore, come into existence on the basis of free choice, so that it spreads an atmosphere into which mutual feelings of love, sympathy and compassion can prosper. Bearing this in mind, it is most befitting that Islam should say to husbands that even if they should dislike their wives, it may well be that the very wives they dislike are of much good to them. The marriage bond is something to be treasured, not to be severed in response to a passing whim.

婚姻是一项具有重大意义的人类制度，必须以严肃的态度对待。它的延续不应受制于一时的怒气，也不应因肤浅情绪的突然变化而动摇。

Marriage is a human institution of great importance. It must be viewed seriously. Its continued existence must not be subject to outbursts of temper or sudden changes of superficial sentiment.

“欧麦尔·本·赫塔卜”是第二任哈里发，有一次，一个人前来表示自己决意与妻子离婚，理由仅仅是“我不喜欢她”。欧麦尔对他说：“家庭难道只能建立在爱情之上吗？那么，你又将忠诚与相互关爱置于何处？”与此相比，一些人所谓的“爱情”，实际上指的是一时的念头和易变的情绪，听起来廉价而愚蠢。更糟糕的是，这种爱情被如此美化，以至于它的缺失竟被视为离婚的充分理由。他们甚至主张比这更糟的事情，即不忠。这些人仅仅因为妻子不爱丈夫，或丈夫不爱妻子，就为通奸辩护。这样心胸狭隘的人，除了一时的身体吸引力，别无考虑。他们的思想无法触及忠诚、相互关爱、履行对家庭的责任和义务等理想。而且，他们狭隘的想法使他们远离信仰。他们无法领会真主对信道的仆人所说的话：“如果你们厌恶她们，那么，你们所厌恶的事物，也许真主使其中有很多的福利。”（第19节）

A good, practical example of the seriousness with which Islam views marriage is provided by `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb, the second Caliph, who was once approached by a man expressing his resolve to divorce his wife, simply because “he did not like her”. `Umar said to him: “Are families built only on love? Where would you, then, place loyalty and mutual care?” Compared with this, what some people say about “love”, when they actually refer to momentary whims and changeable feelings, sounds cheap and stupid. The worst part of it is that such love is glorified to the extent that its absence is considered to be enough justification for divorce. They even advocate what is worse than that, namely, infidelity. Such people justify adultery simply because a woman does not love her husband, or a man does not love his wife. Such petty-minded people have no consideration beyond momentary physical attraction. Their thoughts cannot turn to such ideals as loyalty, mutual care, fulfilment of one’s duty and responsibility towards one’s family. Moreover, their petty ideas keep them away from faith. They cannot appreciate what God says to his believing servants: “Even if you are averse to them, it may well be that you are averse to something in which God has placed much good.” (Verse 19)

唯有信仰才能提升人及其所关切的事务。它使人的生命远高于财富与情欲。

It is only faith that elevates people and their concerns. It puts human life on a level far above wealth and carnal desires.

如果你们想要以一位妻子换另一位，而你们已经给了前一位大笔财物，那么一分也不要从中拿回。你们难道要拿回去吗？那是明显的不义和显而易见的罪过。你们怎么能拿回去呢？你们彼此已经有过亲密的关系，而且她们已经从你们那里取得了郑重的盟约。{不要娶你们父亲所娶过的女人，除非是既往之事。这确实是一种可耻、憎恶而恶劣的行为。}

If you wish to take one wife in place of another and you have given the first one a large sum of money, do not take away anything of it. Would you take it away though that constitutes a gross injustice and a manifest sin? How can you take it away when each of you has been privy with the other, and they have received from you a most solemn pledge? Do not marry women whom your fathers have previously married, unless it be a thing of the past. Surely, that is an indecent, abominable and evil practice.

（第20-22节）

(Verses 20- 22)

当这些人类的理想付诸实践，然而人们发现家庭生活已变得难以忍受，夫妻二人分开或许对双方都更好时，离婚的妇女可以取走她的全部聘礼和她所继承的一切财产。丈夫不得拿走其中的任何一部分，无论那部分财产多么丰厚。拿走其中的任何一部分显然是有罪的：“如果你们想以一个妻子换取另一个妻子，而你们已经给了前一个妻子大笔财物，那么不要从中拿走任何东西。你们难道要拿走它吗？那是一种明显的不义和显著的罪过。”（第20节）

When such human ideals are put into practice, and it is found, nevertheless, that life in the family home has become intolerable and that it may be better for both the man and his wife to separate, then a divorced woman takes all her dowry and whatever she has inherited. The husband cannot take away any part of it, plentiful as it may be. To take away any part of it is evidently sinful: “If you wish to take one wife in place of another and you have given the first one a large sum of money, do not take away anything of it. Would you take it away though that constitutes a gross injustice and a manifest sin?” (Verse 20)

这之后是一个细腻的笔触，灵感来自家庭生活中那种亲密无间的关系：“你们既然已经彼此亲近，他们又已经从你们那里取得了郑重的盟约，你们怎么还能把它拿走呢？”（第21节）这里所用的阿拉伯语词汇，我们译为“彼此亲近”，其含义要宽广和细腻得多。它绝不仅限于身体上的亲密。它不只是说夫妻二人彼此托付自己。它还包括情感、回应，以及对秘密、难题和忧虑的分享。当我们思考这节经文时，会浮现出许多婚姻生活的画面，描绘丈夫与妻子在每个白天与黑夜的时刻里所发生的一切。往事被一一想起。他们在爱的表达中彼此亲近，在快乐的时光里彼此亲近，在所分享的希望与困扰中彼此亲近，在对更幸福的现在和更光明的未来的憧憬中彼此亲近，在关于子女的共同思虑中彼此亲近。

This is followed by a fine touch inspired by the close intimacy which exists in family life: “How can you take it away when each of you has been privy with the other, and they have received from you a most solemn pledge?” (Verse 21) The Arabic expression used here and which we have rendered as “being privy with the other” has much wider and finer connotations. It is by no means limited to physical intimacy. It does not merely mean that a couple have given themselves to one another. It includes feelings, responses and the sharing of secrets, problems and concerns. When we reflect on this verse, numerous images of married life come to mind, depicting what happens between a man and his wife at every moment of the night and day. Past memories are recalled. They have been privy with one another in their expressions of love, in their happy moments, in what they had shared of hopes and problems, in their aspirations for a happier present and a brighter future, in their shared thoughts about their children.

与“当你们彼此亲密相处”这一表述所唤起的种种联想与回忆相比，肉体之爱的重要性显得微不足道。因此，离婚的丈夫会羞于索回他付给妻子的部分聘礼。

Compared with all these associations and memories which are recalled by the expression “when each of you has been privy with the other,” the importance of physical love seems too small. Hence, the divorcing husband would be too shy to ask for a refund of part of the dowry he gave to his wife.

另一个因素由这节经文的最后部分引出：“他们已经从你们那里取得了极其郑重的盟约”（第21节）。那个盟约就是婚姻的盟约。

Another factor is introduced by the last part of this verse: “And they have received from you it most solemn pledge” (Verse 21) That pledge is the pledge of marriage.

以真主之名、并依照祂所许可的方式缔结的婚姻，是一项非常庄严的盟约，每一位信士都必须尊重和珍视。因此，《古兰经》号召信士们尊重它。

Marriage which is given in the name of God and according to the method He has made lawful. It is a very solemn pledge that must be respected and cherished by every believer. Hence, the Qur’ān calls on believers to respect it.

下一节经文最严厉地禁止男子与其父亲曾经娶过的女子结婚。这种做法在伊斯兰教以前的阿拉伯是被允许的。

The next verse forbids, most emphatically, a man’s marriage with a woman whom his father had married before him. Such a practice was allowed in pre-Islamic Arabia.

此外，这也是阻止妇女再婚的原因之一。如果一名男子去世，留下年幼的儿子，家人可能会阻止这孩子的继母再婚，直到这孩子自己长大到可以娶她为止。或者，如果这个儿子已到结婚年龄，他就可以继承他的继母。伊斯兰教对这一切都予以最严厉的禁止："你们不要娶你们父亲所娶过的女人，以前所做的，不在此例。这实在是一种丑事，是可憎的，也是很恶劣的道路。"（第22节）

Moreover, it was one reason for barring women from marriage. If a man died, leaving behind a young son, the family could bar the young boy’s stepmother from marriage until he, himself, was old enough to marry her. Alternatively, if the son was old enough to marry, he could inherit his stepmother. Islam forbids all this most emphatically: “Do not marry women whom your fathers have previously married, unless it be a thing of the past. Surely, that is an indecent, abominable and evil practice.” (Verse 22)

这一禁令背后有三个显而易见的考量。我们作为人类，并不妄称了解神圣立法的每一个理由。我们也不会将遵从真主的律例，以知晓其中的智慧为前提。只要真主已经为我们制定了某项规定，我们遵从并执行它便已足够。

Three easily identifiable considerations lie behind this prohibition. We, as human beings do not pretend to know every reason for Divine legislation. Nor do we make it a condition of obeying God’s legislation that we should know the wisdom behind it. It is sufficient that God has decreed something for us to obey and implement it.

我们确信，这符合我们的利益，并且其背后有真主的智慧。

We are certain that it serves our interests and that Divine wisdom is behind it.

第一点需要考虑的是，父亲的妻子与母亲处于同等的地位。

The first consideration is that a father’s wife is in the same position as a mother.

其次，当儿子娶了父亲的前妻时，他会在潜意识里觉得自己与父亲平起平坐。许多人会因妻子的前夫而心生怨恨。如果允许儿子娶父亲的前妻，他可能会对父亲心生憎恨，而非爱戴。第三，绝不能有任何继承父亲之妻的嫌疑，正如蒙昧时代所行的那样。正如我们已经说过的，这种继承是对男女双方人性的侮辱。他们是由一个本原所造，他们的尊严与荣誉是相同的。

Secondly, when a son marries a former wife of his father, he subconsciously feels himself to be his equal. Many people come to hate the former husbands of their wives. If a son is allowed to marry his father’s former wife, he may come to hate his father instead of loving him. Thirdly, there must never be any suspicion of inheriting one’s father’s wife, in the same way as it was practised in pre-Islamic days. As we have already said, such inheritance is an insult to the humanity of both man and woman. They have been created from a single soul, and their dignity and honour are the same.

因此，出于这些原因以及其他原因，此类行为被视为非常可憎的。

For these reasons, and others as well, such action is considered to be very hateful.

它被描述为可耻、丑恶的，即引起憎恨，并且是邪恶的。唯一的例外是伊斯兰教之前缔结的婚姻。这些婚姻已交由真主裁决。

It is described as indecent, abominable, i.e. generating hatred, and evil. Exemption is only made in the case of marriages contracted before Islam. These have been left for God’s decision.

{禁止你们娶为妻的，有：你们的母亲、你们的女儿、你们的姊妹、你们的姑母、你们的姨母、你们兄弟的女儿、你们姊妹的女儿、曾哺育你们的乳母、与你们有乳姊妹关系的女子、你们妻子的母亲、你们妻子带来而你们已与其同房的前夫之女（她们是你们的养女）；如果你们没有与妻子同房，则娶她们的女儿并无罪过；还有你们亲生儿子的妻子；以及同时娶两姊妹为妻，已经过去的不在此限。真主至赦至慈。}（23节）

Forbidden to you [in marriage] are your mothers, your daughters, your sisters, your aunts paternal and maternal, your brothers’ daughters and your sisters’ daughters, your mothers who have given suck to you, your suckling sisters, the mothers of your wives, your stepdaughters — who are your foster children — born to your wives with whom you have consummated your marriage; but if you have not consummated your marriage with them, you will incur no sin [by marrying their daughters], and the wives of your own begotten sons; and [you are forbidden] to have two sisters as your wives at one and the same time, unless it be a thing of the past. God is Much- Forgiving, Merciful. (Verse 23)

现在，这一章详细提到了我们不可以娶为妻的女性类别。

Now the sūrah mentions in detail the classes of women whom we may not marry.

这是为组织家庭乃至整个社会而设立的措施之一。

This is one of the measures designed to organise the family and society as a whole.

所有社会，无论原始还是发达，都禁止与某些女性结婚。

All societies, primitive and sophisticated, ban marriage with certain women.

不同民族对这类禁止有不同的理由，男子不能娶的女性也分为不同的类别。原始社会通常禁止的范围很广，而文明社会则将这一范围大大缩小。

Different nations have different reasons for such prohibitions and different classes of women whom a man cannot marry. Primitive societies normally have a wide area of prohibition, while civilised societies narrow that area considerably.

在伊斯兰教中，不可与之结婚的妇女在三节经文中有所提及：

In Islam, women who are unlawful for marriage are mentioned in three verses:

这一条，以及它前面和后面的那一条经文。禁止的情况有些是绝对且永久的，有些则是暂时的。禁止与某些女子结婚的原因有三种，即血缘关系、哺乳关系和因前一次婚姻而产生的姻亲关系。然而，伊斯兰教废除了人类其他社会中所known的一切限制，例如基于种族、肤色和民族差异的限制，以及同一种族、同一民族内部基于社会阶层和地位的限制。

this one, the verse preceding it and the one following it. The prohibition in some cases is total and permanent, while in others it is temporary. There are three reasons behind prohibition of marriage with certain women, namely, lineage, suckling and relation through a previous marriage. Islam did, however, abrogate all other restrictions known in other human societies, such as those based on differences of race, colour and nationality, and those based on social class and position within the same race and the same nation.

因血缘关系而不得与之结婚的人分为四类：

Those whom a man is forbidden to marry because of lineage are divided into four groups:

首先，他的父母和祖父母。男子不得与自己的母亲、祖母结婚，无论是父系还是母系的祖母，无论辈分多高。所有这些都包含在经文"你们被禁止娶你们的母亲"这一句中。其次，他自己的各级后代。男子不得娶自己的女儿，或其子女的女儿，无论辈分多低。这包含在"你们的女儿"一语之中。第三，他的父母各级后代。男子不得娶自己的姐妹，或兄弟姐妹的女儿，以及侄子、侄女的女儿。所有这些都包含在"你们的姐妹……兄弟的女儿和姐妹的女儿"之中。第四，他祖父母的直系后代。男子不得娶自己的姑母或姨母，即父亲的姑母，或外祖父、祖父的姑母，母亲的姨母，或父系、母系祖母的姨母。

Firstly, his parents and grandparents. A man is forbidden to marry his mother, his grandmothers, paternal or maternal, no matter how high their degree is. All these come under the statement: “Forbidden to you [in marriage] are your mothers.” Secondly, his own issue of any degree. A man is forbidden to marry his daughter or the daughters of his children, of whichever degree they may be. This is included under “your daughters.” Thirdly, the issue of his parents of any degree. A man is forbidden to marry his sister or the daughters of his own brothers and sisters, and the daughters of his nephews and nieces. All these are included under “your sisters... your brothers’ daughters and your sisters’ daughters.” Fourthly, the immediate issue of his grandparents. A man is forbidden to marry his paternal or maternal aunt, his father’s aunt or the aunt of his maternal or paternal grandfather, his mother’s aunt or the aunt of his paternal or maternal grandmother.

这些都属于“你们的姑姑、姨母”的范围。而从祖父母那里间接延续下来的后代，即堂表兄弟姐妹（无论是父系还是母系一方），则是可以结婚的对象。

All these come under “your aunts, paternal and maternal.” Those who issue indirectly from grandparents, i.e. cousins, whether on the father’s side or the mother’s side, are permissible marriage partners.

因其他婚姻关系而被禁止结婚的女性分为五类：

Women forbidden in marriage through other marital relationships fall into five categories:

1. 妻子的父母，无论辈分高低。男子不得迎娶妻子的母亲，或妻子的外祖母与祖母（无论是母系还是父系，也无论辈分多高）。此禁令在他与妻子订立婚约后即生效，无论之后是否圆房。此禁令包含在“你们妻子的母亲”这一经文之内。 2. 妻子的子女，无论辈分高低。男子不得迎娶妻子的女儿，或妻子之子女的女儿（无论辈分多远）。然而，此禁令只有在他与妻子圆房之后才生效，经文说：“你们妻子所生而你们已经与之同房的继女，她们是你们所监护的，如果你们没有与她们的母亲同房，你们娶她们是无罪的。”（第23节）

1. The parents of one’s wife, regardless of their degree. It is forbidden for a man to marry the mother of his wife or her grandmothers, maternal or paternal, no matter how high their degree is. This prohibition comes into effect once his marriage contract to his wife is made, whether the marriage is later consummated or not. This prohibition comes under the reference to “the mothers of your wives.” 2. The issue of one’s wife, regardless of their degree. A man is forbidden to marry the daughter of his wife, or the daughters of her sons or daughters, of any degree whatsoever. This prohibition, however, does not come into effect unless his marriage to his wife is consummated: “your stepdaughters — who are your foster children — born to your wives with whom you have consummated your marriage; but if you have not consummated your marriage with them, you will incur no sin [by marrying their daughters].” (Verse 23)

3. 父亲或祖父们的前妻。因此，男子禁止娶其继母，或其任何一位祖父（无论远近，无论是父系还是母系）的前妻。这一禁令在本段经文的前一节中已有陈述，经文说：“你们不可娶你们父亲所娶过的女人，但以往的不在此限。”（第22节）在伊斯兰之前的蒙昧时代，蒙昧的阿拉伯人允许这类婚姻。

3. The former wives of one’s father or grandfathers of either side. A man is thus forbidden to marry his stepmother or the former wife of any of his grandfathers, of whichever degree they may be, whether on his father’s side or his mother’s side. This prohibition is stated in the verse preceding our present passage, which states: “Do not marry women whom your fathers have previously married, unless it be a thing of the past.” (Verse 22) In pre-Islamic days, the ignorant Arabians permitted such marriages.

4. 儿子的妻子，或其后代的妻子。因此，男子禁止娶自己亲生儿子的妻子，或孙子、曾孙等任何一代后代的妻子。此项禁令属于经文“你们亲生儿子的妻子”所包含的范围。此项禁令废除了伊斯兰以前阿拉伯社会的习俗，即禁止娶养子的前妻。此项禁令现限定于亲生儿子的妻子。

4. Wives of one’s own children, or their children. Thus, a man is forbidden to marry the wife of his own begotten son, or the wife of his grandson or great grandson, of any degree. This prohibition comes under the reference to “the wives of your own begotten sons.” This prohibition abrogates the tradition of pre- Islamic Arabian society, which forbade marriage with the former wife of one’s adopted son. This prohibition is hereby restricted to the wife of one’s own son.

此外，伊斯兰教禁止了收养，要求所有孩子都以其亲生父亲的姓氏来称呼。

Furthermore, adoption was stopped by Islam, which demands that all children be called after their own fathers.

5. 妻子的姐妹。这种情况下的禁止以妻子在世且丈夫仍与她保持婚姻关系为条件。换言之，同时娶两姐妹为妻是禁止的："你们不得同时娶两姐妹为妻，过去的除外。"（第23节）同样，这种婚姻在伊斯兰前的阿拉伯是被允许的。

5. The sisters of one’s wife. The prohibition in this case is conditional on the wife being alive and the man remaining married to her. In other words, it is forbidden to marry two sisters at one and the same time: “[You are forbidden] to have two sisters as your wives at one and the same time, unless it be a thing of the past.” (Verse 23) Again, this sort of marriage was permitted in pre-Islamic Arabia.

婚姻禁止的第三个原因是哺乳。这包括因血缘和婚姻关系而禁止结婚的所有类别。

The third cause of marriage prohibition is suckling. This includes all those categories one is forbidden to marry through lineage and marital relationships.

因此,男子因哺乳而不得娶的女性包括九类。

Hence, the women that men are forbidden to marry through suckling include nine groups:

1. 哺乳你的母亲，以及她的母亲和祖母，无论上溯多少代。这属于"曾经哺乳你的母亲"的范畴。

1. One’s suckling mother and her mother and grandmothers, of any grade. This comes under “your mothers who have given suck to you”.

2. 因哺乳而成为女儿的人，以及她们的女儿和孙女，无论辈分远近。（男子因哺乳而成为的女儿，是指由其妻子在与其成婚期间所哺乳的女孩。）

2. Daughters through suckling and their daughters and granddaughters, regardless of their grade. (A man’s daughter through suckling is a girl who was breast-fed by his wife when she was married to him.)

3. 通过哺乳而成为的姐妹，以及她们的女儿和任何代的孙女。此禁令包含在“你们的哺乳姐妹”之中。 4. 通过哺乳而成为的姑母和姨母。（母系哺乳姨母是哺乳之母的姐妹；父系哺乳姑母是该哺乳之母丈夫的姐妹。）

3. Sisters through suckling and their daughters and granddaughters of any grade. This prohibition comes under “your suckling sisters” 4. Paternal and maternal aunts through suckling. (A maternal suckling aunt is the sister of one’s suckling mother and a paternal aunt through suckling is the sister of that suckling mother’s husband.)

5. 妻子的乳母，即曾在妻子幼时哺乳她的妇人。该妇人的母亲及各级祖母同样属于此列，无论层级远近。此处适用与血缘禁婚相同的条件，即一旦缔结婚约，禁婚即告生效。

5. One’s wife’s suckling mother, i.e. the woman who breast-fed one’s wife when she was a child. The same applies to the mother and grandmothers of that woman, of any degree. Here, the same conditions as in prohibition through lineage apply, which means that the prohibition comes into effect the moment the marriage contract is made.

6. 妻子的乳女，即在妻子嫁给他之前曾由妻子哺乳的女孩，以及她任何级别的孙女。然而，这一禁婚规定只有在丈夫与妻子已经圆房之后才会生效。

6. One’s wife’s suckling daughter, i.e. a girl who was breast-fed by one’s wife before she was married to him, and her granddaughters of any degree. This prohibition, however, does not come into effect until one’s marriage with one’s wife has been consummated.

7. 父亲或祖父通过哺乳而有关系的前妻，无论远近。通过哺乳而成为父亲的，是指与自己的哺乳母亲结婚的那个男人。换言之，一个人在幼年时吃过非其亲生母亲的女人的奶，不仅禁止他娶这位哺乳母亲，而且禁止他娶其哺乳父亲所娶的任何女人。

7. The former wife of one’s father or grandfather, of any degree, through suckling. One’s father through suckling is the man who is married to one’s suckling mother. In other words, it is not only forbidden for a person who was breast-fed in his childhood by a woman other than his mother to marry that woman who is his suckling mother, it is also forbidden for him to marry any woman who his suckling father married.

8. 因哺乳而成为禁婚亲属的：儿子或孙子的妻子（无论辈分多远）。

8. The wife of one’s son or grandson, of whatever degree, through suckling.

9. 同时娶一名女子及其姐妹、姑母或姨母为妻，无论是因哺乳而产生的亲属关系，还是其他与她的哺乳关系等同于血缘上禁止通婚关系的女子。

9. To be married at one and the same time to one woman and her sister, or paternal or maternal aunt through suckling or indeed any other woman whose relationship to her through suckling is equivalent to a prohibiting relationship through lineage.

这些群体中第一类和第三类的禁止，在这节古兰经经文中有明确提及。其余所有群体的禁止，则依据圣训：先知ﷺ说："凡因血缘关系而禁止结婚的女性，因哺乳而产生的关系同样禁止。"（布哈里和穆斯林辑录。）

The prohibition of the first and third of these groups is mentioned specifically in this Qur’ānic verse. The prohibition of all the other groups is based on the ĥadīth in which the Prophet is quoted as saying: “Forbidden through suckling are all women whose relationships are equivalent to the blood relationships causing marriage prohibition.” (Related by al-Bukhārī and Muslim.)

这些是法律规定我们不可娶的女性。《古兰经》经文中并未提及此项禁令的任何原因，无论是普遍性的还是具体的。这意味着，学者或其他人所给出的任何理由，都是基于个人的判断和见解。这些女性群体可能存在一个共同的原因，也可能存在与其中某一类人特别相关的原因。其他原因可能适用于某些群体，而不适用于全部群体。例如，有人可能会说，近亲结婚所生的子女更为孱弱，尤其是当这种婚姻在一代又一代之间不断重复时。遗传性的弱点在这类婚姻所生的子女身上可能更为明显。而与无血缘关系的配偶结合，则提供了将双方较强优点结合起来的机会，这反过来又会增强子女和孙辈的体质。

These are the women who are specified as unlawful for us to marry. The Qur’ānic text does not mention any reason, general or specific for this prohibition. This means that whatever the reasons given by scholars or other people are based on personal judgement and opinion. There may be a reason that is common to all these groups of women. There may, on the other hand, be reasons that particularly relate to any one of them. Other reasons may apply to some groups, but not to all of them. It may be said, for example, that marriage between close relatives produces weaker children, especially when it is repeated one generation after another. Hereditary weaknesses may be more pronounced in children of such marriages. Marriage of unrelated partners provides the chance to combine their stronger qualities, which, in turn, give strength to children and grandchildren.

也可以这样说：对于母亲、女儿、姐妹、姑姨、侄甥女，以及因哺乳而产生的同等亲属，还有婆婆和儿媳，伊斯兰希望男子与她们的关系建立在关怀与尊重之上。这种关系不应受任何婚姻中因分歧而导致离婚及其种种苦涩的影响。这些不应取代一个人对这些近亲自然怀有的爱与关怀之情。

It may also be said that in the case of mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces and their counterparts through suckling, and mothers- in-law and daughters-in-law, Islam wants a man’s relationship with them to be one of care and respect. It should not be subject to what may take place in any marriage of differences leading to divorce, with all its bitterness. These should not be allowed to replace the feelings of love and care that one naturally has towards such close relatives.

可以进一步说，伊斯兰教希望保护与其中某些人群之间的父子、兄弟姐妹般的情感，例如继女、妻子的姐妹、岳母和继母的情况。一位母亲若担心女儿会夺走她的丈夫，就无法在心中完整地保持对亲生女儿的母爱。姐妹之间的情形也是如此。同样，当父亲担心自己的儿子会娶他的妻子时，这种局面也是不健康的。再者，当儿子因为父亲曾是他妻子的前夫，就把已故的父亲或已与妻子离婚的父亲视为敌对者时，情形确实变得十分糟糕。与儿媳之间的任何婚姻关系，情况也是一样。我们必须记住，每位父亲与其儿子之间都存在着温柔而深厚的感情，必须加以保护，免受任何可能损害这种感情的因素影响。

It may further be said that Islam wants to preserve the paternal or brotherly and sisterly feelings with some of these groups, such as in the case of stepdaughters, one’s wife’s sisters, one’s mother-in-law and stepmother. A mother who feels that her daughter may take her husband away from her cannot maintain intact her motherly feelings towards her own daughter. The same applies to sisters. Similarly, it is an unhealthy situation when a father feels that his own son may marry his wife. Again, when a son feels that his father who has died or who has divorced his wife is a hostile opponent, simply because the father was the former husband of the son’s wife, the situation becomes terrible indeed. The same applies to any marital relationship with one’s daughter-in-law. We have to remember that between every father and his son there is a tender and loving relationship that must be protected against anything which may adversely affect it.

我们还可以补充一点：婚姻是扩大家庭范围的途径，使家庭超越血缘关系的狭窄界限。既然如此，本就有血缘关系的人便无需再通过婚姻来建立联系。因此，这类婚姻是被禁止的，但远亲之间的婚姻除外。

We may add here that marriage is a cause for widening the circle of one’s family, taking it beyond the narrow relationship of lineage. This precludes any need for marriage between those who are already related. Hence, such marriages are forbidden, except in the case of distant relatives.

无论禁令的理由为何，我们都承认，真主为我们所选定的一切，背后必有其善因与益处。我们是否知晓任何立法背后的智慧，都不应以任何方式影响我们对它的接受。我们必须始终准备好去执行它。真正的信仰，若非接受真主的律法并毫不犹豫地加以执行，便无法扎根。

Whatever the reason for the prohibition, we recognise that there must be a good cause and a benefit behind whatever God has chosen for us. Whether or not we know the wisdom behind any legislation should not affect in any way our acceptance of it. We must always be ready to implement it. True faith does not establish its roots unless we accept God’s law and implement it without any hesitation.

在详细阐述了这些律例之后,我们还需对禁婚问题作几点总体说明。在前伊斯兰时期的阿拉伯,除两种情况外,与上述各类女性结婚均被禁止:一是父亲或祖父的前妻,二是同时娶两姐妹。这两种婚姻虽被允许,但人们是勉强接受的。伊斯兰禁止这些婚姻,并非认可阿拉伯的既有习俗,而是依据自身的权威确立了自己的禁令。因此有禁令的经文:“禁止你们娶你们的母亲……”(第23节)

Having explained this legislation in detail, we have to conclude with a few general remarks about the subject of forbidden marriages. Marriage with all these groups of women was forbidden in pre-Islamic Arabia, with the exception of two: former wives of parents or grandparents, and marriage with two sisters at the same time. These were permitted, albeit with reluctance. When Islam forbids these marriages, it does not endorse a prevalent tradition in Arabia. It initiates its own prohibition, based on its own authority. Hence, the prohibiting statement: “Forbidden to you [in marriage] are your mothers...” (Verse 23)

这并非技术细节或形式问题，而是贯穿伊斯兰信仰及其全部立法的原则。伊斯兰教的核心在于：神性唯独属于真主。因此，允许与禁止的权柄唯有真主拥有，因为这正是神性最根本的特质。唯有祂能为人类判定某些事物为合法，某些事物为非法。任何他人若宣称拥有此项权柄，或颁布此类立法，便等同于将神性归于自身。

This is not a matter of technicalities or formalities. It is a matter of principle which pervades the Islamic faith and all its legislation. For the central issue in Islam is that Godhead belongs solely to God. Hence, permission and prohibition is the jurisdiction of God alone, because they are the most essential qualities of Godhead. He alone can make certain things lawful to mankind and can forbid them others. No one else can claim this authority or issue any legislation of this type, because that would be synonymous with claiming Godhead for himself.

当一个非伊斯兰社会颁布立法，允许某些事情、禁止另一些事情时，这项立法无论全部还是部分都是无效的，因其存在不被承认，故不能以任何方式赋予其效力。伊斯兰看待任何非伊斯兰社会的立法时，首先裁定这些立法全部无效、不存在，仅仅因为它是由无权颁布立法的某个人或某个机构所颁布的。随后，伊斯兰开始制定自己的立法。如果在此过程中，伊斯兰所允许的事情恰好也是其他社会所允许的，或者所禁止的事情恰好也是它们所禁止的，那么伊斯兰的这一举措并不意味着对那些社会所立之法的认可。它既然视其为无效，又怎能认可呢？

When a non-Islamic society issues legislation permitting certain things and forbidding others, this legislation is invalid in part and in whole, and cannot be given validity in any way because its existence is not recognised. When Islam considers the legislation of any non-Islamic society, it initially rules that all this legislation is invalid and nonexistent, simply because it is issued by someone or some institution which has no authority to issue it. Islam goes on to initiate its own legislation. If in the process Islam permits something other societies also permit, or forbids what they forbid, its action is not an endorsement of what those societies have legislated. How could it endorse what it considers invalid?

这一原则适用于人类生活的一切方面。除真主（God）之外，任何人都无权制定立法，来允许或禁止任何事情，无论其涉及婚姻、饮食、饮品、外表、行为、契约、交易、价值观、传统，还是任何其他情况。所有这些方面的权威都必须源自真主，所制定的任何法律都必须以真主的律法为基础。

This principle applies to everything in human life. No one other than God can issue any legislation, which permits or forbids anything, whether it relates to marriage, food, drink, appearance, action, contracts, transactions, values, traditions or any situation whatsoever. The authority for all this must derive from God, and any legislation issued must be based on God’s law.

伊斯兰教正是以这种方式确立其律法、建立其制度、并使其传统得以施行。在这一切之中,它行使的是自身的权威。《古兰经》在各个方面反复强调这一原则,就人们所禁止或允许的种种事物与不信者展开辩论。许多经文以反问的形式提出问题,例如:“你说:‘谁禁止真主为他的仆人所创造的装饰和美好的给养呢?’”(7:32)还有许多经文对何为合法、何为非法作出了明确的宣告,如下面两段经文所示:“你说:‘你们来,我要宣读你们的主所禁止你们的事项。’”(6:151)“你说:‘在启示给我的经典中,我没有发现有什么可以让人食用的东西是被禁止的,除非是死物、血液或猪肉……’”(6:145)诸如此类的经文在《古兰经》中比比皆是。

This is how Islam has initiated its laws, established its systems and set its traditions in operation. In all this, it has operated its own authority. The Qur’ān emphasises this principle in all manner of ways, arguing with non-believers about everything that they have forbidden or permitted. Many a verse asks a rhetorical question, such as: “Say: who has forbidden the ornaments and the good provisions God has provided for his servants?” (7: 32) Many make emphatic statements concerning what is lawful and what is not, as in the case of the following two examples: “Say: Come and I will read to you what your Lord has forbidden you.” (6: 151) “Say: ‘I do not find in what has been revealed to me anything forbidden for anyone to eat, unless it be carrion, blood or pig meat...” (6: 145) Verses like these abound in the Qur’ān.

所有这些反问句都指向同一个目的,即强调一项根本原则:允许与禁止的权力唯有真主所有。这项权利不能由人类来主张,无论是个人、阶层、民族,还是全人类整体。人类享有这项权利的唯一途径,是获得真主的许可,并依照真主的法律行使这一权利。允许与禁止,就是立法,而立法等同于信仰。作出允许与禁止的人,就是确立信仰的人,也是人们所顺从的对象。如果这是真主所做的,那么人们就是顺从真主,遵循祂的信仰;如果是其他人所做的,那么人们就是顺从那个人,而将真主的信仰排除在外。

All these rhetorical questions aim at one and the same thing. They seek to emphasise the basic principle that the authority to give permissions and make prohibitions belongs to God alone. This is a right which cannot be claimed by human beings, whether an individual, a class, a nation or indeed mankind as a whole. The only way for them to enjoy such a right is to have permission from God and to exercise that right according to God’s law. To permit and forbid is to legislate, which is synonymous with faith. The one who permits and forbids is the one who establishes the faith and the one to whom people submit. If it is God who does that, then people submit to God and they follow His faith. If it is someone else, then people submit to that person to the exclusion of God’s faith.

当把问题置于这一层面时,我们便明白,这是关于神性的本质与属性的问题。它是关于信仰及其界限与范围的问题。如果全世界的穆斯林真想做穆斯林,就让他们审视自己在伊斯兰信仰中的立场。

When the matter is put in this light, we understand it as a question of the essence and qualities of Godhead. It is a question of faith and its limits and boundaries. Let Muslims throughout the world consider their position with regard to Islamic faith, if they truly want to be Muslims.

且禁止你们娶已婚的妇女，但你们右手所有的除外。这是真主为你们规定的律法。除此之外的女子，只要你们用自己的财产作聘礼，以正式婚姻的方式去求娶，而非苟合淫乱，便是对你们合法的。（第24节）

And (forbidden to you are) all married women, other than those whom your right hands possess. This is God’s ordinance, binding upon you. Lawful to you are all women other than these, provided that, offering them of your own possessions, you seek to take them in wedlock not in fornication. (Verse 24)

这节经文的第一句清楚表明，已婚妇女因婚姻关系，就不再可以被其他男子娶为妻。由此可知，伊斯兰教禁止一妻多夫。这与伊斯兰社会以家庭为基本单位的根本原则相一致。家庭必须受到保护，以免因“性共产主义”或滥交而导致人伦关系的混乱。

The first sentence in this verse makes it clear that married women are, as a result of their marriage, not lawful for other women to marry. This means that polyandry is forbidden in Islam. This is in line with the basic rule in Islamic society that makes the family its constituent unit. It must be protected against any confusion in relationships that may result from “sexual communism” or promiscuity.

家庭是通过公开缔结的婚姻而建立的，婚姻将一名女子与一名男子结合在一起，以确保贞洁得到保全。这一制度完全符合人的天性，满足了人的真正需要。它服务于人生的目标，而这些目标超越了人的性需求，并有助于实现人类社会的各项目标。它还保障了个人、家庭和社会的安宁。

The family, which comes into existence through a marriage made in public to unite one woman with one man in order to ensure the preservation of chastity, is the perfect system which fits in with human nature and meets the real needs of man. It is a system that serves the objectives of human life, which transcend man’s sexual needs, and helps achieve the goals of human society. It also ensures peace of mind for the individual, the family and the community.

众所周知，人类幼儿所需要的抚养期远比任何动物的后代都要长。此外，孩子为了理解文明人类生活的各种要求所需接受的教育，同样需要很长的时间。

Everyone knows that the human child needs a much longer period of upbringing than the progeny of any animal. Moreover, the education a child needs in order to comprehend the requirements of civilised human life takes a similarly long period.

在动物身上，性欲的目的仅限于交配和繁衍后代。然而在人类身上，性欲有一个更为精妙的目的：它在男性与女性之间建立起一种持久的联系，以提供一个适合抚育子女的环境，使子女能够自我保护并满足自身的需要。它还服务于一个更为重要的目的，即教育子女，帮助他获得经验并掌握良好的知识水平。如此，孩子便能为其所在社群的生活做出贡献，并在推动人类文明进步方面履行自己的责任。

In animals, the sexual desire has no further objectives than intercourse and procreation. In man, however, it has a much finer objective which establishes a permanent link between the male and the female in order to provide an environment suitable for bringing up children who are able to protect themselves and satisfy their needs. It also serves the more important purpose of educating the child and helping him to gain experience and acquire a good standard of knowledge. Thus, the child will be able to contribute to the life of his community and discharge his responsibility in advancing human civilisation.

因此,性欲并非两性生活中最重要的因素。它是植根于人性之中的一种手段,使两性的伴侣关系远远超出性接触的时间而持续下去。决定两人能够相伴多久的,并不是他们彼此之间的喜爱,而是他们对无助的后代以及对人类社会所负的责任感。正是社会赋予父母以责任,要求他们悉心照料子女,直到这些孩子能够承担起自己的角色,为实现人类存在的目标贡献力量。

Sexual desire, then, is not the paramount element in the life of the two human sexes. It is a means implanted in their nature so that their companionship lasts well beyond their sexual contact. It is not their inclination to each other that determines how long they remain together. It is their sense of duty towards their helpless offspring and towards their human society. It is society that assigns to parents the responsibility of taking good care of their offspring until such children are able to play their own part in the achievement of the goals of human existence.

所有这些考量使家庭成为两性之间唯一恰当的伴侣关系平台。它也使"一夫一妻"的制度成为确保这种伴侣关系得以延续的唯一恰当制度。在家庭的建立与延续过程中，以及在家庭遇到任何问题时，乃至在极端情况下解除家庭关系时，责任都成为首要考量。任何试图贬低家庭纽带、削弱以责任为根基的家庭基础，或以短暂的激情和炽热的欲望取而代之的企图，都是邪恶而罪恶的，不仅因为它助长了人类社会的淫乱，还因为它摧毁人类社会并动摇其根基。

All these considerations make the family the only proper platform for companionship between the two sexes. It also makes the system which assigns one woman to one man the only proper system which ensures the continuity of this companionship. Duty becomes the paramount consideration in the establishment and continuation of the family as well as in solving any problem it may encounter and, in extreme cases, at the time of its dissolution. Any attempt to devalue family ties or weaken the family’s foundation on duty or to substitute it for temporary passion and burning desire is wicked and criminal, not only because it helps spread promiscuity in human society but also because it destroys human society and pulls down its foundations.

当我们想到这一点时,就能体会到作家和媒体所犯罪行的严重性。他们以削弱家庭纽带、贬低婚姻为己任,把婚姻描绘得十分不堪,从而美化那些建立在炽热肉欲和短暂激情之上的关系。他们一边赞美这些关系,一边嘲笑婚姻,这是多么恶劣的行为。

When we remember this, we can appreciate the magnitude of the crime perpetrated by writers and the media who make it their task to weaken family ties and devalue marriage. They depict the same in a very bad light so as to glorify those built on burning, carnal desires and temporary passions. What a bad service they perform when they speak highly of these relationships while at the same time they ridicule marriage.

我们还能体会到欧麦尔·伊本·哈塔卜的深刻智慧。有一次，一个人来到他面前，表示想要休妻，理由是他已经不再爱她了。欧麦尔对他说："你要好好想一想，兄弟！难道家庭只是建立在爱情之上的吗？那么忠诚与相互关怀又将何存？"欧麦尔的这番论述，依据的是《古兰经》中对主的优秀仆人的训示："你们要善待她们。你们即使厌恶她们，也许你们厌恶的事物，主却使其中有许多益处。"（第19节）这一训示帮助穆斯林把责任置于个人欲望之上。因此，他会竭力设法与妻子和睦地解决彼此间的问题。除非一切努力都未能达成真正的和解，他才不会割断家庭的关系。这种态度优先考虑对子女的照顾，使他们免受情感变迁所带来的冲击。

We can also appreciate the great wisdom of `Umar ibn al-Khaţţāb when he said to a man who came to him expressing his desire to divorce his wife on the grounds that he no longer loved her: “Think properly, man! Are families built only on love? What room is then left for loyalty and mutual care?” `Umar based his argument on the Qur’ānic directive to God’s best servants: “Consort with them in a goodly manner. Even if you are averse to them, it may well be that you are averse to something in which God has placed much good.” (Verse 19) This directive helps a Muslim to place duty before personal desire. He, therefore, tries hard to solve his problems with his wife amicably. He does not sever the family relationship unless all attempts to achieve proper reconciliation have failed. This attitude gives priority to the care that needs to be taken of the young who should be spared the shocks of changing passions.

与这种对婚姻的崇高看法相比,那些赞美一切关系、却唯独贬低那种以责任为先、以抚育未来世代为首要任务的关系的人的论调,显得十分荒谬。然而我们看到,一些不道德的作家和邪恶的媒体竟鼓动每一位对丈夫稍有冷淡的妻子赶紧去找男友。他们把她与男友的关系称为“神圣的”,同时却把她与丈夫的关系说成是她在“出卖自己的身体”。

Compared with this noble view of marriage, the arguments of those who glorify all relationships except the one which gives priority to duty and which takes care of the primary task of bringing up future generations appear decidedly absurd. Yet we find immoral writers and wicked media encouraging every wife who experiences some coolness towards her husband to rush for a boyfriend. They describe her relationship with that boyfriend as “sacred”, whilst at the same time describing her relationship with her husband as one whereby she is “selling her body”.

在阐明祂的律法时，真主说：“禁止你们娶已婚的妇女。”这正与那些道德败坏的作者所说的截然相反。真主“说的是真理，祂也指引正路”。（33：4）

In making His legislation clear, God says: “Forbidden to you are all married women.” This is what God says which is clearly opposite to what those immoral writers say. It is “God who says the truth, and it is He who guides to the right path.” (33: 4)

正在有组织地进行各种努力，试图确立与真主所确定的社会价值观和准则相悖的社会价值观与准则，并为人际关系奠定与之相悖的基础。他们力图为人、为整个人类生活划定一条与真主所确定的界线截然不同的界线。那些在幕后推动这些努力的人以为，他们最终要实现的，是摧毁穆斯林国家伊斯兰社会的根基。他们认为，一旦这些社会的意识形态和道德准则被摧毁，便再没有任何障碍能够阻止他们在这些国家实现其旧有的野心。他们所酿成的灾难远不止于此。他们的努力将导致一切人类社会根基的毁灭，因为他们意在破坏人性的根本。他们剥夺了那些使人能够完成建设与其尊严相称的文明生活这一使命的要素。他们使人无法在幸福的家庭氛围中培养出身心均衡、装备得当的子女，而这些子女本应承担起服务人类利益的任务。这些考量与动物的性行为和繁衍方式全然不同。

Organised efforts are being made in order to establish social values and standards and to create foundations for human relationships that are at variance with those established by God. They seek to determine a line for people and for human life altogether different from that determined by God. Those who are behind such efforts imagine that what they will ultimately achieve is the destruction of the foundations of Islamic society in Muslim countries. They believe that when the ideology and moral standards of these societies are destroyed, there will no longer be any barriers to prevent them from achieving their old ambitions in these countries. The catastrophe which they are perpetrating goes far beyond this. Their efforts will lead to the destruction of the foundation of all human societies in their endeavour to ruin the basis of human nature. They remove the very elements that enable man to discharge his task of building a civilised existence worthy of him. They deprive him of raising well-balanced and properly equipped children in a happy family atmosphere, who will take over the task of serving the interests of mankind. These considerations are totally different from the sort of sex and procreation practised by animals.

自我毁灭的诅咒将波及全人类，因为当代人沉溺于肉欲，正在削弱后代的前景。

The curse of self-destruction will affect all mankind, as the present generation undermines the prospects of future generations through indulgence in carnal desires.

真主对那些违抗祂的命令、指令以及祂赋予人类之天性的人，必将降下审判。人类全体都会因此遭受苦难，除非有一群信士的共同体在大地上建立真主的制度，并将其清楚地展示给他人，使他们也能接受它。这是拯救他们的唯一途径，使他们免于自己所造成的灾难——他们自以为只是在摧毁穆斯林社会，实则不然。令人痛心的是，穆斯林国家的作家与媒体也在为这些邪恶的图谋效力。

God’s judgement will come to pass against those who rebel against His decrees and directives and the nature He has given to man. All mankind will suffer as a result, unless they are rescued by a community of believers that establishes God’s system on earth and shows it clearly to others so that they too may adopt it. This is the only way to rescue them from the calamity that they themselves perpetrate while imagining that they are simply destroying Muslim societies. It is painful to see that these evil designs are also served by writers and the media in Muslim countries.

“[禁止你们娶]已婚的妇女，除非是你们右手所有的（俘虏）。”这一例外是针对那些在圣战中被穆斯林俘获的妇女而设的。她们在被俘之前，可能在与穆斯林社会处于战争状态的国家中有丈夫。由于地理上的距离，她们与其不信教的丈夫的婚姻关系已经中断。既然她们在伊斯兰之地没有丈夫，她们的处境便与未婚女子相同。此时只需通过观察一个经期的等待期，确认她们没有怀孕即可。

“[Forbidden to you are] all married women, other than those whom your right hands possess.” This exception is made in the case of women who fell captive to Muslims in their jihād campaigns. These might, prior to their captivity, have had husbands in their countries which remained at war with the Muslim society. Thus, the physical distance separating them severed their relationships with their unbelieving husbands. As they had no husbands in the land of Islam, they were in the same position as unmarried women. It was sufficient to ascertain that they were not pregnant by observing a waiting period consisting of one menstruation cycle.

此后,如果他们皈依伊斯兰教,与他们结婚就是合法的。

Thereafter, it was legitimate for them to marry, if they became Muslims.

或者，拥有此类女俘的人，可以将她视为“右手所拥有者”而与她发生性关系。无论该女子是否皈依伊斯兰教，这一点均适用。

Alternatively, it was legitimate for a person to whom such a captive woman belonged to have sex with her as “one whom his right hand possessed”. This applied whether the woman became a Muslim or not.

我们已在前文（第一卷第262–264页）详细阐述过伊斯兰对奴隶制度的态度。关于此问题的进一步说明，将在对第47章《穆罕默德》（Muĥammad）的注释中给出。就本处的目的而言，只需说明：在对战俘施以奴役这一问题上，伊斯兰采取的是与其敌人同等对待的原则。伊斯兰在善待奴隶、将其视为人类这一点上，始终优于其敌人。这是不可避免的，因为战俘被奴役在当时是一项国际性的制度，伊斯兰无法单方面将其废除。

We have already explained in detail the attitude of Islam towards slavery (Volume I, pp. 262-4). Further explanation will be given in the commentary on Sūrah 47, entitled Muĥammad. It is sufficient for our purpose here to explain that in the matter of imposing slavery on war captives, Islam adopted the rule of equal treatment with its enemies. Islam has always been superior to its enemies in its kind treatment of slaves as human beings. This was inevitable because the enslavement of war captives was an international institution that could not be unilaterally abolished by Islam.

否则，穆斯林俘虏将被奴役，而落入穆斯林手中的非信徒却仍可获得自由。这样一来，天平就会向非伊斯兰社会倾斜。他们将不再有攻击穆斯林国家的动机，因为他们明知自己的俘虏永远不会被奴役。

Otherwise, Muslim captives would have been enslaved while unbelievers who fell captive to Muslims would remain free. This would have tilted the balance in favour of un-Islamic societies. They would no longer have had an incentive to attack the Muslim state, knowing that their captives would never be enslaved.

因此，穆斯林社会中出现非信徒女子成为俘虏，是不可避免的。然而该如何处置她们呢？仅仅提供食物和饮水，并不能完全满足她们的自然需求。还有另一方面的需要有待满足；如果这一需要得不到安排，淫乱就会危及整个社会。只要她们仍是非信徒，穆斯林便不能与她们结婚。

Therefore, it was inevitable that there would be unbelieving women falling captive to the Muslim society. But what to do with them? Their natural needs would not be totally satisfied with food and drink. There was another aspect which needed satisfying, and had this not been facilitated, promiscuity would have endangered the whole society. Muslims could not marry them as long as they remained unbelievers.

唯一的出路是：让一个不信道的女俘虏在确认她没有怀孕、并且她与先前那位不信道的丈夫之间的关系已经彻底、实际地断绝之后，才对她的主人成为合法的。

There was only one way out. That was to make an unbelieving captive woman lawful for her master only after making sure that she was not pregnant and after her relationship with her former unbelieving husband was totally and physically severed.

经文接着说明哪些女性可以合法地与之结婚。然而，在此之前，经文先指出了这一立法的来源，即真主。唯有真主有权禁止某事、允许某事，并在一切事务上立法：“这是真主的命令，是你们必须遵守的。”（第24节）因此，这是来自真主的指示，而非出于私欲、传统或地方习俗的问题。人们必须遵守祂为他们所立的法律并依从之；而他们也要为执行这些法律负责。

The verse goes on to explain which women are lawful to marry. Before it does so, however, it identifies the source of this legislation, namely God. Only God has the authority to forbid something and legitimise another and to issue legislation in all matters whatsoever: “This is God’s ordinance, binding upon you.” (Verse 24) It is, then, a directive from God, not a question of desire, tradition, or local institutions. People must observe what He legislates for them and abide by it. In turn, they are accountable for its implementation.

我们已经指出，《古兰经》所禁止我们迎娶的大多数女性，在伊斯兰之前的阿拉伯社会中也同样是被禁止的。只有父亲的前妻，以及同时娶两姐妹为妻，在当时并未被禁止。《古兰经》并非仅仅认可蒙昧时代所遵行的习俗。相反，我们被告知，这一禁令是真主颁布的具有约束力的律法。这一点值得我们仔细思考，因为它关系到伊斯兰信仰的本质。此外，它对我们的现实生活也有极其重要的影响。

We have already pointed out that most of the women whom we are forbidden to marry according to the Qur’ān were also forbidden in the Arabian society in pre- Islamic days. The only ones that were not so forbidden were former wives of parents and marriage to two or more sisters at the same time. The Qur’ān does not simply endorse a practice followed in pre-Islamic days. Rather, we are told that this prohibition is a binding ordinance issued by God. This is a point which merits careful consideration as it relates to the essence of Islamic faith. Moreover, its effects are highly important to us in our practical lives.

伊斯兰认为，立法的唯一依据是真主的命令与许可。立法的最终权威属于真主。凡不以此原则为基础的，本质上都是无效的，事后也无法使其合法化。因此，蒙昧社会中盛行的一切，即凡不以唯一真正的原则为基础、只承认真主拥有立法权的人类一切情形，都是无效的。这适用于观念、价值、准则、传统、规则、条例和法律。伊斯兰执政时，是全面地处理生活。它首先废除蒙昧时代的一切价值、传统和法律，以建立自己的制度。如果在此过程中，它认可了某种昔日蒙昧时代盛行的传统，也不会以其原有的基础予以接受。

Islam considers God’s commandment and permission as the only basis for legislation. The authority to legislate belongs to Him in the final resort. Whatever is not based on this principle is essentially invalid and cannot subsequently be legitimised. Hence, whatever prevails in ignorant society, which includes every human situation not based on the only true principle that acknowledges the authority to legislate solely to God, is invalid. This applies to concepts, values, standards, traditions, rules, regulations and laws. When Islam rules, it deals with life as a whole. It begins by abrogating all values, traditions and laws of ignorance in order to establish its own system. If, in the process, it approves a tradition that had prevailed in former, ignorant days, it does not accept it with its original foundation.

它是重新确立这一做法，并依神的许可赋予其自身的权威。因此，蒙昧时代的旧习俗不复存在，取而代之的是一种在神的权威之下新确立的做法。

It establishes it anew and gives it its own authority with God’s permission. Thus, the practice of pre-Islamic days no longer exists, while a new practice is established in its stead under God’s authority.

同样地,当伊斯兰教法学在某些事务上提及"传统"时,它便赋予传统一种基于真主许可的新权威。因此,在这些特定问题上,传统获得了伊斯兰法的效力。此时已不再是社会赋予传统其权威,而是由真主赋予这种权威——祂是唯一的立法者,并在某些情况下认可它作为判断的依据。

Similarly, when Islamic jurisprudence refers to “tradition” in certain matters, it imparts to tradition a new authority based on God’s permission. Hence, tradition acquires in these particular questions the validity of Islamic law. It is no longer a case of society giving a tradition its authority. That authority is now imparted by God, the only Legislator who has approved of it as a source of judgement in certain cases.

这是一项基本原则，《古兰经》中的经文便提及了这一点：

This is a basic principle to which reference is made by the Qur’ānic statement:

“这是真主的律例，对你们具有约束力。”经文的其他陈述也对此予以印证。《古兰经》每提到一项立法，都会指出赋予其根本效力的来源。当《古兰经》提及非伊斯兰社会的法律、习俗与观念时，往往紧接着明确declare这些“真主未赐予任何权威”，以此强调其无效性。

“This is God’s ordinance, binding upon you.” It is further endorsed by other Qur’ānic statements. Every time an aspect of legislation is mentioned in the Qur’ān, reference is made to the source that gives it its essential validity. When the Qur’ān refers to the laws, traditions and concepts of non-Islamic societies, it very frequently follows that reference with a clear statement that these “have not been given any authority by God.” It thus emphasises their invalidity.

这一原则不同于伊斯兰教另一项基本原则，该原则规定：一切事物和事务在本质上都是被允许的，除非有明确的文本将其定为非法。这种原本的允许性是由真主赋予的，它享有真主的权威。而我们在此所讨论的，是愚昧的社会为自己所立的法律。这些法律在本质上和起源上都是无效的，只有当真主的法律认可其中的任何部分，赋予其正当的合法性时，它才变得有效。

This principle is different from the other basic Islamic principle which states that all things and matters are initially permissible, unless they are made unlawful by a clear statement. The initial permissibility is granted by God. It enjoys God’s authority. What we are speaking about here concerns that which ignorant societies legislate for themselves. All of which is initially and essentially invalid. It only becomes valid when God’s law endorses any part of it, granting it proper legitimacy.

既然本章已经界定了穆斯林不可与之结婚的女性，并将此类婚姻禁令与真主的律例和命令联系起来，接下来便界定了人们可以通过婚姻满足其天然欲望的范围。本章阐明了真主所认可的两性之间的伴侣关系方式，这种关系导致家庭的建立。如此，两性之间的交往便在纯洁中带来愉悦。"除此之外，凡你们所寻求的女人，都可以用你们的财产娶她们，但须是正当的结合，不是淫乱。你们对于所享受的女人，应当交付她们应得的聘礼；但你们在聘礼的规定之后，若彼此自愿地另有约定，你们也无罪。真主确是全知的，确是至明的。"（第24节）

Now that the sūrah has defined the women with whom a Muslim may not be married, linking such prohibition of marriages to God’s decrees and ordinances, it goes on to define the area within which people may satisfy their natural desire through marriage. It sets out the way God approves of for the companionship between the two sexes, which leads to the establishment of families. In this way, the meeting between the two sexes provides enjoyment with purity. “Lawful to you are all women other than these, provided that, offering them of your own possessions, you seek to take them in wedlock not in fornication. To those with whom you seek to enjoy marriage, you shall give the dowers due to them; but you will incur no sin if you agree among yourselves on any voluntary arrangement even after what has been stipulated by way of duty. God is indeed All-Knowing, Wise.” (Verse 24)

这节古兰经经文指出，除了经文所列举的被禁止者之外，与其他女子结婚是合法的。凡愿意如此结婚的人，可以用自己的钱财作为聘礼，但目的不是在婚姻关系之外寻求享受。

This Qur’ānic verse states that marriage with any woman other than those listed as forbidden is legitimate. Anyone who wishes to have such a marriage may spend of his money, by way of dowry, not to buy enjoyment outside the marriage bond.

因此,经文说:“你们可以用自己的财产去求娶她们,以正当婚姻为目的,而不是为了淫乱。”这一条件在句子尚未结束之前就已经表述得非常清楚。而且,这一条件先以肯定形式表述,即“你们以婚姻的方式去求娶她们”,紧接着便是否定形式,即“而不是为了淫乱”。因此,这一条法令没有任何模糊之处。它毫不含糊地说明了伊斯兰所认可的关系类型,即婚姻,以及它所禁止的关系类型,即任何形式的淫乱。在伊斯兰之前的阿拉伯社会中,淫乱关系,无论是通奸还是卖淫,都是普遍存在并被认可的。以下由先知的妻子ʿĀ'ishah所转述的记载可以证明这一点:

Hence, the verse states: “Provided that, offering them of your own possessions, you seek to take them in wedlock not in fornication.” This condition is stated perfectly clearly even before the sentence is finished. Moreover, the condition is stated first in a positive form, “you seek to take them in wedlock,” which is immediately followed by the negative form, “not in fornication.” Thus no ambiguity whatsoever overshadows this legislation. It describes without any equivocation the nature of the type of relationship Islam approves of, namely marriage, and the nature of the relationship it outlaws, that being promiscuity in any form. Promiscuous relationships, whether as fornication or prostitution, were practised and approved of in pre-Islamic Arabian society. This is clear in the following report given by `Ā’ishah, the Prophet’s wife:

在蒙昧时代，男女关系有四种形式。第一种与今天的婚姻相同：男子向另一名男子提出请求，求娶对方监护之下的女子或其女儿，支付聘礼，然后与她结婚。

There were four types of man-woman relationship in ignorant days. The first is the same as marriage today: A man makes his proposal to another man to marry a girl in his charge or his daughter, pays her dower and gets married to her.

第二种类型是：丈夫在妻子结束月经之后对她说："你去找这个人[他指名某人]，与他怀孕。"然后丈夫远离她，不与她同寝，直到她与那人怀孕的迹象显现出来。当确定她已怀孕后，如果丈夫愿意，他可以再与她同寝。

The second type is that in which a man says to his wife after she has finished her menstruation period: “Contact this person [he names a certain man] and get pregnant by him.” Her husband then keeps away from her and does not sleep with her until her pregnancy by the other man becomes manifest. When it is clear that she is pregnant, her husband may take her to bed if he wants.

这样做的原因是丈夫希望生下一个血统更好的孩子。这种关系被称为“借他人之种生育子女”。

The reason behind this is that the husband wants to have a child of better blood. This relationship is known as having a child through another man.

第三种关系是，若干男子（少于十人）共同拥有一名女子，他们每人都与她发生性关系。如果她怀孕了，那么在她分娩后的几个夜晚，她会把他们全部召集到一起。他们中谁也不能缺席。聚会时，她对他们说：“你们知道我和你们之间发生过什么。我生下了一个孩子。我要你们知道，这个孩子是……的孩子。”她指定其中任何一人，那人便成为该孩子的父亲，他不能拒绝承认自己的父子关系。

A third form of relationship was that a number of men, less than 10, may share one woman, with each of them having intercourse with her. If she became pregnant, then a few nights after she gives birth, she calls them all for a meeting. None of them can absent himself. When they meet, she says to them: “You know what has passed between me and you. I have given birth to a child. I want you to know that it is the child of ...” She names any one of them and he becomes the father of the child. He cannot decline to acknowledge his parenthood.

第四种情形是许多男子经常出入某位不拒绝任何人的女子的住所。这些女子是娼妓，她们会在门上挂一面旗子。任何想要她们的人都可以前来。若这样的娼妓怀孕，待她生产之后，人们便为她凑钱，并请来一位精通相面术的人，通过观察面容的相似之处来确定这个孩子的父亲是谁。那人便会被认定为父亲，无人反对，孩子也会以他的名字来称呼。（由布哈里转述。）

The fourth form was that of many men frequenting the lodging of a certain woman who does not refuse anyone. These were prostitutes and they used to put a flag on their doors. Anyone who wanted them was welcome. When any such prostitute was pregnant, they collected money for her after she gave birth and called in an expert in physiognomy to trace resemblance of features and so determine the parenthood of that child. He would claim it without objection, and the child would be called after him. (Related by al-Bukhārī.)

第三和第四种类型都属于通奸的范畴，是被禁止的，无论是私下的男女关系还是卖淫的情形。第一种类型是合法的婚姻，是受到鼓励的。第二种则很难为它找到一个恰当的名称。

The third and fourth types come under the umbrella of fornication, which is forbidden, whether in a private relationship or in a case of prostitution. The first type is that of honest wedlock which is encouraged. The second is something that we find ourselves at a loss in trying to furnish it with an appropriate name.

《古兰经》描述了真主所喜悦的那种关系的本质:它是一种诚实、贞洁与相互关怀的关系。这就是婚姻,它以清白、坦荡的方式,保护男女双方的贞洁。它也保护家庭、家人和子女。它为我们所说的健全的家庭制度提供了坚实的基础。

The Qur’ān describes the nature of the type of relationship God approves of: it is one of honesty, chastity and mutual care. It is wedlock, for both man and woman, which protects their chastity in a clean and straightforward manner. It is also a protection of the home, the family and of children. It provides the strong foundation for the healthy institution we call the family.

"任何其他形式都会被拒绝。值得注意的是，《古兰经》用来描述这种关系的阿拉伯语术语，源自一个表示将水倒在低洼之地的词根。因此，它隐含着男女双方浪费那使生命得以延续的液体的意思，而神创造这液体，是为了延续我们的物种，并通过男女双方共同参与抚育和保护子女来推动进步。它被浪费在转瞬即逝的快感之上。换言之，它被倒在了低洼之地。它既不能保护他们免于污秽，也不能保护他们的子女免于浪费。"

Any other form is rejected. It is worth noting that the Arabic term the Qur’ān uses to describe such a relationship is derived from a root which denotes pouring water over low ground. Therefore, it connotes the wasting by both man and woman of the fluid which brings life and which God has created in order to preserve our species and bring about progress through the participation of both man and woman in the upbringing and protection of children. It is wasted over a momentary pleasure. In other words, it is poured over low ground. It does not protect them against impurity, nor does it protect their children against waste.

在两个简短的短语中,《古兰经》勾勒出两种生活的两幅图景,分别属于两类人。

In two short phrases, the Qur’ān delineates two images of two types of life.

此外,它既达到了倡导可接受之事、贬斥不可接受之事的目的,同时又阐明了每一类事物的真实本质。在这一点以及言辞精炼的其他特征上,古兰经的文体是独一无二的。

Furthermore, it achieves its purpose of promoting the acceptable and of degrading the unacceptable, while stating at the same time the true nature of each type. In this and other features of word economy, the Qur’ānic style is unique.

在陈述了婚姻需要花费钱财这一条件之后，经文接着说明了如何进行："你们既然要与她们结婚，就当把聘礼给她们。"（第24节）因此，聘礼是妇女因其给予丈夫的东西而有权合法要求的。一个想要与可以娶为妻子的女子满足欲望的男子，必须通过婚姻来寻求她，以保护他自己和她的贞洁。他还必须把聘礼作为一项规定的义务交付给她。这不是他作为施舍而给她的东西。他也不能像蒙昧时代的人那样，不付聘礼就继承她；也不能像蒙昧社会过去和现在仍然存在的那种交易式的关系那样行事。

Having stated the condition that money should be spent for marriage, an explanation of how this is to be conducted follows: “To those with whom you seek to enjoy marriage, you shall give the dowers due to them.” (Verse 24) The dowry, then, is something a woman may claim by right for what she gives her husband. A man who wants to fulfil his desire with a woman whom he can wed must seek her through marriage for the purpose of preserving his own and her own chastity. He must also pay her dowry as a stipulated duty. It is not something he gives her by way of charity. Nor can he inherit her without having to pay her dowry, as used to happen in ignorant, pre-Islamic days. Nor is it possible for him to enter into a trade-in relationship like that which once happened and still happens in ignorant societies.

那就是两个男人之间的交换婚约，即双方各自将自己监护之下的一名女子嫁给对方做妻子。这样，两名女子就像牲畜或无生命的物品一样被交换了。

That is, an exchange deal between two men, whereby each gave the other a woman in his charge to be his wife. Thus, the two girls or women were traded like animals or inanimate objects.

在确立了这项属于妇女的聘礼权利之后，夫妻之间仍可依各自的处境、彼此的意愿与情感，商定任何合适的安排。经文说：“你们在规定的义务之外，彼此同意的任何安排，你们都不会有罪。真主确是全知的，是至睿的。”（第24节）这意味着，妻子在聘礼已经明确约定之后，可以放弃其中的一部分或全部。聘礼依法属于她，她有权自由处置，无需任何人干涉。因此，她放弃其中任何一部分都是被允许的。同样，丈夫给予妻子超过约定聘礼的部分也是被允许的，这种增加是他自己的权利。

Having established this right of dowry, which is owed to the woman, the possibility is left open for the married couple to agree between them any arrangement which is suitable to their circumstances, according to their own wishes and feelings towards each other: “But you will incur no sin if you agree among yourselves on any voluntary arrangement even after what has been stipulated by way of duty. God is indeed All-Knowing, Wise.” (Verse 24) This means that the wife can forgo part or all of her dowry after it has been clearly stipulated. Her dowry belongs to her by right and she is free to do with it what she likes, without interference from anyone. Hence, it is permissible for her to forgo any part of it. Equally, it is permissible for her husband to give her more than her stipulated dowry. Such an increase is his own prerogative.

对他们而言，作出任何此类安排都是不受限制的。

To make any such arrangement is open to them without restriction.

该节经文的结语将这些律法条文与其根源联系起来，那根源拥有真实的知识和完善的智慧："真主确是全知的，是至睿的。"正是基于祂的知识与智慧，祂才颁布了这些律法条文。当穆斯林认识到，那些影响其生活各个方面、尤其是与妻子之间私密关系的律法，来自何种源头时，他便能安心：这些律法必定是正确的，因为它们源于真主的智慧与知识。

The concluding comment in this verse relates these legal provisions to their source, who has true knowledge and perfect wisdom: “God is indeed All-Knowing, Wise.” It is on the basis of His knowledge and wisdom that He has decreed these legal provisions. When a Muslim realises from what source he has received laws which affect every aspect of his life, especially his private relationship with his wife, he is reassured that such laws can only be the right ones, since they derive from God’s wisdom and knowledge.

当穆斯林处于某种境况，以致实际上无法迎娶一位更能守贞的自由女子时，他可以借此许可娶一位奴隶女子，以抵御犯罪的诱惑。

When a Muslim finds himself in circumstances that make it practically impossible to marry a free woman who is likely to be more mindful of her chastity, he may use the concession to marry a slave woman so as to resist the temptation of sin.

如果你们中有人因故无力娶自由的信士女，那么可以娶你们右手所拥有的信士女奴为妻。真主最知道你们的信仰；你们彼此同属一体。所以，你们应征得她们主人的同意而娶她们，并依照公道给予她们应有的聘金，使她们成为贞洁的人，不行淫乱，也不私通情人。如果她们婚后犯了可耻的罪行，她们所受的刑罚应是自由女子所受刑罚的一半。这一规定适用于你们中怕陷入罪恶的人。然而，你们忍耐才是更好的。真主是至赦的，是至慈的。（第25节）

Any of you who, owing to circumstances, is not in a position to marry a free believing woman may marry a believing maiden from among those whom your right hands possess. God knows all about your faith: you belong to one another. Marry them, then, with their people’s consent and give them their dowers in an equitable manner, as chaste women who give themselves in honest wedlock, not in fornication, nor as women who have secret love companions. If after their marriage, they are guilty of gross immoral conduct, they shall be liable to half the penalty to which free women are liable. This provision applies to those of you who fear to stumble into sin. Yet it is better for you to be patient. God is Much-Forgiving, Merciful. (Verse 25)

伊斯兰教是在人的本性、能力和现实生活的限度之内与人打交道的。它握住人的手，将他从愚昧的深渊提升到伊斯兰生活的崇高境界。与此同时，它为人提供了他所需要的一切。无知社会中所发生的种种情形，并非不可避免。

The religion of Islam deals with man within the limitations of his nature, abilities and practical life. It takes him by the hand, elevating him from the depths of ignorance to the sublime horizon of Islamic life. At the same time, it provides him with all that he needs. What takes place in an ignorant society is not inevitable.

无知的标准是低下的，而伊斯兰希望将人类提升到更高的标准。

Ignorant standards are low and Islam wants to elevate humanity to a higher standard.

伊斯兰教认识到，人天性上有能力达到很高的标准。诚然，人可能陷入无知的泥淖，但同样真实的是，人也能够达到崇高的境界。唯有真主完全了解人性，因为祂创造了人类，并知晓何种念头会潜入人的心中："创造者岂不知道？祂是精细的，是透彻的。"（67：14）

Islam is aware that, by his nature, man is capable of reaching a high standard. It is true that man may sink in the mud of ignorance, but it is equally true that man is able to reach to the sublime. It is God alone who knows human nature fully, because He has created mankind and is aware of what thoughts work themselves into the human mind: “How could it be that He who has created all should not know all? He is indeed unfathomable in His wisdom, All-Aware.” (67: 14)

在早期的穆斯林社会中，奴隶是战争的副产品。根据穆斯林社群与其敌人之间的不同情况，需要对他们的地位加以处理：或无偿释放，或以战俘互换的方式释放，或以赎金换取释放。伊斯兰对这一情况的处理方式是：只允许主人与其所拥有的女奴发生性关系。正如我们在前一节经文的注释中所解释的，这一安排照顾了这些女性的天然需求。这种关系可以是婚姻关系（如果她们是信士），也可以是婚姻之外的关系，但前提是确定她们没有怀孕。必须遵守一段等待期，即等到她们经历一次月经周期。除主人之外，任何男子都不得与她们发生性关系，除非通过婚姻。她们不得为钱而出卖自己，主人也不得强迫她们卖淫。

In the early Muslim society, slaves were a by-product of war. Their position needed to be sorted out by setting them free either for no return, or in a mutual exchange of prisoners, or for compensation, according to the different circumstances that prevailed between the Muslim community and its enemies. Islam handled that situation by granting permission to masters only to have sexual intercourse with slave women whom they owned. This arrangement took care of the natural needs of those women as was explained in our commentary on the preceding verse. Such a relationship could either be a marital one, if they were believers, or an extra-marital one provided that it was determined that they were not pregnant. A waiting period lasting until they had had one menstruation period was observed. No men other than their masters were allowed to have intercourse with them except through marriage. They were not permitted to sell themselves for money, nor were their masters allowed to make them prostitutes.

这节经文规定了允许他们结婚的方式与情形:“你们中若有人因环境所限,无力娶自由的信士女,可以娶你们右手所拥有的信士婢女。”(第25节)伊斯兰教提倡,信徒若有能力,就应娶自由的女子为妻。自由赋予女子尊严,使她能够保持贞洁,维护丈夫的荣誉。

This verse regulates the methods and circumstances which permitted their marriage: “Any of you who, owing to circumstances, is not in a position to marry a free believing woman may marry a believing maiden from among those whom your right hands possess”. (Verse 25) Islam prefers for its followers to marry free women if they are able to do so. Freedom imparts dignity to a woman, which enables her to protect her chastity and safeguard her husband’s honour.

一个自由女子有家庭和名誉需要守护。她十分自尊，不会让自己沉沦于放荡之中。而女奴则没有同样的顾虑。即使她已经结婚，奴役时期的痕迹仍会伴随着她。因此，她对贞洁与个人尊严的态度，与自由女子并不相同。她没有需要顾及的家族名誉。此外，她的子女被视为低于自由女子所生子女的阶层。

A free woman has a family and a reputation to protect. She is too proud to allow herself to sink into the depths of promiscuity. A slave woman does not have the same considerations. Even when she is married, traces from her bondage days remain with her. Hence, she does not have the same attitude towards chastity and personal dignity as a free woman. She does not have a family reputation to worry about. Moreover, her children were treated as a class lower than the children of free women.

这些考量在最初向其宣示此节经文的社会中都是存在的。鉴于这一切,伊斯兰教优先主张与自由女子结婚,这是很自然的。与女奴结婚被视为对那些经济条件有限、难以远离罪恶之人的一种让步。在这种情况下,当诱惑过于强烈而经济资源又不足时,伊斯兰并不剥夺信徒通过与女奴结婚而建立正当关系的机会。

All these considerations were present in the society to which this verse was first addressed. It is natural, in view of all this, that Islam should prefer marriage with free women. Marriage with a bondswoman was treated as a concession given to those who were of limited means and who found it difficult to stay away from sin. In such cases, when temptation is too strong and financial resources are not available, Islam does not deprive its followers of a chance to have a proper relationship through marriage with slave women.

接下来是对自由男子与非自由女子之间唯一可接受的关系方式的解释。这与娶自由女子的婚姻形式相同。第一个条件是，这些女子必须是信士：“你们中若有人因环境所限，无力娶自由的信道女子，那么可以娶你们右手所有的信道少女。”（第25节）第二个条件是，必须给予她们聘礼，这是她们应得的权利，而不是归其主人所有。

This is followed by an explanation of the only acceptable method for the relationship between free men and non-free women. It is the same form of marriage as with free women. The first condition is that the women in question must be believers: “Any of you who, owing to circumstances, is not in a position to marry a free believing woman may marry a believing maiden from among those whom your right hands possess.” (Verse 25) The second condition is that they must be given their dowries, which is a right owing to them, and not to their masters.

任何人都无权主张那份聘礼的任何部分："所以你们应征得她们家人的同意而娶她们，并公平地给予她们聘礼。"（第25节）

No one else has a claim to any part of that dowry: “Marry them, then, with their people’s consent and give them their dowers in an equitable manner.” (Verse 25)

第三个条件是，应当以聘礼的形式向她们支付应得的报酬，并且这种享受必须通过婚姻实现，而不是通过与一人通奸或与多人卖淫：“你们应当让她们做贞洁的人，不要做淫荡的人，也不要做有秘密情人的人”。

The third condition is that they should be paid their dues in the form of a dowry, and the enjoyment must be through marriage, not through fornication with one person or prostitution with many: “as chaste women who give themselves in honest wedlock, not in fornication, nor as women who have secret love companions”.

阿拉伯社会当时对上述各种与自由女子发生两性关系的形式都十分熟悉，正如前面引用的A'ishah的记载所说明的那样。奴隶女子的卖淫在当时也很普遍。一些显贵人物会派遣自己的奴隶女子出去，以这种可耻的方式为他们赚钱。麦地那的伪信士之首、该部族在伊斯兰教之前的首领阿卜杜拉·本·乌拜伊·本·赛鲁勒，有四名奴隶女子，他让她们从事卖淫，并收取这些不义之财。伊斯兰来拯救并净化阿拉伯人，也拯救并净化全人类，使他们脱离这种污秽不堪的肮脏。

Arabian society at that time was familiar with all these sorts of sexual relationships with free women, as explained in the report quoted above from `Ā’ishah. Prostitution among slave women was also commonplace. A number of notables would send out their slave women to earn money for them in this abominable way. `Abdullāh ibn Ubayy ibn Salūl, the chief of the hypocrites in Madinah and the chief of his tribe prior to Islam, had four slave women whom he set to prostitution, taking their ill-gotten gains. Islam came to rescue and purify the Arabs, as all humanity, from such stinking filth.

我们清楚地看到，伊斯兰教只允许自由人与那些“女奴”之间存在一种关系，即婚姻：一名女子与一名男子结合，组成一个家庭。伊斯兰教并不允许不受约束地随意满足欲望。男子所付的是聘礼，这是他应尽的义务，而不是付给妓女以换取短暂交往的钱财。由此，伊斯兰教使男女关系得以净化，即便是在奴隶之间，也摆脱了蒙昧时代的一切污秽；而每当人类背离伊斯兰教，便会深陷于这些污秽之中，包括在我们当今的时代。

We see clearly that Islam allowed only one sort of companionship between free men and those “maidens”, namely, marriage in which one woman is united with one man to form a family. There is no question of allowing the free satisfaction of desire without restraints. What men have to pay is a dowry, which they owe as a duty. It is not a payment given to a prostitute for a temporary acquaintance. Thus does Islam purify the man-woman relationship, even among slaves, of all the dirt of ignorance, into the depth of which humanity sinks every time it ignores Islam, including during our present times.

在进入这节古兰经经文的下一句之前，我们需要先思考一下：古兰经是如何表述自由人与奴隶之间在伊斯兰社会中的关系的，以及伊斯兰如何看待现实生活中出现的这种情况。这节经文并没有使用“奴隶”或“女奴”之类的词语。

Before we turn to the next statement in this Qur’ānic verse, we need to reflect a little on the way the Qur’ān expresses the relationship which exists between free people and slaves in Islamic society and how Islam views this situation when it occurs in real life. The Qur’ānic verse does not use a term like slave or bondswoman.

相反,经文把她们都称为"女奴"。原文如下:"你们中若有人……可以娶你们右手所有的信道女奴为妻。"(第25节)

Rather, it refers to them all as “maidens”. The expression runs as follows: “Any of you ... may marry a believing maiden from among those whom your right hands possess.” (Verse 25)

此外,在当时的所有社会中,自由人与奴隶之间都存在种族歧视,将人类划分为不同的阶层,而《古兰经》并不承认这种做法。相反,《古兰经》提醒我们所有人都源于同一个起源,并以我们共同拥有的人性与信仰纽带来确立我们之间的关系:“真主洞察你们的信仰,你们彼此都是同类。”它并不把“拥有”女奴的人称为她的“主人”,而是称他们为她的“家人”或亲属:“故你们应征得她们家人的同意而娶她们。”这样的女奴所得的聘礼并不归其主人所有,她对此拥有完全的索取权。这意味着,聘礼并不包含在“奴隶的一切所得都归主人”这一规定之内。聘礼不被视为“所得”;它是女子因成为某位男子的合法妻子而获得的权利:“你们当以合理的方式把聘礼交给她们。”再者,她们也不被视为出卖自己的女子,受人轻视。事实恰恰相反,她们是“贞洁的女子,以正当的婚姻而献身,不是淫荡的,也不是有私通情人的”。(经文第25节)

Moreover, no racial discrimination is entertained between free and unfree people, as was practised in all societies at that time, and which divided mankind into different classes. On the contrary, the Qur’ān reminds us all that we have the same origin and establishes our relationship on the ties of humanity and faith which we all share: “God knows all about your faith: you belong to one another.” It does not describe the people who “own” a slave woman as her “masters”, but instead refers to them as her “people” or family: “Marry them, then, with their people’s consent.” The dowry such a slave woman receives is not given to her master; she has full claim to it. This means that the dowry is not included in the rule that all earnings by a slave belong to the master. The dowry is not classified as “earning”; it is a right that accrues to the woman as a result of her becoming lawful to a certain man: “And give them their dowers in an equitable manner.” Furthermore, they are not looked down upon as women who sell themselves. Indeed, the reverse is true: they are “chaste women who give themselves in honest wedlock, not in fornication, nor as women who have secret love companions”. (Verse 25)

这些考虑都表明，即便这些女孩因暂时的情势而处于奴役状态，伊斯兰对她们的人格仍持尊重的看法。这种状况并不改变她们是人、必须受到尊重这一事实。当我们将这种尊重的观点与当时世界各地普遍流行的看法相比较时，便能体会两者之间的巨大鸿沟：那种观点剥夺了奴隶与其主人一样作为人的一切主张，也否认了他们凭借人的身份本应享有的一切权利。

All these considerations give an honourable view of the humanity of those girls, even when they are in the situation of slavery brought about by temporary circumstances. This situation does not affect the fact that they are human beings who must be treated with respect. When we compare this honourable outlook with the view which prevailed all over the world and which deprived slaves of every claim to being human like their masters, and denied them all rights to which they were entitled by virtue of being human, we can appreciate the great gulf between the two.

伊斯兰教将人的尊严与荣誉置于截然不同的高度，无论人们处于何种暂时的境况，例如某群体曾经的奴役状态，伊斯兰教在任何情况下都予以维护。

Islam places the dignity and honour of man on a totally different level, and takes care of it in all circumstances, regardless of any temporary situation that may affect any group of people such as their slavery.

当我们将伊斯兰对这一紧急情况的立法与现代获胜军队对战败国妇女的所作所为相比较时,便能真切体会到两者之间的差距有多大。我们都知道士兵如何“消遣”自己。关于获胜军队在各地放纵的污秽行径,已经听得够多了,它们留下了可怕的遗祸,社会需要许多年才能从中恢复。

When we compare how Islam legislated for this emergency situation with what victorious armies in modern times do with the women of countries defeated in war, we appreciate just how large the gap is. We all know how soldiers “entertain” themselves. Enough has been heard of the filth in which victorious armies indulge themselves everywhere, leaving behind them a terrible legacy from which societies suffer for many years.

伊斯兰教为已婚的女奴隶通奸者规定了较轻的刑罚。这样，它顾及了这类女子所处的境况，认识到这使她更容易犯罪，并且比自由女子更难抵御诱惑。奴隶制本身就会降低女子的尊严和家族声誉。这两个因素使自由女子更能保护自己的贞洁。它还考虑到自由女子与女奴隶在社会和经济地位上的差异。所有这些考量使女奴隶对自己的名誉更加无所谓，也使她更容易在金钱或地位的诱惑下向诱奸者屈服。正因如此，已婚女奴隶通奸者的刑罚仅为自由女子的一半："如果她们结婚后犯了明显的淫乱行为，她们所受的刑罚应是自由女子的一半。"（第25节）

Islam provides for a reduced punishment for slave women who commit adultery after marriage. In this way, it takes into account the situation in which such a woman finds herself, understanding that this makes her more liable to sin and less able than a free woman to resist temptation. By its very nature, slavery reduces a woman’s dignity or family reputation. These are the two elements that make a free woman more able to protect her chastity. It also takes into consideration the social and economic differences between a free woman and a slave girl. All these considerations make a slave woman more complacent with regard to her honour and make it easier for her to yield to the temptation of money or position by her seducer. It is for this reason that the penalty for a slave woman who commits adultery after marriage is only half that of a free woman: “If after their marriage, they are guilty of gross immoral conduct, they shall be liable to half the penalty to which free women are liable.” (Verse 25)

这不言而喻，此处所说的是可以减半的、可以计量的刑罚，即鞭刑。石刑不可分割，因此不适用于石刑。因此，如果一名已婚的信士女奴犯了通奸罪，她所受的刑罚是未婚自由女子的一半。如果犯了通奸罪的女奴是未婚的，学者们对其刑罚有不同看法。有人认为，其刑罚与未婚自由女子相同，即减半，并由伊玛目或统治者执行。另有人认为，这是一种减轻的刑罚，由她的主人执行。这些观点在教法学著作中有详细论述。我们无意在此深入探讨这些细节。就我们的目的而言，只需说明伊斯兰教顾及各种情况，同时帮助人们保持纯洁与贞节，便已足够。

It goes without saying that this represents the measurable penalty that can be halved, i.e. flogging. It does not apply to the penalty of stoning which cannot be divided. Hence, if a married believing slave commits adultery, she is given half the punishment of an unmarried free woman. If the slave who commits fornication is unmarried, her penalty is subject to different views among scholars. Some are of the opinion that it is the same, i.e. half the penalty of an unmarried free woman, and that the Imām or ruler administers it. Others are of the view that it is a reduced punishment, administered by her master. These views are argued in books of jurisprudence. We have no intention of delving into these details here. It is sufficient for our purposes to state that Islam takes into consideration all situations while at the same time helping people to maintain their purity and chastity.

这是伊斯兰教如何保持平衡观点、兼顾一切相关因素的一个例证。考虑到奴隶女子生活中可能存在的种种影响，伊斯兰教并不为她规定与自由女子相同的刑罚；另一方面，它也不过分看重她的处境，以致完全免除她的刑罚。它恰到好处地达到了平衡。

This is an example of how Islam maintains a balanced view, taking into consideration all relevant factors. Knowing all that may be of influence in a slave’s life, it does not legislate the same penalty for her as that for a free woman. On the other hand, it does not give undue weight to her circumstances, so as to exempt her altogether from punishment. It strikes the perfect balance.

另一方面,伊斯兰教并不利用奴隶的卑微地位来加重对他们的惩罚,而人定法过去却常常如此。那些法律对身份高贵者从宽发落,对地位低下者则施以残酷的刑罚。在著名的罗马帝国法律中,对所有低贱阶层的惩罚都被加重。其中规定:“若有人引诱贞洁的寡妇或处女,如果他出身贵族,则应没收其一半财产;如果他出身低贱阶层,则应处以鞭刑并流放。”根据名为《摩奴法典》(Manū Shāstra)的印度法典,婆罗门犯了应判死刑的罪行,地方长官不得以其他方式惩罚他,只能剃光其头发。其他任何人则应处死。若贱民试图用手或棍棒殴打婆罗门,则应砍掉他的手。犹太人过去对盗窃的贵族不加惩罚,而普通窃贼则按规定受罚。

On the other hand, Islam does not exploit the low position of slaves so as to increase their punishment, in the same way as all man-made laws used to do. Those laws treat people of high position leniently, while administering cruel punishments to those of lower positions. In the celebrated law of the Roman Empire, punishment was increased for all lowly classes. It stated: “A person who seduces a virtuous widow or a virgin shall be punished by the confiscation of half his wealth if he belongs to a noble family, and by flogging and exile if he comes from a low class.” According to the Indian code known by the name of Manū Shāstra, a Brahman who commits a crime punishable by death may not be punished by the governor in any other way than by having his head shaved. Anyone else shall be executed. If an untouchable tries to hit a Brahman with his hand or with a stick, he shall have his hand chopped off. The Jews used to let a noble man who steals go without punishment, while the prescribed punishment was administered to ordinary thieves.

(这是根据布哈里、穆斯林等人所传述的一段圣训。)

(This is according to a ĥadīth related by al-Bukhārī, Muslim and others.)

另一方面,伊斯兰教纠正了这一偏差。罪犯总会受到惩罚,但只有在充分考虑了所有减轻情节之后才会施行。因此,已婚奴隶女子犯通奸罪,其规定的刑罚为自由身未婚女子所受刑罚的一半。若让她逍遥法外,就等于否认她有自己的意志,这是错误的。与此同时,伊斯兰教也没有忽视她的处境。

Islam on the other hand, sets the record straight. A criminal will always be punished, but only after taking all extenuating circumstances into account. Thus, for adultery committed by a slave woman after marriage, the prescribed punishment is half that administered to a free unmarried woman. Allowing her to go unpunished means that her own will is non-existent. To say that is wrong. At the same time, Islam does not overlook her situation.

一些当今社会，例如美国和南非，实行令人厌恶的种族歧视制度。白人中被视为“体面”的男子所犯的罪行往往被忽略，而有色人种所犯的同样罪行却从不被宽恕。2 只要神圣信仰被忽视的地方和时代，就有同样的蒙昧（Jāhiliyyah，即无明状态）逻辑盛行。伊斯兰在所有地方、所有世代都贯彻其自身的哲学。

Some societies today, such as those in America and South Africa, practise a repugnant system of racial discrimination. Crimes which are overlooked when committed by an “honourable” white man are never forgiven when committed by a coloured person.2 The same logic of Jāhiliyyah, or state of ignorance prevails wherever and whenever Divine faith is ignored. Islam implements its own philosophy in all places and throughout all generations.

这节经文的结尾明确表明，迎娶女奴是给予那些担心自己会陷入罪过、并且觉得难以抵制诱惑之人的一种让步。若有人能够忍耐而不使自己受苦，则更应当如此行事，正如我们此前在论述迎娶女奴的问题时所阐明的那样：“这一许可是为你们中那些担心会陷入罪过的人而设的。然而，你们忍耐才是更好的。”（第25节）

The verse concludes with a statement which indicates clearly that to marry a slave woman is a concession given to a person who fears that he may yield to temptation and who finds it too hard to resist. A person who can remain patient, without afflicting himself, is better advised to do so, in view of what we have already outlined in connection with marriage with a slave girl: “This provision applies to those of you who fear to stumble into sin. Yet it is better for you to be patient.” (Verse 25)

真主并不想使祂的仆人受苦，也不想让他们陷入诱惑之中。诚然，祂为他们所选定的信仰激励他们努力追求崇高，但它要求他们在人性的限度、自身的潜能以及真实的需要之内去做到这一点。因此，它赐予他们一套易于遵循的生活准则。它顾及他们的天性，承认他们的需要，并体谅他们的动机。然而，它绝不会去鼓励那些已经堕落的人。它既不美化他们的屈服，也不免除他们抵抗诱惑的责任。

God neither wants to afflict His servants nor let them fall victim to temptation. It is true that the faith He has chosen for them inspires them to try to reach the sublime, but it wants them to do so within the limitations of their human nature and their own potentials, as well as their real needs. Hence, it gives them a code of living which is easy to follow. It takes notice of their nature, acknowledges their needs and appreciates their motives. What it will never do, however, is to cheer those who have sunk low. It neither glorifies their surrender, nor exempts them from their responsibility to try to resist temptation.

在这种情况下,伊斯兰教鼓励信徒保持耐心,直到他们能够迎娶自由身的女子,这些女子婚后能够保持贞洁。她们能够建立幸福的家庭,孕育新一代高尚的后人,悉心照顾年幼的孩子,并对丈夫忠贞不渝。当这种情形成为一种考验,诱惑强烈到难以抵御时,便给予一种让步,同时通过赋予女奴的尊严,努力提升她们的地位。她们是我们的“侍女”,而我们是她们的“族人”。我们彼此同属一体,因信仰的纽带而团结在一起。真主最知道谁的信仰坚定。她们理应获得应有的聘礼。与她们的结合只能通过婚姻进行。如果她们犯错,她们要受到惩罚,只是在这种情况下惩罚会减轻:“真主至赦至慈。”这是关于迎娶女奴以及对犯错女奴减轻惩罚的一句总结性评论。这句话用在这两种情况下都很恰当。真主的宽恕与慈悯在任何情况下、在每一次过错之后都是人所需要的。

In this instance, Islam encourages its followers to remain patient until they are able to marry free women who can maintain their chastity after marriage. They are the ones who can establish happy families, give birth to a new noble generation, take good care of young children and remain faithful to their husbands. When that represents affliction and the temptation is too great to resist, a concession is given, coupled with an attempt to raise the standard of slave women through the honour given them. They are our “maidens” and we are their “people”. All of us belong to one another, united in the tie of faith. God knows best who is of strong faith. They receive their dowries by way of right. Association with them may only be through marriage. They are liable to punishment if they err, albeit a reduced one in the circumstances: “God is Much-Forgiving, Merciful.” This is a concluding comment on having to marry a slave woman and on the reduction of punishment in the case of erring slave girls. It is a suitable comment in both cases. God’s forgiveness and mercy are needed in all situations and after every error.

真主希望为你们阐明这一切，指引你们遵循在你们之前那些人的正道，并以慈悲垂顾你们。真主是全知的，是至睿的。真主希望以慈悲垂顾你们，而那些追随私欲的人，却希望你们严重偏离正道。真主希望减轻你们的负担，因为人是被造得软弱的。（第26-28节）

God wants to make all this clear to you and to guide you in the [righteous] ways of life of those who have preceded you, and to turn to you in His mercy. God is All-Knowing, Wise. And God wants to turn to you in His mercy, while those who follow their lusts want you to go very far astray. God wants to lighten your burdens; for man has been created weak. (Verses 26- 28)

这些经文对伊斯兰为家庭所制定的详细律法作出了完备而全面的阐释。正是通过这些律法，伊斯兰社会在心理、道德和社会各方面都被提升到一个极其崇高、纯洁而健康的境界。这些经文中的论述向穆斯林群体揭示了：真主通过颁布这些律例和规定，所期望于他们的真理是什么。与此同时，那些追随私欲者的目的也由此显露出来。

These verses provide a perfect and comprehensive comment on the detailed legislation provided by Islam for the family. It is through this legislation that Islamic society is elevated psychologically, morally and socially to a very high, clean and healthy summit. The comment given in these verses reveals to the Muslim community the truth of what God wants for it by His prescription of these laws and regulations. At the same time, the aims of those who follow their lusts are also revealed.

真主以恩慈对待祂的仆人，将祂立法背后的智慧启示给他们，向他们解释实行这些律法将带给他们的益处。这是一种尊荣，真主以这样的话语对待祂的仆人，便是一种恩赐："真主想要向你们阐明这一切。"祂希望你们理解祂的智慧，并以敞开的眼睛和心灵去思考它。祂的立法没有任何神秘之处，也并非随意制定。穆斯林作为真主的良善仆人，理应得到对这些智慧的解释。这是一种尊荣，唯有那些理解神性的真实本质以及作为真主仆人意味着什么的人，才会真正珍视它。

God treats His servants with grace and reveals to them what lies behind His legislation, explaining to them the benefits they will reap as a result of implementing it. It is a gesture of honour, which God does to His servants by speaking thus to them: “God wants to make all this clear to you.” He wants you to understand His wisdom and reflect on it with open eyes and minds. There is nothing enigmatic about His legislation. It is not made arbitrarily. Good servants of God as they Oil are, Muslims deserve to have this wisdom explained to them. This is an honour, which is appreciated only by those who understand the true nature of Godhead and what it means to be a servant of God.

“真主想要为你们阐明这一切，并引导你们走向在你们之前那些人所走的正道。”（第26节）这种生活方式，是真主为所有信士所制定的。它的原则、宗旨和目标都是相同的，它是为各个世代的信士而设计的。正是在这个意义上，他们构成了一个单一的民族。因此，《古兰经》将各个世代、各个地区中接受了真正引导的人归为一类。这一论述帮助每一位穆斯林认清自己的根源、所属的民族，以及他所应当遵循的道路。尽管时间、地域、种族和国籍各不相同，他却与那些同样信仰、同样遵循这一独特生活方式的信士，因信仰的纽带而紧紧联系在一起。

“God wants to make all this clear to you and to guide you in the [righteous] ways of lift of those who have preceded you.” (Verse 26) This method of life is the one that God has decreed for all believers. Its principles, aims and objectives are the same. It is designed for believers in all generations. It is in this sense that they constitute a single nation. Hence, the Qur’ān groups together those who have received true guidance in all generations and localities. This statement helps every Muslim to recognise his roots, the nation to which he belongs and the method he is required to follow. He is one of the faithful who are joined together despite differences of time, place, race and nationality by the bond of faith and a distinctive way of life to which they all subscribe.

“并欲以其慈悲而眷顾你们。”真主因此阐明事理，并以前人的成例引导祂的仆人，作为祂所赐予他们的一份慈悲。祂牵着他们的手，使他们得以悔罪归向祂。如此，祂为他们铺平道路，并助他们沿着这条平易的道路前行。

“And to turn to you in His mercy.” God, then, makes things clear and guides His servants in the traditions of those who have preceded them as a gesture of mercy that He extends to them. He takes them by the hand so that they can turn to Him in repentance. Thus, He facilitates their way for them and helps them proceed along that easy path.

“真主是全知的，是至睿的。”这些律令和法律规定，正是源于祂的全知与至睿。祂知晓人心与灵魂，明了何者适合他们。祂以智慧为他们确立了法度，并指示他们如何践行。

“God is All-Knowing, Wise.” These directives and legal provisions are, then, derived from His knowledge and wisdom. He knows people’s hearts and souls, and knows what is suitable for them. He has exercised His wisdom in defining their constitution for them and shown them how to implement it.

“真主欲以慈恩眷顾你们，而那些追随私欲的人却想让你们严重地偏离正道。”（第27节）这短短一节经文，揭示了真主为人类所欲的真相：祂确立了让人们遵循的生活方式；也揭示了那些追随私欲、远离真主法度的人对人们所怀的图谋。唯有一种生活方式能将严肃与坚守结合起来。其他一切方式不过是追随情欲与私欲，属于偏离与越界。

“And God wants to turn to you in His mercy, while those who follow their lusts want you to go very far astray.” (Verse 27) This short verse reveals the truth of what God wants for people when He established the method of life that He wants them to follow and the truth of what those who follow their lusts, straying far away from God’s constitution, want for them. There is only one way of life that combines seriousness with commitment. All other methods merely follow passions and lusts, and constitute deviation and transgression.

那么，当真主为人们阐明道理、颁布律法时，祂想要的是什么呢？祂所要的，不过是以祂的慈悲垂顾他们。祂想引导他们，使他们避免失足。祂想帮助他们提升自己，达到他们所配得的崇高境界。

What does God, then, want for people when He makes things clear for them and enacts His legislation for them? He simply wants to turn to them in His mercy. He wants to guide them so that they can avoid slips. He wants to help them elevate themselves to the high standards they are worthy of.

那些追随私欲、用真主未曾批准的方法和信条引诱他人的人，又想要什么呢？他们确实想让人远离正道、远离清晰的方法，远离通向高尚的路途，偏离得很远很远。

And what do those who follow their lusts and tempt people with methods and creeds that God has not sanctioned want for them? They indeed want them to go far astray from the straight path, the clear method and the route to elevation.

这一特定领域，即前文所规范的内容：家庭关系、社会的纯洁，以及男女结合的唯一健康且可接受的途径（排除其他一切方式）。在这一领域，真主对人们的期望是什么？而那些随从私欲的人又想要什么？

What about this particular area which the preceding passage regulates, namely, family relations, purity of society, and the only healthy and acceptable way through which men and women may be joined together, to the exclusion of all other methods? In this particular area, what does God want for people and what do those who follow their lusts want?

上文的经文已经阐明了真主的旨意：这些经文为一套完善的制度增添了纯洁与便利，使穆斯林群体确信会有益处的结果。那些追随私欲的人则想摆脱一切束缚，让欲望肆意放纵，不受任何宗教、道德或社会价值观的约束。他们想要毫无节制的淫乱，以及由此而来的不稳定、精神紊乱、家庭混乱和对荣誉的彻底漠视。他们想让人如同禽兽，使男性可以随意占有女性，无所顾忌。这一切败坏与毁灭，都以自由之名宣扬。这不过是给私欲和任性冠以的一个虚假名称。

What God wants has been explained by the preceding verses which add purity and ease to a perfect system which assures the Muslim community of beneficial results. Those who follow their lusts want to shed all inhibitions so that desires are let loose, unrestricted by any religious, moral or social values. They want uninhibited promiscuity with all that it leads to of instability, spiritual disorder, family chaos and total disregard of honour. They want human beings to be like animals, so that males can have their females with nothing to check them. All this corruption and destruction is preached in the name of freedom. It is simply a false name given to lust and caprice.

正是针对这种邪恶,真主警告信士们:那些追随私欲的人希望他们误入歧途,走得很远。确实,他们不遗余力,企图迫使穆斯林社会重新陷入蒙昧时代的淫乱之中,而穆斯林在遵循伊斯兰的生活方式之后,本已远远脱离了这种状态。某些作家和机构竭力推动我们的社会朝同一目标前进,他们将其目的集中于清除阻碍彻底放纵的一切社会藩篱,也正是出于同一目的。这是一个可怕的结局,唯有真正信仰真主的人切实践行神圣的生活方式,才能免于这一结局。

It is against this evil that God warns the believers when He tells them that those who follow their lusts want them to go very far astray. Indeed, they spare no effort to achieve their purpose of forcing the Muslim community to sink back into the immorality of ignorance, after they have elevated themselves far above it through following the Islamic way of life. It is towards the same end that certain writers and institutions try hard to push our community when they concentrate their aims at removing all social barriers which stand in the way of total promiscuity. This is a dreadful end from which there can be no protection except through the implementation of the Divine way of life by those who truly believe in God.

最后这句评论触及人的软弱，以及真主的慈悯：祂赐予人一部完美的律法，减轻其负担，并消除其身上一切伤害与苦难的根源。

The final word in this comment touches on man’s weakness and the mercy God shows him by giving him a perfect law which lightens his burden and which removes all causes of harm and affliction from him:

“真主想减轻你们的负担；因为人是被造得软弱的。”（第28节）

“God wants to lighten your burdens; for man has been created weak.” (Verse 28)

在前述经文所涉及并由其中的指示与法律条文所规范的范围内，神减轻人类负担的旨意清楚可见。人的天然欲望得到了承认，并获得了一种适当、健康且富有成效的满足方式。神既不要求仆人们不合理地压抑这些欲望，也不任其毫无约束、放纵地追求享乐。更广泛地说，神使事情变得容易的旨意，非常明显地体现在祂为人类生活所确立的制度之中：这一制度充分考虑了人的天性、能力与真实需要。它发挥了人类所有的建设性能量，并保护其不被浪费。

Within the area addressed by the preceding verses and regulated by the directives and legal provisions they contain, the Divine wish to lighten man’s burden is clearly apparent. Natural desires are recognised and given a proper, healthy and fruitful method of satisfaction. God neither charges His servants with an unreasonable suppression of these desires, nor does He allow them to run loose after their pleasure without checks and controls. More generally, God’s wish to make things easy for man appears very clearly in the constitution He has laid down for human life which takes into consideration man’s nature, ability and real needs. It taps all man’s constructive energy, protecting it against wasteful use.

许多人认为,遵循神圣的律法,尤其是在男女关系方面,是一种沉重的负担。他们进一步声称,抛开一切束缚、自由地满足欲望,才能确保轻松与舒适。这完全是一种妄想。在每一种追求中只寻求自己的快乐,彻底抛弃责任的因素,将人类的性关系局限于动物界的同类行为,并除去一切影响男女关系的道德约束和社会责任,看似可以给人带来轻松与舒适。然而实际上,这些恰恰压在人的身上,加重了他的负担。它们对社会乃至每一个个体的影响都是有害的、浪费的、具有破坏性的。只要看一看那些摆脱了宗教、道德与贞洁约束的社会的现状,就足以让人心惊胆寒。

Many people assume that adherence to the Divine method, especially in connection with the relationships between men and women, constitutes a heavy burden. They further claim that shedding all inhibitions to satisfy desires freely ensures ease and comfort. This is utter delusion. Seeking only one’s own pleasure in every pursuit and removing the element of duty altogether, confining the objective of human sexual relations to that of its equivalent in the animal world, and removing all moral checks and social duties which influence relations between men and women may appear to give man ease and comfort. In reality, however, they weigh heavily upon man and increase his burden. Their consequences on society, and indeed on every individual, are harmful, wasteful, and destructive. A glance at the situation which prevails in societies that have emancipated themselves and shed the constraints of religion, morality and modesty is enough to make hearts shudder.

不受约束的两性关系是导致古代文明衰亡的主要因素，包括雅典、罗马和波斯的文明。同样的因素如今正在摧毁西方文明。这些后果首先出现在法国，如今在美国、瑞典、英国和其他西方文明国家也清晰可见。法国走在最前面，因为它率先抛弃了道德约束。自1870年以来，法国参与的每一场战争都以失败告终。种种迹象表明，法国正飞速走向彻底崩溃。

Uncontrolled sexual relationships were the major factor that led to the collapse of ancient civilisations, including those of Athens, Rome, and Persia. The same factor is now working for the destruction of Western civilisation. Those effects have appeared first in France and they can be clearly seen now in America, Sweden, England and other Western civilised countries. France is foremost because she took the lead in shedding moral inhibitions. She succumbed in every war she fought since 1870. All indications are that France is moving fast towards total collapse.

首先，法国人在性享乐上的放纵，使他们的体力逐渐衰退。时时存在的情感刺激，瓦解了他们的抵抗力。对性快乐的狂热使他们几乎失去了忍耐力，而性病的普遍流行则严重损害了国民的健康。自二十世纪初以来，法国军方几乎每隔几年就不得不降低新兵的体能标准，因为能达到previous标准的年轻人日益稀少。这项措施如同温度计一般精准地表明，法国民族的体力正以何等速度衰退。性病是导致其衰落的主要原因之一。在第一次世界大战的头两年，因梅毒而需住院治疗的法国士兵人数估计达七万五千人。在一个中等规模的驻防城镇，同时发现有二百四十二名士兵患有这种疾病。试想一下法国所处的困境：一方面，它正面临生死存亡的关头，其生存极需每一名士兵竭尽全力：每一法郎都弥足珍贵，每一秒钟和每一分力气都至关重要，国防需要动用一切可能的资源；而另一方面，成千上万的年轻人却因纵欲无度而数月无法服役，在这关键时刻，他们反而成了耗费国家财富与资源用于医治的因素。

In the first place, the French people’s sexual indulgence has gradually resulted in the loss of their physical strength. Ever-present emotional situations have broken down their power of resistance. Craze for sexual pleasures has left them with little or no forbearance, and the prevalence of venereal diseases has affected their national health fatally. Ever since the beginning of the 20th century, after every couple of years or so, the French military authorities have had to lower standards of physical fitness for new entrants, because young men coming up to the previous standards have day by day become rarer. This measure — with the accuracy of a thermometer — precisely indicates how fast has the French nation been losing its physical strength. 3 Venereal diseases are a major cause of its decline. During the first two years of World War I, the number of French soldiers who had to be hospitalised on account of syphilis was estimated at 75,000. In a garrison town of average importance, 242 soldiers were found suffering from this disease simultaneously. Imagine for a while the predicament in which the French nation was involved. On the one hand, it was facing a life and death situation and stood badly in need of the sincerest effort by every single soldier for its survival: each franc was precious, each second of time and each ounce of energy valuable, and all possible resources were called for in national defence. And on the other, thousands of young men lay useless for months together on account of sexual dissipation, and were thus becoming instrumental in squandering national wealth and resources on treatment at such a critical time.

根据法国专家勒雷德博士的说法，法国每年约有30,000人死于梅毒及其直接或最终的后果，这使梅毒成为仅次于肺结核的第二大致死原因。而且，梅毒并不是唯一的性病。4

According to Dr. Leredde, a French specialist, about 30,000 deaths are caused every year in France by syphilis and its immediate or ultimate results, which is the second biggest cause of death after tuberculosis. And syphilis is not the only venereal disease.4

法国人口呈现出明显的下降趋势。自由性行为和轻易堕胎使得组建家庭的空间变得很小，而人们也不愿承担因短暂的临时关系而出生的非婚生子女的责任。

The population of France has shown a serious downward tendency. Free sex and easy abortion have left little room for starting a family, and shouldering the responsibility for illegitimate children born after a brief temporary relationship.

因此，结婚的人数减少，出生的孩子变少，法国正迅速地走向深渊。

Hence, the number of marriages decreases, fewer children are born and France moves fast into the abyss.

在法国，每年步入婚姻殿堂的人口仅有千分之七或八。这一很低的比例清楚地表明，法国有大量人口未婚。

Hardly 7 or 8 per thousand in France enter wedlock annually. This low percentage clearly indicates that there are big chunks of French population that are unmarried.

在美国，也正在发生同样的情况：达到征兵年龄的男性中，每七人就有六人被认定不适合服兵役。真主的律法从不落空。 Note: The rules say to write "God" as the Chinese word for God, not "Allah," so the final sentence should use the Chinese word for God (上帝/神) rather than 真主. Corrected translation: 在美国，也正在发生同样的情况：达到征兵年龄的男性中，每七人就有六人被认定不适合服兵役。神的律法从不落空。

3 The same is taking place in the United States where six out of every seven men at conscription age are found to be unfit for military service. God's laws never fail.

4 A.A. Mawdūdī，《Purdah and the Status of Woman in Islam》，拉合尔，第51–52页。

4 A.A. Mawdūdī, Purdah and the Status of Woman in Islam, Lahore, pp.51-2.

在已婚者之中，真正保持贞洁、或怀着过一种品行纯洁的生活之目的而结婚的人本就少之又少。除此之外，他们在步入婚姻时还怀有各种各样的动机，其中一个常见的动机是使婚前所生或已怀上的孩子合法化。保罗·比罗（Paul Bureau）写道，法国工人阶层中几乎已形成一种习俗：女子在婚前必须得到未来丈夫的保证，承认她所怀的并非他的孩子。1917年，一名女子在塞纳省民事法庭上陈述道：

Among the few married ones there are even fewer who live chaste or marry with a view to living a morally clean life. Apart from this, they have all sorts of motives while entering matrimony, one common motive being to legitimise the child born or conceived before marriage. Paul Bureau writes that it has almost become a custom among the French working classes that a woman, before marriage, must have the assurance of her would-be husband to recognise a child who is not his. In 1917, a woman stated before a Civil Tribunal of the Seine:

特此声明：我对丈夫宣布，在我们的结合中，我的唯一目的是使我们"自由"结合所生的孩子合法化……而非恢复我们的共同生活。我将于我们结婚当天五点离开他。30

By these present I declare to my husband that in our union I have only the object of legitimising the children born of our `free’ union, ... and not that of resuming our life together. I leave him on the day of our marriage at 5.30

……的时候，为了摆脱我无意履行的夫妻义务。特此，我向他出具一份分居协议，以作为办理离婚所需手续之用。

p.m., in order to escape from conjugal duties which I have no intention of fulfilling. I give him by these present a deed of separation, to serve towards what is necessary in order to obtain a divorce.

巴黎一所著名学院的院长对保罗·比罗说：

The Principal of a great college in Paris told Paul Bureau:

当今，许多年轻人把婚姻仅仅看作是在家中获得一个情妇的手段……十年或十二年间，他们在各个方向上四处游荡，程度不一地尝试各种放纵行为。终有一天，他们厌倦了这种动荡而无规律的生活；他们娶了一位合法的妻子，坚信这样既能获得安全与安宁的好处，又能享受经过收敛、却依然足够且精致的放纵，以迎合不那么苛刻的欲望。

At the present time, many young men see in marriage nothing but the means of securing a mistress at home... For ten or twelve years they have roved a little in all directions, tasting various forms of licentiousness in various degrees. A day comes when they tire of this restless and irregular life; they take a lawful wife, convinced that with her will be combined the advantages of safety and tranquillity with those of licentiousness modified indeed but still sufficient and refined, to suit a less exacting appetite. 5

这些是法国衰落以及她在近来每一场战争中失败的原因。

These are the reasons for the decline of France and her defeat in every recent war.

这些正是法兰西衰落的种子，也将导致她进一步的逐步衰退。看起来真主的律法运作得很慢，但它从不落空。6

These have been the seed of France’s eclipse and will be the reason for her further gradual decline. It may appear that God’s law works very slowly but it never fails.6

所有这一切，都是人类在当今无知的状态下必须承受的后果，原因在于他们听从那些坚持追随情欲、并固执拒绝遵循真主为人类所选定的生活之道的人的指引。

All this is part of what humanity, in our present day state of ignorance, has to bear as a result of its following the dictates of those who insist on following carnal desires and who adamantly refuse to follow the way of life God has chosen for mankind.

这是一种生活方式，其特点是易于践行、减轻人的负担、保护人类社会免受不道德之害，引导人沿着安全稳妥的道路前行，并确保人保持纯洁、清白，一旦失足于罪过便能悔改。

That is a way of life characterised by its easy implementation, reducing the human burden, protecting human society against immorality, leading man along a safe and secure course, that ensures purity, cleanliness and repentance of any slip into sin.

“真主想减轻你们的负担；因为人是被造得软弱的。”（第28节）

“God wants to lighten your burdens; for man has been created weak.” (Verse 28)

5 同上，第53-54页。[毛杜迪在其书中说，他关于法国局势的大部分信息取自保罗·比罗（Paul Bureau）的《走向道德破产》，这是一位杰出的法国社会学家，伦敦，1955年。1

5 Ibid., pp.53-4. [Mawdūdī says in his book that most of his information on the French situation is drawn from Towards Moral Bankruptcy, by Paul Bureau, a distinguished French sociologist, London, 1955.1

需要记住，作者撰写此书时大约是1961年。如今情况已经大大恶化，艾滋病的出现及其对全人类构成的威胁，印证了作者所说的每一句话。法国政府已经认识到，局势对法国而言已变得多么严峻。20世纪80年代末，法国政府推出了一项新的鼓励措施，鼓励家庭多生育子女。养育三个孩子的家庭，在第三个孩子出生后的三年内可领取一笔可观的第三胎津贴。这项儿童福利旨在让母亲能够在家中照料子女。这进一步证明了作者所阐述的法国人口状况之严重。

6 It should be remembered that the author wrote this around 1961. The situation has now deteriorated much further and the appearance of AIDS and the threat that it poses to humanity at large confirms every word the author has said. The French government has recognised how serious the situation has become for France. In the late 1980s, the French government offered a new incentive for families to have more children. A family with three children is paid a large third-child allowance for three years after the birth of the third child. This child benefit is meant to allow the mother to stay at home while she brings up her children. This is further proof of the seriousness of the population situation in France, as explained by the author.

作者接着列举了更多例子，说明淫乱之风的蔓延及其对瑞典、美国和英国的影响。各地的情形似乎相同，带来的后果和衰落也如出一辙。然而，作者的大部分论述都引自未注明出处的来源。由于我们无法查阅这些资料，译者认为，以法国的情况作为例证来说明作者的观点已经足够——译者注。

The author goes on to give further examples about the spread of promiscuity and how it affects Sweden, the United States and Britain. The story appears the same everywhere with the same effects and the same decline. However, much of what the author has to say is quoted from unspecified sources. As these are not available to us, it is felt that the French case should be sufficient by way of illustrating the author's idea — Translator's note.

《妇女》（完美的社会道德）15 - 28

消除不道德行为的第一步

完美的道德社会

人类毁灭的最可靠途径

真正悔罪的精髓

对待女性的新方式

婚姻条件必须始终得到尊重

禁止娶为妻子的女性

宣扬自由性行为的罪行

合法的婚姻关系

嫁妆作为婚姻条件

娶奴隶女子为妻

当诱惑难以抗拒时

真主为人类所期望的

人的负担被减轻