一切赞美和感谢都归于真主，万有的主宰与君王，至慈至悯、至仁至惠，祂对万物都有权能。愿平安与福佑降临祂的最后一位使者穆罕默德ﷺ，以及他的家人和他的同伴。

All praise and thanks are due to Allah, the Master and King of existence, the All-Merciful, Beneficent, who has power over all things. May peace and blessings be upon His final Messenger, Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, and his Family, and his Companions.

现代性是对伊斯兰的威胁。它也是对整个人类的威胁。但要理解这一点，我们必须退后一步。

Modernity is a menace to Islam. It is a menace to the human race. But to understand this, we have to take a step back.

历史学家普遍将十六世纪视为现代性的开端。这一世纪欧洲经历了巨大的动荡：宗教改革使基督教各派陷入激烈的冲突，而世俗时代正是从这场冲突中诞生的。战争、部落主义和流血事件进一步促使知识分子疏远宗教与经典，人们日益将其视为无知与苦难的根源。但是，什么能够取代上帝与经典？道德还能源自何处？关于存在的本质和人类终极命运的知识，又还能从何而来？

Historians generally identify the sixteenth century as the beginning of modernity. This was a century that saw great upheaval in Europe, as the Reformation pitted Christian sects in a bitter conflict from which the secular age was born. War, tribalism, and bloodshed did their part to disenchant intellectuals from religion and scripture, which were increasingly seen as sources of ignorance and suffering. But what would replace God and scripture? What else could be the source of morality? What else could be the source of knowledge about the nature of existence and of humanity’s ultimate destiny?

早期的现代主义者把自己的心智推上了形而上与世俗权威的这一地位。他们主张,唯有心智才能引导人类。数学科学的成功以及艾萨克·牛顿的经验主义哲学似乎印证了这一结论。通过理性与经验观察,人类心智便可以成为神。心智似乎拥有无限的推理、计算与发现能力。宇宙与人性的一切奥秘都将像解方程一样被解开,问题只是时间而已。

The early modernists elected their own minds to this position of metaphysical and worldly authority. The mind alone, they argued, could guide mankind. The success of the mathematical sciences and Isaac Newton’s empirical philosophy seemed to bolster this conclusion. Through reason and empirical observation, the human mind could become a god. The mind, it seemed, had infinite ability to reason, calculate, and discover. All the mysteries of the universe and of human nature would be solved like an equation. It was simply a matter of time.

但是，知识只是故事的一半。使凡人与神灵有别的，不仅是知识，还有力量，即实现自身意志并由此按其意愿重塑世界的能力。这一需求可以由技术来满足，而技术可以不断发展和进步。对现代主义者而言，这意味着技术许诺了无限的力量，因而也许诺了神性。最终，人可以按照自己的形象重塑自身。在这里，获得无限力量同样只是时间问题。

But knowledge was only half of the story. What distinguished mortals from gods was not only knowledge but also power, i.e., the ability to enact one’s will and, thereby, refashion the world accordingly. This need could be met by technology, which could be continuously developed and advanced. To the modernists, this meant that technology promised infinite power and, therefore, godhood. Finally, man could recreate himself in his own image. Here again, achieving unlimited power was simply a matter of time.

这种对时间的聚焦正是现代主义的标志，也是现代主义最核心的特征：进步主义。随着时间向前推进，人类在知识与力量上不断提升；文明在理性与道德上日益成长，并朝着一个类似于许多宗教经典中所描述的天堂乐园的乌托邦未来奋力前行。明天的人类优于今天的人类，今天的人类优于昨天的人类。这种进步的观念成为了所有现代思想的基本规范（grundnorm），也成为普通大众与知识分子都虔诚信奉、从不质疑的真理。

This focus on time is the hallmark of modernism and modernism’s chief characteristic: Progressivism. As time marches forward, humanity improves in its knowledge and power. Civilization grows in rationality and morality as it races to a utopian future that resembles the heavenly paradise described in many religious texts. The humanity of tomorrow is better than the humanity of today. The humanity of today is better than the humanity of yesterday. This notion of progress became the grundnorm underlying all modern thought and an unquestioned truth devoutly held by layman and intellectual alike.

在这里，我们开始看到现代性之危险本质的根源。进步意味着变化本身成为一种美德。相反，恒定不变则成为最大的恶行。抗拒变化被视为对人类的直接冒犯。因此，现代性的头号敌人是传统，因为对传统的忠诚意味着，除其他外，抗拒变化。

Here we begin to see the basis of modernity’s menacing nature. Progress means that change becomes a virtue all unto itself. Constancy, in contrast, becomes the greatest vice. To resist change is seen as a literal assault on the human race. Modernity’s number one enemy, therefore, is tradition since devotion to tradition means, among other things, resistance to change.

传统，无论以何种形式存在，都要求长期的一致性。对传统的基本承诺意味着接受某些原则是永恒不变的，某些价值观不能被更新。对一种传统保持忠诚，就要或多或少地依赖过去，而这一要求本身就使传统与现代性相互对立。文化传统、语言传统，尤其是宗教传统，都不断面临被现代革新与改革推倒的威胁。

Tradition, in whatever form, calls to consistency over time. A basic commitment to tradition means accepting that some principles are timeless. Some values cannot be updated. To be devoted to a tradition requires reliance on the past in one way or another, and that requirement by itself pits tradition against modernity. Cultural traditions, linguistic traditions, and especially religious traditions are constantly under threat of being bulldozed by modern innovation and reform.

宗教传统在现代世界中没有立足之地。现代化的或被现代化改造过的宗教，不过是主菜旁边的一点装饰，就像盘子边缘的那片欧芹，无论如何都无关紧要。只要不影响任何事情，现代性还能容忍这片欧芹。归根结底，现代性要求每个人都把它那热气腾腾的主菜塞得饱饱的。如果有人愿意也啃几口欧芹，那又何妨？但如果有人放弃现代性的主菜，转而选择宗教，这是不被允许的。那些想要超越装饰地位的宗教，将不会被容忍。

Religious tradition has no place in the modern world. Modern or modernized religion amounts to nothing more than a garnish on the side of the main course. The piece of parsley sits on the edge of the plate, inconsequential in every way. Modernity can tolerate parsley as long as it doesn’t affect anything. At the end of the day, modernity requires everyone stuff themselves with its steaming pile of entree. If some choose to nibble on parsley as well, who cares? But if anyone rejects modernity’s main course in favor of religion, this is not allowed. Those religions that want to be more than garnish will not be tolerated.

现代主义心灵深处萦绕的问题是：既然生命中的主要问题（据说）已经由现代性及其认识论给出了答案，那还需要宗教做什么？

The question that sits at the back of the modernist mind is: Who needs religion when all the main questions of life are (supposedly) answered by modernity and its epistemologies?

达尔文主义（据称）掌握着答案。

Darwinism (supposedly) has the answer.

物理科学（据称）已经给出了答案。

The physical sciences (supposedly) have the answer.

自由主义对此的回答是：己所不欲，勿施于人。自由与平等是至高无上的善。

Liberalism answers this; just treat others how you want to be treated. Freedom and equality are the ultimate goods.

没有客观的意义。充其量，我们只能自己赋予意义。最糟的情况下，我们不过是漂浮在无限太空虚空中的一堆原子。

There is no objective meaning. At best, we make our own meaning. At worst we are just collections of atoms floating in the void of infinite space

按照现代主义的心态，人类实际上并不需要宗教，因为宗教并未增添任何实质价值。依此观点，一个人之所以信奉宗教，唯一的原因不过是某种非理性的文化偏见，或许还有习惯的力量。

In this way, according to the modernist mentality, humanity has no real need for religion, as religion adds no substantive value. According to this mindset, the only reason someone would be religious is out of some a-rational cultural bias or, maybe, force of habit.

在现代性的光照之下,没有什么比“思想封闭”的信徒“盲目”地诵读一千年前的经文、固守被奉为典章的宗教律法,更与进步背道而驰的了。因此,现代性意在以一场涵盖媒体、教育、法律与全球政治的多面攻势,摧毁这一阻碍进步的宗教障碍。这场攻势范围之广与其手段之残酷相比,不相上下。

In the light of modernity, nothing could be more contrary to progress than “closed-minded” believers “blindly” reading one-thousand-year-old texts and maintaining canonized religious law. Modernity, therefore, aims to destroy this religious impediment to progress with a multi-faceted assault involving media, education, law, and global politics. This assault is as comprehensive in scope as it is brutal.

伊斯兰教可以确切地被称为现代性的对立面。这在一定程度上是因为18、19世纪的欧洲启蒙思想家——他们发展出了支撑现代性的主要理论哲学——将伊斯兰教视为他们曾经彻底削弱的那个停滞教会的一个更为野蛮、思想更为保守的版本。例如，18世纪著名的法国无神论哲学家伏尔泰，就把伊斯兰教歪曲为一种野蛮的宗教。他甚至写了一部名为《穆罕默德》的戏剧来讽刺先知穆罕默德ﷺ，把他描绘成狂热的暴君，而把他的敌人——异教的阿拉伯人——刻画为崇尚理性的自由思想圣徒。这种辛辣的东方主义色彩影响了许多欧洲哲学家的思考。在他们看来，伊斯兰教是专制的，而现代性意味着自由；伊斯兰教是非理性的，而现代性则推崇理性；最重要的是，在他们眼中，伊斯兰教意味着停滞与衰败，而他们的现代观念则代表着持续的变革与更新。 除了这段思想史之外，现代性的本质本身也与伊斯兰教相冲突。毕竟，伊斯兰教是所有宗教中最坚持传统的一种。保存先知的圣行（Sunnah）在伊斯兰教中至关重要，而伊斯兰教的整个认识论都建立在保存和传承过往知识的理念之上。这些知识不仅包括启示时期的知识，甚至可以追溯到人类存在的最初时刻——那时安拉创造了人类，并问他们：“我不是你们的主吗？”全人类都回答说：“是的，我们作证。”这记载于《古兰经》第7章《高处》第172节（经文第17节有误，此处按原文所引）。这种关于造物主、祂的独一性以及祂应受崇拜之权利的原初知识，被保存在一种名为“菲properties”（fitra，天性）的人类本能之中。 这是驱使人类走向善良、纯洁与正直的本能，除非它因今世的种种变迁而受到败坏——无论是因为拜偶像（shirk）、傲慢的私欲（nafs）、情欲（shahwa）、恶魔（shaytan）的耳语，还是虚妄的念头与偏见（hawa）。伊斯兰教的实践在实际作用上保全了人的天性（fitra），即确保一个人始终如一地只崇拜造物主，不以任何同伴与之并列。意志的恒定同样至关重要，信士必须使自己的意志与欲望与真主的旨意达到最大程度的契合，时时以求得真主的喜悦（ridwan）为意图。

Islam can rightly be described as the antithesis of modernity. This is partly due to the fact that the European Enlightenment thinkers in the 18th and 19th century, who developed the main theoretical philosophy underlying modernity, viewed Islam as a more brutish, less forward-thinking version of the same stagnant Church they had so thoroughly neutered. Famous 18th century atheist French philosopher Voltaire, for example, caricatured Islam as a barbaric religion. He even wrote a play Mahomet satirizing the Prophet Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم, portraying him as a fanatical tyrant and depicting his enemies, the pagan Arabs, as freethinking saints of reason. This bitter Orientalism colored the thinking of many European philosophers. Islam, in their minds, was despotic while modernism meant freedom. Islam was irrational while modernism put a premium on the mind. Above all, to them Islam meant stagnation and decay while their modern outlook represented continuous change and renewal. Beyond that intellectual history, the very nature of modernity clashes with Islam. After all, Islam is the most consistently traditional of all religions. Preservation of the Prophetic Sunnah is paramount in Islam, and Islam’s entire epistemology is built on the notion of preserving and transmitting past knowledge, not only past knowledge from the time of revelation but, indeed, past knowledge from the very beginning of human existence, when Allah created humanity and asked them, “Am I not your Rabb [i.e., Lord and Master]?” And all of humanity responded, “Yes, we testify,” as described in Surat Al-Ar’af (verse 17) in the Quran. This primordial knowledge of the Creator, His Oneness, and His right to be worshipped is preserved in the human instinct known as the fitra. This is the instinct that drives mankind to goodness, purity, and righteousness unless it becomes corrupted due to the vicissitudes of the dunya, corrupted whether due to idolatry (shirk), arrogant egoism (nafs), lust (shahwa), the whispering of satan (shaytan), or false whims and prejudices (hawa). The practice of Islam functionally serves as preservation of the fitra in the sense of ensuring constancy in one’s worship to the Creator alone without partner. Constancy of will is equally paramount, as the believer must ensure that he brings his will and his desires into utmost congruence with the Divine will, always intending Allah’s good pleasure (ridwan).

阿里·伊姆兰（Q3:126）

Ali ‘Imran (Q3:126)

我们视此为神圣而不可侵犯的真理。

This we hold as a sacred, inviolable truth.

一旦我们理解了现代主义的有毒本质,就很容易认识到它对穆斯林思想的影响。进步的现代主义与伊斯兰的传统主义如何能够共存于同一个头脑与心灵之中?一个人如何能同时相信进步的叙事——即当今时代是人类道德与智识持续进步的顶峰——又相信最好的世代是先知穆罕默德ﷺ所在的世代,随后是虔诚的先贤(Salaf)世代?从逻辑上讲,这是不可能的。然而,被殖民的头脑会扭曲、曲解,以求调和二者。也许答案在于改革伊斯兰,使宗教与时俱进、符合当代标准。也许伊斯兰中一切反自由主义、反世俗主义、反女权主义、反唯物主义、反科学主义等的内容,都可以从宗教中删除。

Once we understand the toxic nature of modernism, it becomes easy to recognize its effect on the Muslim mind. How can the progressiveness of modernism and the traditionalism of Islam coexist in the same mind and heart? How can one simultaneously believe the progressive narrative—viz., that the present day is the peak of continuous human moral and intellectual advancement—whilst also believing that the best generation was the generation of 8 The Modernist Menace to Islam the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم and then the righteous Salaf? Logically, one cannot. Yet, the colonized mind will twist and contort in order to reconcile the two. Perhaps the answer lies in reforming Islam, bringing the religion up to date and up to code. Perhaps everything in Islam that is anti-liberal, anti-secular, anti-feminism, anti-materialism, anti-scientism, etc., can be expunged from the religion.

这类想法是当今一些穆斯林心中诸多疑惑的根源。在一个被现代主义的浓重恶臭所污染的环境中滋养出的倾向是：为了迎合此种紧张关系，便去扭曲伊斯兰，将其硬塞进现代主义所设定的模子里。那些心怀此类疑惑的穆斯林，与其试图扭曲伊斯兰这条正路，不如打破那个现代主义的模子，才更有益处。要成功打破这一模子，就必须揭穿各种“主义”，让这些穆斯林看清现代主义所兜售的虚假黄金。一旦穆斯林的心智得到去程序化、去殖民化、去现代化，并清除了西方的放射性废料，伊斯兰的纯净光芒便能再次照耀出来。

Such thoughts constitute the source of numerous doubts in Islam that are plaguing some Muslims in this day and age. In response to this tension, the tendency— nurtured by an environment polluted with the heavy stench of modernism—is to distort Islam, bending it to the mold set by modernism. Muslims who have such doubts would be better served by breaking that modernist mold rather than attempting to warp the Straight Path that is Islam. Successfully breaking this modernist mold requires debunking the -isms and disenchanting these Muslims from the false gold modernism sells. Once the Muslim mind is deprogrammed, decolonized, demodernized, and cleared of the radioactive waste products of the West, then once again the pure light of Islam can shine through.

这本书收录了我多年来撰写的一些短文和思考，批判的是这些“主义”。我主要面向穆斯林读者写作，但许多同样认识到现代性之弊的非穆斯林，也能理解其中大部分论点，只是其中有少数伊斯兰术语他们可能不熟悉。本书可以按任意顺序阅读，因为每一章和每一节都可以独立阅读，彼此无需依赖。这些批判本身并不全面，但意在有力地冲击当今一些根深蒂固的教条。然而，我的希望是，这本书能成为一个系列的第一卷，整体上为读者提供充分的思考材料，并且，若真主许可，促成一种观念的转变，使人们认识到现代主义的国王其实什么也没穿。真主是万王之王。

This book collects short essays and reflections I have written over the years critiquing these -isms. I have written primarily for a Muslim audience but non-Muslims, many of whom also recognize the scourge of modernity, can also understand most of the arguments, save for a few Islamic terms they might not know. The book can be read in any order as each chapter and section can be read independently of everything else. The critiques themselves are not comprehensive, though they are meant to pack a punch against some of the more persistent dogmas of the day. But the hope is that this book is the first volume in a series that, as a whole, will provide the reader plenty of food for thought and, if Allah wills, a paradigm shift towards understanding that the modernist emperor has no clothes. And Allah is the King of kings.