有些穆斯林在读到这段圣训时，会表现出极度的怀疑：

Some Muslims react with extreme skepticism when they read the hadith:

这些穆斯林想知道，亚当和人类身高如此的证据是什么？这是个有趣的问题，因为如果你是穆斯林，证据就是圣训中的沙希德圣训。这就是证据。只有当你普遍怀疑所有圣训时，才会认为它不是证据；但那样的人只是一个困惑的人，比起亚当的身高，他有更大的问题需要担心。或者，你把当前的科学共识视为比沙希德圣训更可靠的关于亚当身高的知识来源，那么你要么认为先知ﷺ描述自己的身高有误，要么认为圣训的传述者犯了错误。而考虑到这段圣训的文本，以及亚当的身高在多段沙希德圣训中都有提及这一事实，那么这个错误就必须是相当广泛的错误。

These Muslims want to know what is the evidence of Adam and humans being this height? It is a funny question because, if you are a Muslim, the evidence is the sahih hadith. That is the evidence. The only reason you would think that that is not evidence is if you are generally skeptical of all hadith, in which case you are just a confused person and have bigger things to worry about than the height of Adam, or you take current scientific consensus as a sounder source of knowledge about the height of Adam than sahih hadith, in which case, you think either the Prophet صلى الله عليه وسلم misdescribed his height or that the hadith transmitters made a mistake — and given the text of the hadith and the fact that the height of Adam is mentioned in multiple sahih hadith, it would have to have been a pretty extensive mistake.

我们可以对这些内容进行评估。首先需要指出，在许多圣训所描述的事情上，我们并不把当今的科学共识视为相关因素。试想夜行登霄（Al-Isra wal-mi`raj），或诸先知的各种神迹。再想想末日的各种迹象，例如雅朱者与马朱者（ya’juj and ma’juj）等。如果你对圣训有疑问，那么古兰经中提到的任何事件和事物也都可以作同样的考虑。既然科学共识与这些主题都无关，那么为什么在阿丹（Adam）的身高问题上，它突然变得具有决定性了呢？

We can evaluate all this. First, we should note that we don’t take current scientific consensus as relevant when it comes to many things described in hadith. Think of Al-Isra wal-mi`raj. Or any of the miracles of the prophets. Think of any of the signs of the Day of Judgment, e.g., ya’juj and ma’juj, etc. And if you have a problem with hadith, then consider any of the events and things mentioned in the Quran. So, if current scientific consensus is not germane to any of these topics, why is it suddenly so all-determinative when it comes to the height of Adam?

另外,我担心那些如此看重当前科学共识的人,往往对科学的本质和历史深感无知。我作为哈佛大学物理专业学生,同时在哈佛和塔夫茨大学攻读哲学与科学史,对此有切身体会。我的一些教授要么是诺贝尔奖得主,要么是即将获奖的学者,但他们对科学史基础知识的无知令人惊讶。他们根本不认为了解科学史有什么重要性。不出所料,这种缺乏兴趣和知识的状况,导致了他们对科学本身狭隘、短视的理解,而这与他们在科学领域的卓越成就形成了讽刺的对比。

Also, I am afraid that people who take current scientific consensus so seriously are often deeply ignorant about the nature and the history of science. I have personal experience with this as a physics student at Harvard as well as a philosophy and history of science student there and at Tufts. Some of my professors were either Nobel Prize winners or on their way to winning it, and their ignorance about some of the basics of science history was astounding. They simply didn’t think it was important to know the history of science. Not surprisingly, that lack of interest and knowledge resulted in a very narrow, myopic understanding of science itself, which is ironic considering how accomplished they were in the sciences.

过去的考古学家曾相信巨人族的存在。他们的这一信念基于改革派、现代主义者 207

One piece of science history that is relevant to this discussion is that past archaeologists believed in the existence of giant human beings. They based their belief Reformists, Modernists 207

关于化石和已发现的骨骼碎片。试考虑名为Meganthropus的物种的化石。当代科学家不知道这一点,是否令人惊讶?不,他们只是不了解自身领域的历史。但这并不能抹去前人的工作和历史记录。

on fossils and discovered bone fragments. Consider the fossils of the species named Meganthropus. Is it surprising that current scientists are unaware of this? No, they are simply ignorant of the history of their own field. But that does not erase the work and the historical record of their predecessors.

就我自己而言，作为一名穆斯林，我不会把推测性的东西置于确定之上。我毫无顾虑，也没有任何犹疑，而是完全按字面接受那段圣训（sahih），并在理智上感到十分安然、充满信心。事实上，这样的圣训正是我所珍视的瑰宝，因为它们让我了解世界与历史的真实本质，而这是我若非如此便无从得知的；尽管当今的科学共识持有不同的看法。

As for myself, as a Muslim, I don’t privilege the speculative over the definite. And I have no hesitation or qualms taking that sahih hadith at face value and feeling perfectly intellectually content and confident. In fact, ahadith like that are gems that I treasure because they inform me about the true nature of the world and history that I wouldn’t be privy to otherwise since current scientific consensus says something different.

顺便说一下,别再扯骨骼强度与身高的那些无稽之谈了。只要骨骼的密度足够,就能支撑某个身高的生物。仅凭骨骼结构来反驳这段圣训,就如同以布拉克(Buraq)的空气动力学不足以在如此短的时间内完成旅程,来反驳夜行(Al-Isra)的可能性一样。

(By the way, stop with the nonsense about bone strength versus height. If bones are sufficiently dense, they can support a creature of a given height. Arguing against this hadith on the basis of bone structure is like arguing against the possibility of Al-Isra on the basis that the Buraq couldn’t have been aerodynamic enough to make the trip in such a short period of time.)

注意：世界上最杰出的学者之一穆夫提·塔奇·奥斯马尼（Mufti Taqi Usmani）转述了沙伊赫·安瓦尔·沙阿·克什米里（Shaykh Anwar Shah al-Kashimiri）对这段圣训的解释，根据该解释，亚当在乐园中要高大得多，被送到大地后才变得矮小。他的观点基于对圣训措辞的分析。44 这种解释是否正确，唯有真主最为知晓。但关键在于，无论哪种解释，都不依赖于当代科学的“事实”。

NB: One of the foremost scholars in the world, Mufti Taqi Usmani, relays an interpretation of this hadith from Shaykh Anwar Shah al-Kashimiri, according to which Adam was much taller in the Garden and then became smaller when he was sent to Earth.44 He bases his opinion on an analysis of the language of the hadith. Whether or not this interpretation is correct, Allah knows best. But the point is, neither interpretation depends on contemporary scientific “facts.”