让我与你分享一项基本原则，它对于解答当今伊斯兰教中的疑问有很大帮助。

Let me share a foundational principle with you that can greatly help address doubts in Islam in this day and age.

这是一条很少有人理解的原则，哪怕他们在世俗学科方面有深厚的学术背景，甚至在传统的伊斯兰学科方面也是如此。

This is a principle that unfortunately very few understand, even despite having an extensive background in studying the secular sciences and even the Islamic sciences traditionally.

这个原则是：人们所说的那些被认为真实的事物，并非都是真实的。

The principle is this: Not everything that people speak of as being real is, in fact, real.

人们怎么可能大量地谈论并认定某件事是真实的，而事实上那只是他们想象出来的东西？

Think about this for a second. How could large numbers of people speak about and presume that something is real when, in fact, that something is just a figment of their imagination?

然而，这种情况有许多种可能，历史上也有无数例子可以证明。最明显的例子就是宗教。显然，整个社会和文明都曾奉祀并不存在的神明。整个宗教都建立在这些神明确实存在的前提之上，而这些神明的根据不过是臆测和误导性的想法。

Well, there are many ways for this to be the case and history has borne this out in countless examples. The most obvious example is religion. Obviously, entire societies and civilizations have been devoted to gods that don’t exist. Entire religions have been established on the premise that these gods exist, yet those gods are based on nothing but supposition and misguided whims.

另一个有启发意义的例子不属于宗教领域，而是来自经验科学。试想那些曾经被视为绝对、无可置疑的科学和经验理论：一天被奉为事实，第二天却遭到摒弃。在物理、化学和生物等“硬科学”中，近代历史上就有许多这样的例子。你听说过以太吗？或者燃素？又或者微粒说？这些都是经验层面的实体，曾被假定为存在，被科学界反复理论化，并似乎通过实验得到了验证，但后来却被否定，被认定为不存在。这是怎么回事？科学界怎么可能基于经验证据和理性分析，认定某物是真实的，结果那个东西却被证明只不过是其集体想象的虚构？

Another instructive example is found outside the domain of religion. This is in the empirical sciences. Consider the scientific and empirical theories that were held as absolute and unquestionable fact one day but disregarded the next. There are so many examples from very recent history in the “hard sciences” like physics, chemistry, and biology. Have you heard of the ether? Or phlogiston? Or corpuscles? These were empirical entities which were assumed to exist and were theorized about and seemingly verified experimentally by the scientific community but were later rejected as nonexistent. How can that be? How could the scientific community have agreed that something is real based on empirical evidence and rational analysis yet that something turn out to have been nothing but a figment of its collective imagination?

我们在本章中无需深入探讨这种情况是如何发生的。只需要认识到，它确实会发生，而且在历史上出现的频率之高令人惊讶，即使在科学的、“理性的”、“经验主义”的世界中也是如此。

We don’t need to delve into the details of how this can happen for the purposes of this chapter. We just need to be aware that it can and does happen with surprising frequency in history, even in the scientific, “rational,” “empirical” world.

现在让我们运用这一洞见。在讨论政治、伦理和正义时，存在一些被认为是“道德实在”的东西。这些价值是大量人群相信为真、为实在的。现在请想一想：如果一大群人在经验实在这样看似坚实的事情上都可能出错，那么他们在道德问题上出错的可能性又会有多大？在我们今天的处境中，伊斯兰教正因为不符合某些所谓的道德实在而遭到四面八方的攻击。伊斯兰教不尊重良心自由！伊斯兰教不承认民主！伊斯兰教不承认宗教自由！伊斯兰教不尊重性自主！伊斯兰教不承认性别非规范性！诸如此类，不一而足。

Now let’s apply that insight. In discussing politics and ethics and justice, there are presumed “moral realities.” These are values that large groups of people believe to be true and real. Now think about it—if a large group of people can be wrong about something as seemingly solid as empirical reality, how more liable are they to be wrong about something like morality? In our situation today, Islam is being attacked left and right on the basis of it not conforming to certain alleged moral realities. Islam does not respect freedom of conscience! Islam does not acknowledge democracy! Islam does not recognize religious liberty! Islam does not respect sexual autonomy! Islam does not acknowledge gender nonconformity! And on and on.

但如果这些概念在现实中毫无根据，也就是说，它们没有任何道德分量呢？如果它们只是现代人在西方学术与思想霸权的强大影响下，集体想象出来的产物呢？

But what if these concepts have no basis in reality, i.e., have no moral weight? What if they’re figments of the collective imagination of modern people under the overwhelming influence of Western academic and intellectual hegemony?

如果你能够这样自问，并以这种怀疑的态度出发，那么这就是化解当代穆斯林心中诸多紧张与疑虑的第一步。

If you can ask yourself this question and start from this skeptical posture, then this is the first step to resolving so many tensions and doubts that plague the minds of contemporary Muslims.

但遗憾的是，许多穆斯林知识分子和学者完全绕开了这种怀疑。他们只是接受这些概念和价值观的道德实在性。这是一场彻头彻尾的灾难。

But unfortunately, many Muslim intellectuals and scholars completely bypass this skepticism. They just accept the moral reality of these concepts and values. This is an unmitigated disaster.

“那么显而易见的问题是：如果像‘良心自由’这样的东西是真实的，为什么在启示中找不到它？”“但它在启示中是有的！”这些知识分子会这样反驳。为了证明这一点，他们在《古兰经》、圣训以及经典学术传统中搜寻，凡是能勉强被解读为表达他们坚决主张的那个概念或价值的内容，都一一罗列。但他们的研究方法存在根本缺陷：对于他们所引为该价值在经典中的例证，往往有十倍的例子与之相悖。然而，那些相悖的例子却从未出现在他们的研究之中。

Because the obvious question is: If something like, for example, “freedom of conscience” is real, why is it not found in revelation? “But it is found in revelation!” these intellectuals exclaim. And to prove this, they scan the Quran, hadith, and classical scholarly tradition to find anything and everything that can conceivably be construed as expressing the concept or value they adamantly insist to be real. But their methodology is fundamentally flawed because for everything they cite as an example of that value in the texts, there are 10 examples that contradict it. But of course, those 10 examples don’t see the light of day in their research.

这并不总是因为学者或知识分子在掩盖什么，或在有意不诚实。有时他们确实看不到反例，因为他们长期被训练成用一种透镜去阅读和理解文本，而这副透镜无可避免地被他们试图在文本中发现的同样的概念和价值观所染色。这就形成了一个恶性的、自我强化的循环，而这个循环往往极难打破。

This is not always because the scholar or intellectual is trying to conceal anything or is being dishonest. Sometimes they honestly do not see the counterexamples because they have been conditioned to read and understand the texts with a lens that is inexorably colored by the same concepts and values they are trying to discover in the texts. This creates a vicious, self-reinforcing cycle that often proves to be impossibly difficult to break out of.

最后一点需要回应一个显而易见的反驳：那么，为什么这种怀疑不能同样适用于伊斯兰教和伊斯兰的价值观（无论你认为它们是什么）？我们为什么应当相信这些观念和价值观有现实的根据？

The final point to make is to address the obvious counterargument: Well, why can’t this skepticism be applied to Islam and Islamic values (whatever you may believe those to be)? Why should we believe those concepts and values have a basis in reality?

简单来说:我们不会只是想当然地接受。我们进行考察、分析和反思。我们以有效的学术渊源为根基,即《古兰经》、圣训和古典学术传统,并谨慎避免夹带任何不正当的偏见。当然,这只是开始。你还必须去体验、去感受、去品味。这来自伊斯兰所规定的一切功修,如敬拜(ibadah)、赞念(dhikr)、诵读(tilawa)等。这是一套全面的生活方案,使人能够经验地、理性地和精神地抵达实相与真理(haqq),因为这些认知来源是相互关联的。

The simple answer is: We don’t just assume this. We investigate. We analyze. We reflect. We ground ourselves in valid intellectual sources—i.e., Quran, Sunnah, and the classical scholarly tradition—cautious not to smuggle in any illegitimate biases. Of course, that is only the beginning. You also have to experience, feel, and taste. This comes through everything that Islam prescribes in terms of ibadah, dhikr, tilawa, etc. This is a comprehensive life program that allows one to arrive at reality and haqq empirically, rationally, and spiritually (since all these epistemic sources are interconnected).

但还有另一个重要的步骤。显然，那些深陷现代世界观之中的人也声称，他们"品尝"到了其理念与价值观的真理。从他们倡导这些价值观时的热情，有时甚至是暴力和敌意，便可看出这一点。那么，我们凭什么否认这些观点的真实性呢？

你只需拆解那些价值理论，指出它们的前后矛盾之处。你系统地逐一剖析，直到所有在场的人都清楚地看到，这些观点空洞无物，不值得尊重或接受。显然，人们在这方面的熟练程度有高有低。而这种方法的典范，正是我们敬爱的易卜拉欣先知，愿主赐福他（《古兰经》6:74-83）。

You simply deconstruct those theories of value. You point out their inconsistencies. You systematically pick them apart until it is clear to all involved that those ideas are vacuous and not worthy of respect or acceptance. Obviously one might be less or more skilled in doing this. And the exemplar of this method is none other than our beloved prophet Ibrahim, peace be upon him (Quran 6:74-83).

无论如何,如果你理解了这一方法,你就会立即认出与之相悖的东西,即护教式的论述——那类著作想当然地接受现代主义的观念与价值,然后通过选择性地引用《古兰经》、圣训和古典学术传统来为之辩护。待你认识到这一点,靠Allah的意愿,你也会看清护教式论述是多么缺乏说服力、多么令人反感,乃至于你再也无法忍受。愿Allah使我们成为真理的诚挚追求者。

In any case, if you understand this method, you will immediately recognize what’s contrary to it, i.e., apologetics, i.e., work that takes for granted modernist concepts and values and tries to justify them by appeal to selective citations from the Quran, Sunnah, and classical scholarly tradition. And then you will inshaAllah recognize how uncompelling and generally unappealing apologetics are until you can’t stand them. May Allah make us sincere seekers of truth.