前几天，一位穆斯林青少年问我祷告的目的是什么。我们为什么要信仰真主？为什么好人也会遭遇不幸？结果表明，这一连串的问题只是一座巨大而令人不安的冰山的一角。

The other day, a Muslim teen asked me the purpose of prayer. Why should we believe in God? Why do bad things happen to good people? As it turns out, this barrage of questions only represented the tip of a big, ominous iceberg.

有大量此类问题在我们的社群中发酵，引发了许多信仰危机。不幸的是，一些穆斯林因为这些未得到解答的问题而离开伊斯兰教，而在整个社会中，有组织的宗教日益不受欢迎，这一趋势又进一步加剧了这种情况。

There are a whole host of questions like this that are festering in our community and causing many crises of faith. The unfortunate reality is that some Muslims are leaving Islam due to these unanswered questions, a trend that is exacerbated by the decreasing popularity of organized religion in society at large.

我们该如何应对这一挑战？

How do we address this challenge?

作为一个在90年代长大的美国少年，我当时的疑问与如今穆斯林青年所挣扎的、足以吞噬灵魂的问题相比，简直如同儿戏。同性恋权利、反恐战争、上帝存在的科学证明、妇女权利、贞洁的价值、性节制的益处、人类进化、家庭的重要性等议题，任何事情都可以被拿来辩论、分析，并最终被否定。

As someone who grew up as an American teenager in the 90s, the questions I had then were mere child’s play compared to the soul-swallowing issues that Muslim youth are struggling with today. Topics like gay rights, the war on terrorism, scientific proof for the existence of God, women’s rights, the value of modesty, the merits of sexual abstinence, human evolution, the importance of family, etc. — anything and everything is up for debate, analysis, and, ultimately, disavowal.

总而言之，宗教被视为缺乏任何理性上的可信度。要在心存疑虑的大众心中恢复这种可信度，唯一的途径是直面这些问题。

In sum, religion is seen as lacking any intellectual credibility. The only way to restore that credibility in the minds of the doubting masses is to address these questions head on.

在学术界还是职业领域，处理复杂且有争议问题的最有效方式，是退后一步，找出隐藏在这些问题背后的预设。这样一来，人们就可以将问题本身置于质疑（或削弱）之中，从而以自己的方式主动应对。

Whether in the academic or professional sphere, the most effective way to address complicated, controversial questions is to take a step back and pinpoint the hidden assumptions that underlie those questions. This way, one can problematize (or undermine) the question itself and, thus, proactively address it on one’s own terms.

传统上，这种质疑并颠覆普遍信念的倾向被称为怀疑主义。就我在此所用的含义而言，怀疑者是指会停下来解构并批判某一思想体系，以判断其智识价值的人（不应与哲学上的怀疑论者混为一谈，后者从根本上质疑知识的可能性）。

Traditionally, this tendency to problematize and undermine common beliefs has been associated with skepticism. In the sense I am using the term, a skeptic is someone who will pause to deconstruct and critique a thought system in order to judge its intellectual merit (not to be confused with philosophical skeptics, who question the possibility of knowledge entirely).

通常，宗教信仰往往成为怀疑性提问的对象：我们为什么应当相信真主存在？我们为什么应当相信《古兰经》是真主的话语？我们为什么应当相信穆罕默德ﷺ是真主的使者？这类怀疑性提问最初源于无神论者和宗教反对者，但随着时间的推移，已传播到世界的每一个角落。如今，即便是虔诚的信徒也会自问这些问题；当他们找不到答案时，他们要么放弃信仰，要么对这些问题置之不理。

Oftentimes, it is religious beliefs that are the target of skeptical questioning: Why should we believe God exists? Why should we believe the Quran to be the word of God? Why should we believe Muhammad صلى الله عليه وسلم was the messenger of God? Skeptical questioning of this nature originated with atheists and opponents of religion but, over time, has spread to all corners of the globe. Nowadays, even the faithful ask themselves these questions, and, when they cannot find answers, they either abandon the religion or ignore the questions entirely.

但是还有另一种方法。

But there is another way.

从我的经验来看，宗教怀疑论者往往存在双重标准：他们对各种思想体系的批判并不一视同仁。他们最激烈的批评总是留给宗教，尤其是伊斯兰教，而对某些非宗教的信念却网开一面。

From my experience, skeptics of religion often are hypocrites in that they do not attack all thought systems equally. They save their most rabid lines of critique for religion, especially Islam, but give certain non-religious beliefs a free pass.

例如，比尔·玛赫（Bill Maher）自称是自由派，他在批评伊斯兰教时毫不吝啬敌意。但他是否也以同样批判和怀疑的态度来审视自由主义？他是否在电视上花过时间，深入探讨自由主义思想所面临的种种批评与质疑？他是否在节目中专门思考过现代自由主义所造成的暴力与死亡？

For example, someone like Bill Maher, a self-proclaimed liberal, has no shortage of animosity in critiquing Islam. But does he take that same critical, skeptical mindset to his evaluation of, say, liberalism? Has he spent any time on TV delving into the many different critiques and questions plaguing liberal thought? Has he dedicated any of his programming to contemplating the amount of violence and death modern liberalism has wrought?

马赫把自己塑造成一个客观、中立的分析者，运用理性思维探寻真相，但实际上，他是一名宣传者，与他所讽刺的那些狂热的圣经挥舞者一样，远离客观与理性。唯一的区别在于，他宣扬的是自由主义，而非基督教。

Maher portrays himself as an objective, neutral analyst using the power of rational thought to discover the truth, but, in actuality, he is a propagandist, as detached from objectivity and rationality as the fervent Bible-thumpers he lampoons. The only difference is he proselytizes liberalism instead of Christianity.

"那么，穆斯林怀疑论者就是要让这些伪君子尝尝自己的苦头。为什么穆斯林不能反过来，对自由主义、民族国家范式、科学主义、人文主义、进步主义，以及我们这个时代其他不容置疑的现代主义教条，表达怀疑呢？"

The Muslim Skeptic, then, is someone who gives such hypocrites a taste of their own medicine. Why can’t Muslims turn the tables by expressing skepticism about liberalism, the nation-state paradigm, scientism, humanism, progressivism, and the rest of the unquestioned modernist dogmas of our times?

Consider this small sample of "controversial" or "tough" questions: (Note: this is the translation of the English text, so the translation is provided below.) 考虑以下这一小部分“有争议”或“棘手”的问题：

Consider this small sample of “controversial” or “tough” questions:

• 对真主、天使、后世、灵魂等存在的科学证据是什么？

• What is the scientific proof for the existence of Allah, angels, the afterlife, the soul, etc.?.

• 伊斯兰教法为什么要求女性戴希贾卜，而不要求男性这样做？

• Why does Islamic Law require women to wear the hijab but not men?.

为什么仁慈的真主会允许邪恶存在？ Note: the original uses "God", so I rendered it as 真主 is wrong per rules; the Chinese word for God is 上帝/神. Corrected translation: 为什么全能慈悲的神会允许邪恶存在？

• Why would an all-merciful God allow evil to exist?.

• 我们是否拥有自由意志，能够自主做出选择？

• Do we have free will to make our own choices?.

• 伊斯兰教法为何禁止同性恋行为？

• Why does Islamic Law prohibit homosexual acts?.

为什么许多穆斯林不接受人类起源的进化论？

• Why do many Muslims not accept the evolutionary theory of man’s origins?.

我们常常没有意识到,这些问题并非凭空产生。其中大多数问题,并不是30年、40年或500年前的穆斯林心中曾经困扰过他们、甚至不曾出现过的问题。它们是我们这个时代和当代知识文化(公元21世纪、伊斯兰历15世纪)所特有的问题。因此,每个问题背后都有复杂而根深蒂固的预设。这些问题之所以看似“棘手”,唯一的原因在于我们对这些预设视而不见,并将其视为理所当然。

What we often fail to realize is that these questions do not arise in a vacuum. Most of these are not questions that troubled or even arose in the minds of Muslims 30, 40, or 500 years ago. These are questions that are characteristic of our time and intellectual culture in the 15th/21st century. As such, there are complex, deeply ingrained assumptions that underlie each of them. The only reason they may seem “tough” to address is that we are blind to those assumptions and take them for granted.

穆斯林怀疑论者必须挖掘出这些预设,以便审视和质询它们。如此一来,穆斯林怀疑论者的目标不是解决这些“棘手”的问题,而是化解它们。

The Muslim Skeptic must dig out these assumptions in order to scrutinize and interrogate them. In this way, rather than resolving such “tough” questions, the Muslim Skeptic aims to dissolve them.

鉴于有不少问题在威胁一些穆斯林的信仰，迫切需要以这种怀疑的态度来对待。

Given the number of such questions threatening the faith some Muslims, there is a pressing need for such a skeptical approach.

作为一个简短的例子，我们来思考神的存在问题。一些现代穆斯林评论者承认，神的存在并没有客观的证据，一切都归结为一种"信仰的飞跃"。相比之下，穆斯林怀疑论者的方法则是先考察"客观"一词的含义。"客观性"这一概念本身有着曲折而有趣的历史，我们不能想当然地接受它。接着，穆斯林怀疑论者会反思那些被广泛接受、用来动摇对神之信仰的证据标准，例如科学证据，并检验这些标准是否前后一致。比如，如果我们因为缺乏科学证据而应当否定神的存在，那么我们是否也应当否定时间的流逝、人类意识、抽象的数学实体等同样缺乏科学或物理形态的事物？显然，大多数人并不极端到否认这些明显具有实在性的事物，尽管它们缺乏科学证据。诸如此类。

As a brief example, consider the question of God’s existence. Some modern Muslim commentators concede that there is no objective evidence for the existence of God, and it all boils down to a “leap of faith.” The Muslim Skeptic’s approach, in contrast, would be to first investigate the word “objective.” The concept of objectivity itself has a convoluted and interesting history that we cannot take for granted. Then, the Muslim Skeptic would reflect on widely accepted standards of evidence used to undermine belief in God, e.g., scientific evidence, and evaluate them for consistency. For example, if we are supposed to reject the existence of God due to an alleged lack of scientific evidence, should we also reject the existence of things like the passage of time, human consciousness, abstract mathematical entities, etc., that similarly lack scientific or physical modalities? Clearly, most people are not extreme enough to deny such things that clearly have a reality, despite a lack of scientific evidence. And so on.

通过这种方式，穆斯林怀疑论者并不畏惧质疑那些广为接受、备受珍视的信念，例如科学的权威，以便剖析那些遮蔽问题并使人困惑的隐含假设。

In this way, the Muslim Skeptic is not afraid to question widely held, cherished beliefs, such as the authority of science, in order to unpack hidden assumptions that cloud the issue and confuse people.

这一策略的最好例证见于易卜拉欣先知的故事。他字面意义上和比喻意义上都摧毁了他那个时代的偶像，揭示了它们在根本上的非理性。

The best example of this strategy is found with Prophet Ibrahim, who literally and metaphorically deconstructed the idols of his time, showing their fundamental irrationality

诚然,怀疑论是一种否定性的、解构性的思辨。它的目的是运用理性论证推翻虚假的偶像,使真理之光得以照耀。依此而论,穆斯林怀疑论者中最伟大的人物之一便是先知易卜拉欣,他以巧妙的方式瓦解了其族人的偶像崇拜,正如下列经文所述:

To be sure, skepticism is a negative, deconstructive exercise. Its purpose is to use rational argumentation to topple false idols so that the light of Truth has a chance to shine through. One of the greatest Muslim Skeptics then, in these terms, was Prophet Ibrahim who cleverly undermined the idolatry of his people, as related in the following verses:

《古兰经》6:75-80

Al-An’am (Q6:75-80)

易卜拉欣通过指向一颗星、月亮和太阳并说“这是我的主”，借用了其反对者的话语方式，以揭示他们信仰中的内在矛盾。

By pointing to a star, the moon, and the sun, saying, “This is my lord,” Ibrahim mirrored the discourse of his detractors in order to reveal the internal inconsistency of their beliefs.

穆斯林的思想史中充满了穆斯林怀疑论者，他们运用各种理性的策略，去评估、驳斥、批判并推翻他们认为危险或具有颠覆性的哲学。这是一门失传的艺术，今天的穆斯林理应热心地加以复兴，尤其是考虑到我们身处的思想环境，屡屡证明对我们的信仰（deen）充满敌意。正如萨耶迪纳·欧麦尔曾经反问道：“难道我们不是在真理之上吗？”（Alasna `ala al-haqq?）

Muslim intellectual history is full of Muslim Skeptics who employed all manner of rational stratagem to evaluate, undermine, critique, and overturn philosophies they deemed dangerous or subversive. This is a lost art Muslims today should be keen to revive, especially given that we find ourselves in an intellectual climate that has proved time and again to be hostile to our deen. As Sayyidina `Umar once asked, rhetorically, “Are we not on the Truth?” (Alasna `ala al-haqq?)

是时候让我们开始这样行动了。

It is time for us to start acting like it.