Marshall G. S. Hodgson《伊斯蘭文明》；阿拉伯 Kalima 計畫

阿拉伯世界一度是人類文明的寶庫，近幾個世紀以來卻淪為閉塞落後的代名詞。阿拉伯聯合大公國王室有鑑於此，出資推動「文字」（Kalima）計畫（ www.kalima.ae ），每年精選100部世界各國經典名著，迻譯為信達雅的阿拉伯文，嘉惠全球的阿拉伯文讀者。　計畫負責人、埃及企業家卡林．奈吉說：「世界各地的民眾都能夠接觸到豐富的翻譯著作，為什麼阿拉伯世界不能？」根據聯合國的調查報告，每年出版的阿拉伯文譯作平均只有330種，僅是希臘文譯作的五分之一。從9世紀以來的一千多年間，10萬種著作被翻譯為阿拉伯文，也只相當於西班牙文譯作一年的出版量。　「文字」計畫已選出第一批 100部經典，其中有兩部中文經典：唐朝詩人杜甫的詩集與諾貝爾獎得主高行健的文藝評論集《文學的理由》。這批經典譯作中有幾部已完成，包括物理學大師霍金的《時間簡史》、村上春樹的《海邊的卡夫卡》、德國思想家哈伯瑪斯的《人性的未來》等。

伊斯蘭文明：伊斯蘭的古典時期(上卷)

　　穆罕默德於西元七世紀創立伊斯蘭教，歷經數百年，伊斯蘭發展出遠遠超越宗教範疇的世界性文明，觸及歐亞非三大洲，更融合波斯、閃族、突厥、蒙古、印度、甚至不同宗教的文化傳統。

　　《伊斯蘭文明》縝密刻畫伊斯蘭歷史的重大發展，一覽浩瀚的世界性文明發展。上卷「伊斯蘭的古典時期」描述穆罕默德建立伊斯蘭的過程，以及穆斯林政治體制從初期到伍麥亞朝、阿巴斯朝的繁榮發展。中卷「中期伊斯蘭的擴張」講述十到十六世紀伊斯蘭文明如何傳播至歐亞非三大洲，而其中的阿拉伯帝國與蒙古帝國的影響力更是遍布世界各地。下卷「火藥帝國與現代伊斯蘭」則是關於薩法維波斯帝國、帖木兒帝國與歐斯曼土耳其帝國帶來的二次繁盛，以及二十世紀穆斯林對抗西方，獨立自決意識如何興起。

　　讀完上卷，你會知道……

　　★穆斯林朝同一方向禮拜的習俗源自於猶太教，伊斯蘭其實是猶太教、基督宗教等一神教傳統的革新版本。
　　★穆罕默德不只是伊斯蘭教的創立者，更改革當時阿拉伯半島的社會制度，提出全新的價值觀念。
　　★為了改善當時特權階級中情婦與私生子受歧視的狀況，伊斯蘭建立一夫多妻制，規定丈夫須公平對待每位妻子，所有子女都擁有繼承權。
　　★什葉派與順尼派分裂的開端，伊斯蘭社群中為何衍生出不同的政治與宗教主張。
　　★繽紛燦爛的伊斯蘭藝術融合了許多不同的文化，更反映出當時的社會狀態。

　　歷史學界權威著作中的遺珠之憾－
　　領先薩依德的《東方主義》十餘年，
　　歷史學家哈濟生領先世界的世界史鉅作。

　　哈濟生堅信，理解任何歷史發展都應該從整個大歷史的角度切入，才能看見真正的歷史全貌，這樣的歷史哲學在《伊斯蘭文明》中表露無遺，他推翻了全球文明是以西方為中心的迷思，闡述伊斯蘭文明參與現代文明的重要角色。

　　《伊斯蘭文明》的寫作比薩依德的《東方主義》早了十餘年，但哈濟生已經在書中以歷史為佐證，批判東方主義和西方霸權的自滿，更讓人驚豔的是，這樣具有前瞻性的觀點竟然出自一位西方學者之筆，更顯現他深刻且敏銳的思考與反省。

　　哈濟生還不只描寫朝代政權的輪替，也關注背景脈絡、社會階級、世俗文化、文學藝術等面向，他筆下的伊斯蘭文明鮮活立體、充滿哲思與魅力。

　　《伊斯蘭文明》娓娓道來數百年的文明歷史進程，但其中所隱含的觀點卻遠遠超越歷史，幾乎預示了現代西方與伊斯蘭世界之間對立的激化，即使已經成書四十年仍歷久彌新。

馬歇爾‧哈濟生（Marshall G. S. Hodgson, 1922─1968）

　　美國重要的歷史學家，曾任美國芝加哥大學社會思想委員會主席。專精於伊斯蘭研究，並於芝加哥大學教授相關學科。他所撰寫的《伊斯蘭文明》在1975年才由友人彙整完成，出版後立即被視為該領域最具權威的經典之一，作者也因此被譽為美國最具影響力的伊斯蘭史學家。

　　哈濟生也於世界歷史領域耕耘不倦，曾撰寫多篇關於比較史學的短文，在1993年被劍橋大學出版社集結成冊，出版《世界歷史的再思考：歐洲、伊斯蘭及世界歷史研究文集》（Rethinking World History: Essays on Europe, Islam and World History）一書，哈濟生生前世界歷史的研究成果終為世人所見。

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America for Arabs -- In Translation

Which of our books and plays would tell them the most about us?

By TERRY TEACHOUT
December 8, 2007; Page W18

Gillian Gibbons, a British schoolteacher working in Sudan, was recently thrown in jail and later deported for the crime of insulting Islam by allowing her 7-year-old charges to name a teddy bear Mohammed. Meanwhile, a United Arab Emirates-based project called Kalima ("word" in Arabic) has announced plans to translate hundreds of foreign books into Arabic and distribute them throughout the Middle East. The venture, which has official government backing, was inspired by a United Nations report that pointed out that more books are translated into Spanish each year than were translated into Arabic in the past 1,000 years. "The rest of the world enjoys a wealth of domestic and translated writing," founder Karim Nagy told a reporter for the Guardian. "Why should the Arab world be any different?"

I dare say that Ms. Gibbons could help answer that question.

You can see a list of Kalima's first 100 titles at the project's Web site, www.kalima.ae. It is, like most such lists, a mix of the brilliantly appropriate (Eric Hoffer's "The True Believer: Thoughts on the Nature of Mass Movements") and the inexplicably quirky (Astrid Lindgren's "Pippi Longstocking"). For the most part I found it impressive, though I couldn't help but wonder what conclusions Arabs might draw about us after consulting a bookshelf containing the works of, among others, Aristophanes, Dante, Montaigne, Galileo, George Eliot, John Maynard Keynes, François Truffaut, Jacques Derrida, Umberto Eco, Stephen Hawking and Peter Drucker.

I also asked myself a related question: What books would I send to an Arab -- or any other foreigner -- who wanted to know what America and its people are like?

Kalima's list of books is multicultural by design, since its purpose is to give Arabs access to the widest possible range of information about the world beyond their borders. But I'd venture to guess that the average Arab reader is especially ill-informed when it comes to the everyday realities of life in this country, and it strikes me that it would be of great value to the rest of the world if a well-chosen shelf of books about America were to be put into the hands of a large number of Arabs -- which is, needless to say, a very big if.

Which works would I pick? Some, like "The Federalist," Mark Twain's "Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" and Alexis de Tocqueville's "Democracy in America," are so obvious that they scarcely require mentioning -- though none of these three titles, as it happens, is currently scheduled for distribution by Kalima. But where might you go from there? I drew up a short list of candidates prior to looking at Kalima's Web site and was pleased to see that one of my authors, Isaac Bashevis Singer, also made their list. (I chose "Enemies, a Love Story," while Kalima opted for "Collected Stories.") Here are my other choices:

- Willa Cather, "O Pioneers!" Not only has there never been a more evocative portrayal of the American pioneer existence, but "O Pioneers!" is by and about a strong, independent-minded woman -- something that I suspect many Arabs of both sexes would find edifying.

- James M. McPherson, "Battle Cry of Freedom: The Civil War Era." This Pulitzer-winning one-volume chronicle of the American Civil War is an excitingly written account of the pivotal moment in our post-revolutionary history. What could be more inspiring to modern-day Middle Easterners than a book about a Western nation that fought -- and survived -- a bloody war to reunite itself?

- Thornton Wilder, "Our Town." The Stage Manager who narrates Wilder's play about life in an imaginary New Hampshire village remarks at one point that a copy of the script will be placed in a time capsule in the cornerstone of a new bank so that future generations will have a record of "the way we were: in our growing up and in our marrying and in our living and in our dying." "Our Town" says more about these humble things than any other work of American literary art.

- F. Scott Fitzgerald, "The Great Gatsby," and Richard Wright, "Black Boy." No portrait of America in all its proliferating complexity can claim to be complete without showing our people at their ugliest. These two books do that, albeit in very different ways: Fitzgerald's richly lyrical novella focuses on the dark side of the American national character; Wright's scalding memoir, on the savagery of racism.

- Edwin O'Connor, "The Last Hurrah." How does politics really work in a democracy? This 1956 novel about a big-city mayoral election is a rousing piece of old-fashioned storytelling that also gives its readers an up-close look at the American political process. Two additional novels that cover other pieces of the same turf, Robert Penn Warren's "All the King's Men" and Allen Drury's "Advise and Consent," are no less valuable to foreigners seeking to understand how America rules (and misrules) itself.

In the long run, I doubt that we could do more to help shape Middle Eastern perceptions about America for the better than by translating these books into Arabic, publishing them in pocket-size paperback editions, and distributing them throughout the Arab world by hook, crook, camel, backpack or parachute.

Mr. Teachout, the Journal's drama critic, writes "Sightings" every other Saturday and blogs about the arts at www.terryteachout.com. Write to him at tteachout@wsj.com.