在馬來西亞 撫摸小狗起爭議

KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia — When he organized a get-together for dog lovers and their canine-averse neighbors, Syed Azmi Alhabshi thought he was doing a public service.

吉隆坡，馬來西亞——賽義德·阿茲米·阿拉巴什(Syed Azmi Alhabshi)組織喜歡狗的人和他們討厭狗的鄰居們進行聚會，他覺得自己是在組織一場公益活動。

But after hundreds of people showed up to the event, billed as “I Want to Touch a Dog” on Facebook, and when pictures started circulating on the Internet of Muslim women in head scarves happily hugging dogs, Mr. Syed Azmi became an unwitting protagonist in the latest chapter of Malaysia’s culture wars.

但是沒想到上千人參加了那個活動，他們在Facebook上打出“我想摸狗”的宣傳語，戴頭巾的穆斯林女人開心擁抱小狗的照片開始在網上流傳，賽義德·阿茲米無意中成了馬來西亞文化鬥爭最新篇章的主角。

In the week since the event, Mr. Syed Azmi, a pharmacist, has received more than 3,000 messages on his phone, many of them hateful and a dozen of them threatening physical harm. The police advised him to stay at home.

賽義德·阿茲米是個藥劑師。在那個活動之後的一週裏，他收到了3000多條短信，其中很多是表達仇恨情緒，有十幾條是威脅對他進行人身傷害。警察建議他待在家裏。

Malaysia’s Muslim leaders, who cite Islamic scriptures stating that dogs are unclean, lashed out at him in the news media. “I feel the anger, and it is real,” he said in an interview.

馬來西亞的穆斯林領袖們引用伊斯蘭經文稱，狗是不乾淨的，在新聞媒體上猛烈抨擊他。“我非常真切地感受到他們的憤怒，”他在一次採訪中說。

Over the past two weeks, Muslim leaders in Malaysia have denounced Halloween as a “planned attack” on Islam and Oktoberfest parties as a public vice “the same as mass-promoted adultery.”

在過去兩週裏，馬來西亞的穆斯林領袖們將萬聖節斥爲對伊斯蘭教“有計劃的攻擊”，稱慕尼黑啤酒節是聚衆淫亂，“和大肆鼓動通姦是一樣的”。

The culture wars have waxed and waned in multicultural Malaysia in recent years as conservative Muslim groups have pushed back against what they describe as libidinous and ungodly Western influences in a country that has rapidly modernized and become more cosmopolitan.

近些年，在具有多元文化的馬來西亞，這樣的文化之爭此起彼伏，因爲保守的穆斯林團體開始反抗他們所謂的淫蕩、邪惡的西方文化對這個國家的影響。這個國家正在快速現代化，變得更具世界性。

The dispute over touching dogs has underlined the fault lines in what has increasingly become a country polarized between members of the Malay majority, who are overwhelmingly Muslim, and ethnic Chinese, Indians and other minorities, who are typically Christian, Hindu, Sikh and Buddhist.

摸狗爭議突顯了這個國家佔主體的馬來人和華裔、印度裔等少數民族之間的分裂，前者大多是穆斯林，後者大多信奉基督教、印度教、錫克教或佛教。

The dog controversy joins the decades-old disputes over the availability of pork, the imbibing of alcohol and the pressure on Muslim women to wear conservative clothing.

幾十年來，在圍繞供應豬肉、飲酒以及迫使穆斯林女人穿保守服裝等爭議之後，狗成爲最新的爭議對象。

Although many Muslims in other countries do not view touching dogs as forbidden, conservative Islamic groups here say the Shafie school of Islamic jurisprudence that they follow views dogs as unclean and requires the faithful to undergo a ritualistic wash if they come into contact with canines.

雖然其他國家的很多穆斯林並不把摸狗視爲禁忌，但是馬來西亞的保守伊斯蘭團體稱，他們追隨的伊斯蘭法系沙菲派(Shafie school)認爲狗不乾淨，要求信徒與犬類接觸後進行儀式清洗。

The Malaysian authorities described the “I Want to Touch a Dog” event as an offense to Islam. Othman Mustapha, the director general of the federal Islamic Development Department, which has the official mission of protecting the “purity of faith,” said the event was a challenge to the authority of religious leaders.

馬來西亞當局把“我想摸狗”活動稱爲對伊斯蘭教的冒犯。馬來西亞聯邦伊斯蘭發展局(Islamic Development Department)局長奧斯曼·穆斯塔法(Othman Mustapha)說，這個活動是對宗教領袖權威的挑戰。該局的官方使命是保護“信仰的純潔性”。

The religious authorities in Malaysia have the power to crack down on practices they view as going against Islam, but Muslim law is selectively enforced and highly politicized. Many Malaysian Muslims own dogs, drink alcohol in public and have very westernized lifestyles.

馬來西亞的官方宗教機構有權打擊他們認爲反伊斯蘭教的行爲，但是穆斯林法律只是被選擇性執行，具有強烈的政治性。在馬來西亞，很多穆斯林養狗，公開飲酒，生活方式很西化。

Criticism of the dog event has led to a backlash by a small but vocal group of moderate Muslims in the country who view the strictures of the religious authorities as oppressive.

對摸狗事件的批評導致該國雖小而有話語權的現代穆斯林羣體進行強烈反擊。他們認爲宗教當局的苛責是一種迫害。

“All we are getting these days is how to hate an ever-growing list of people and things,” Marina Mahathir, the daughter of a former prime minister and a leading liberal voice, wrote in a newspaper column published last week. “How much energy are we to spend on hate? And how does hating anything and everything make us happy and better Muslims?”

“如今我們聽到的都是如何去憎恨越來越多的人和事，”前總理的女兒、自由主義倡導者瑪麗娜·馬哈迪(Marina Mahathir)上週在報紙專欄上寫道，“我們還要在仇恨上花多少精力？仇恨一切怎麼可能讓我們變成快樂的、更好的穆斯林？”

Mr. Syed Azmi, the pharmacist, said he thought he had his bases covered. Before the event, he contacted and received acknowledgment from the state religious authorities.

賽義德·阿茲米說，他本以爲自己已經考慮得很周到了。在舉辦活動之前，他與國家宗教官方機構取得聯繫並獲得許可。

He also invited an Islamic scholar who showed Muslims how to conduct the ritual washing after they had touched the dogs.

他還邀請一位伊斯蘭學者向穆斯林們演示摸狗之後如何進行儀式清洗。

“I expected it to be in the news, but not to the point where people would get so angry,” said Mr. Syed Azmi, who is Muslim.

“我當時是期望這個活動能上新聞，但我沒想到人們會如此憤怒，”賽義德·阿茲米說。他也是一位穆斯林。