征服与被征服——解读“舒欧比亚”

Conquering or being Conquered—the Interpretation of "Shu'ubiyah"

阿拉伯民族及其文化,实际上是由作为征服者的阿拉伯半岛居民与广大被征服地区皈依伊斯兰教的土著居民长期融合的产物。而"舒欧比亚"乃是这个民族融合体中被征服者对征服者特权地位所作出的反应。这种反应在世界史上又是一种罕见的"例外":被征服者不仅接受了征服者的伊斯兰教信仰,而且还接受了后者的语言,尽管前者的文化要比后者先进得多。这也就凸现出伊斯兰教与阿拉伯语本身的某些"优点"。

Historically, the formation of Arab nation and its culture is a result of the mixing of ancient Arab conquerors from Arab Peninsular and the local peoples who used to live on the land which was later occupied by Arabs. The emergence of “Shu＇ubiyah” can be treated as a reaction made by the conquered peoples against the privilege of the conquering people, although they had merged with one another into a united nation; however this reaction-Shu＇ubiyah-4s a unique exception in the world history, in that the conquered peoples not only took up their conquerors＇ religion-Islam, but also accept their language-Arabic, in spite that the conquered peoples held a superior civilization.The uniqueness of Shu＇ubiyah may illustrate the excellence of Islam and Arabic.