纪录片《大英博物馆世界简史》 046阿卜杜勒马立克金币(6)

And it appears on this coin. But this coin also tells us something else. If coins reflect the dominant¹ power in a society, it's clear that the dominant power in this empire is now not the emperor but the word of God. Portraiture² or figurative art has no place in the official documents of such a state. The tradition of placing the ruler on the coin, familiar across the Middle East since the days of Alexander, had been decisively abandoned. And the text-only coin remained the norm in all Islamic states until the First World War. Arabic, the language of God, inscribed³ on an Islamic coinage, became a fundamental tool for the integration⁴ and survival of the first Islamic state.

这也就是这枚硬币上的文字。此外，金币也表明，这一帝国的统治力量不是君王，而是真主。此后，帝国的官方文献上再也没有出现任何人像或写实艺术。 曾流行于整个中东地区的将帝王像置于货币上的传统始于—千年前的亚历山大时期，如今被废弃了。直到一战之前，这种只有文字的硬币形式 —直是伊斯兰世界的标准。而阿拉伯语，镌刻于货币之上的真主的语言，成为第一个伊斯兰王朝整合与生存的基本工具。

Abd al-Malik, Khalifah Allah, Deputy of God, Ninth Caliph and Ruler of the Faithful, died in 705. But the message proclaimed on his coins of a universal empire of faith still resonates strongly.

公元705年，阿卜杜勒马利克，这位真主使者的继承人、安拉的代理人、第九代哈里发和信徒的领路人去世了。但在这个以信仰为基础的帝国里，由他镌刻在货币上的信息至今仍影响深远。

Today there is no caliph-long claimed by the Turkish sultans, the office was abolished in 1924. In fact, a universally accepted caliph has always been a rare thing, but the dream of a single Islamic empire-a caliphate-remains potent⁵ in the modern Islamic world. We asked the social anthropologist⁶ Professor Madawi al-Rasheed to comment:

如今的世界上已没有哈里发了。这个头衔长期以来由土耳其的苏丹继承，1924正式废止。在历史上得到广泛承认的哈里发极少。但建立一个统一的哈里发帝国的梦想在现代的伊斯兰社会仍极有号召力。 我曾询问过社会人类学家马达维?拉西德对这一点的看法：

"Muslims today, at least some sections of the Muslim community worldwide, aspire⁷ to this ideal of the caliphate as the embodiment of the Muslim community.

今天的穆斯林，至少世界穆斯林社区中的某部分穆斯林，十分渴望哈里发国家的理想能实现于现实中的伊斯兰社会。

1 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。

2 portraiture   

n.肖像画法

参考例句：

• I am going to have my portraiture taken.我请人给自己画张肖像。
• The painting of beautiful women was another field of portraiture.人物画中的另一个领域是仕女画。

3 inscribed   

v.写，刻( inscribe的过去式和过去分词 )；内接

参考例句：

• His name was inscribed on the trophy. 他的名字刻在奖杯上。
• The names of the dead were inscribed on the wall. 死者的名字被刻在墙上。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 integration   

n.一体化，联合，结合

参考例句：

• We are working to bring about closer political integration in the EU.我们正在努力实现欧盟內部更加紧密的政治一体化。
• This was the greatest event in the annals of European integration.这是欧洲统一史上最重大的事件。

5 potent   

adj.强有力的，有权势的；有效力的

参考例句：

• The medicine had a potent effect on your disease.这药物对你的病疗效很大。
• We must account of his potent influence.我们必须考虑他的强有力的影响。

6 anthropologist   

n.人类学家，人类学者

参考例句：

• The lecturer is an anthropologist.这位讲师是人类学家。
• The anthropologist unearthed the skull of an ancient human at the site.人类学家在这个遗址挖掘出那块古人类的颅骨。

7 aspire   

vi.(to，after)渴望，追求，有志于

参考例句：

• Living together with you is what I aspire toward in my life.和你一起生活是我一生最大的愿望。
• I aspire to be an innovator not a follower.我迫切希望能变成个开创者而不是跟随者。