CAIRO – The McDonald’s here has golden arches as anywhere else in the world. The food is prepared the same assembly-line way, too. But there is an invisible, or more precisely, divine, element in bringing that burger to the plate that the uninitiated may not be prepared for.
開羅的麥當勞和世界各地的麥當勞一樣，有金黃色的拱形標記，也以相同的生產線方式準備食物。但這裡把漢堡放在盤子裡有個肉眼看不見的，或更精確地說，神聖的因素在裡面，未曾見識過的人也許會楞一下。
“Inshallah,” or “God willing,” the counterman said as he went to see about a burger without onions at the McDonald’s on the Alexandria Desert Road, 48 kilometers from the center of Cairo.
距開羅市中心48公里的亞歷山卓沙漠路上的麥當勞店裡，櫃台人員一邊準備不夾洋蔥的漢堡，一邊說：「Inshallah！」（意思是阿拉的旨意，如果阿拉應允。）
Any guidebook to Egypt alerts tourists to Egyptians’ frequent use of inshallah in discussing future events, a signal of their deep faith and belief that all events occur, or don’t occur, at God’s will. “See you tomorrow,” is almost always followed by a smile and, “inshallah.”
每一本有關埃及的旅遊導覽書都會提醒觀光客，埃及人在討論未來的事情時，經常把「如果阿拉應允」掛在嘴上，代表他們信仰虔誠，並且相信凡事發生或不發生，都是阿拉的旨意。「明天見」，之後總會送上一個微笑和「如果阿拉應允」。
But the phrase is now attached to the answer for any question, past, present and future. What’s your name, for example, might be answered, “Muhammad, inshallah.”
然而，現在回答所有問題時，都會附上這個用語，不論談的是過去、現在或未來。比方說，請問尊姓大名？對方也許會回答：「穆罕默德，如果阿拉應允。」
“I say to them, ‘You are already Muhammad or you are going to be Muhammad?’ ” said Attiat el-Abnoudy, a documentary filmmaker in Cairo.
開羅的紀錄片導演阿提亞特•艾爾阿布努迪說：「我會問他們，你的名字是穆罕默德，還是你將取名穆罕默德？」
Inshallah has become the linguistic equivalent of the head scarf on women and the prayer bump, the spot where worshipers press their foreheads into the ground during prayers, on men. It has become a public display of piety and fashion, a symbol of faith and the times.
「如果阿拉應允」，已成為語言學上的女人頭巾和男人的禱告印記，亦即男人在禱告時以前額磕地留下的腫塊。這個用語已成為虔誠和時尚的公開展現，是信仰和跟得上時代的象徵。
“Now inshallah is used in a much broader way than 20 years ago,” said the Egyptian playwright Aly Salem. “We always used to say inshallah in relation to plans we were going to do in the future. Now it is part of the appearance of piety.”
埃及劇作家艾里•薩蘭姆說：「現在『如果阿拉應允』比20年用得廣泛得多。過去我們總是用在未來要做的計畫，現在是表現虔誠的一種方式。」
The starting point for inshallah is faith, but just like the increasing popularity of the head scarf and the prayer bump, its new status reflects the rising tide of religion around the region. Observance, if not necessarily piety, is on the rise, as Islam becomes for many the cornerstone of identity.
「如果阿拉應允」的出發點是信仰，但就像頭巾和禱告印記的日益流行，這個用語的新地位反映此地區宗教的抬頭。伊斯蘭教成為許多人認同的基礎，奉行宗教儀式正當道，就算未必虔誠。
“Over the past three decades, the role of religion has been expanded in everything in our lives,”’ said Ghada Shahbendar, a political activist who studied linguistics at American University in Cairo.
在開羅美國大學研究語言學的政治活躍人士加達．夏班達說：「過去30年來，宗教在我們生活的各個方面，分量都更重了。」
Samer Fathi, 40, has a small kiosk that sells chips and cigarettes and phone cards. He was asked for a 100-unit phone card and responded almost absent-mindedly “inshallah,” as he flipped through the stack to find one.
40歲的撒默•法西有一個小的販售亭，賣洋芋片、香菸和電話卡。有人向他買100單位的電話卡，他在貨品中翻找電話卡時，「如果阿拉應允」也脫口而出。
At 19 Ismael Street the elevator door opened.
伊斯梅爾街19號的電梯門開了。
“Going down?”
「下樓嗎？」
“Inshallah,” a passenger replied.
一位乘客回答說：「如果阿拉應允。」
But it is not just faith in the celestial that has people invoking God. It is also, at least for some, a lack of faith in the earthbound rulers who run the place. People here are tired – Of the rising prices and the eroding wages, of the traffic, of the corruption, of the sense that it is every man for himself.
人們祈求真主庇祐，不單單是出於對天國的信仰。至少對某些人而言，這也是因為對治理這塊地方的世俗統治者缺乏信心。這裡的人厭倦了飛漲的物價、縮水的薪酬、交通、官員貪腐，還有人人得自力救濟之感。
“In this place, when something works, or you want something to work, you thank God, because it’s certainly not the government who is going to help you,” said Sherif Issa, 48, a taxi driver in Cairo. “It’s because everything is going in the wrong direction – who can we look up to except God?”
48歲的開羅計程車司機夏里夫•艾沙說：「在這裡，當某事進行順利，或你希望如此時，你感謝上帝，因為對你伸出援手的人，肯定不是政府。事事都不對勁，除了上帝以外，我們還能指望誰？」
That Mr. Issa is a Christian is evidence that the use of inshallah is not just a phenomenon of Egypt’s Muslims. “It doesn’t matter whether you’re a Christian or a Muslim,” he said. “I’m going to take you to your house, arriving there in a decent amount of time is already a miracle. Of course I say inshallah!”
艾沙是基督徒，這證明使用「如果阿拉應允」這個用語，並不是埃及穆斯林的專利。他說：「你是基督徒或穆斯林都無所謂，我都會把你載到你家，能夠不花上太久就抵達便算是奇蹟了，當然我要說，如果上帝應允。」
原文參照
http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/20/world/middleeast/20inshallah.html
http://www.iht.com/articles/2008/06/19/africa/20inshallah.php
2008-07-03/聯合報/AA1版/國際運動 田思怡 原文請見7月1日紐時周報三版下
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