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The idea of a garden has always been central to Islam for reasons that are at once hopeful, because nature is so beautiful, and deeply melancholy because life itself can never be made perfect.
花园的想法一直是伊斯兰教的核心理念，因为自然是如此美丽，也因为生活本身永远不可能完美，所以花园是充满希望的。
For Islam, the world we inhabit will always be mired in khati a or sin.
对于伊斯兰教来说，我们居住的世界将永远深陷罪恶之中。
No human enterprise or institution can ever be without significant degrees of dhanb or wrong-doing: jealousy, stubbornness, rage and lack of forgiveness predominate.
人类的任何企业或机构都不可能不犯严重错误：嫉妒、固执、愤怒和缺乏宽恕占据主导地位。
Only in the next life can we hope to escape the irritation and the agony; only in jannah or paradise, will we be assured of true contentment.
只有在来世，我们才有希望摆脱烦恼和痛苦；只有在天堂，我们才能得到真正的满足。
In paradise, to listen to the Quran, there be flowing rivers, flowers, incorruptible waters and unchangeable milk, golden goblets, ‘virgin companions of equal age’ and rows of cushions set out in the balmy shade of fruit trees.
在天堂里，听着《古兰经》，有流淌的河流、鲜花、清廉的水、不变的牛奶、金色的高脚杯、同龄的女性伴侣，以及在温暖的果树树荫下摆放的一排排垫子。
Yet because this might all be a long way off, Islam recommends an unusual technique to prevent us from losing our poise and despairing: we should become bustani or gardeners.
然而，因为这一切可能还有很长的路要走，伊斯兰教推荐了一种不同寻常的技巧，以防止我们失去镇定和绝望：我们应该成为园丁。
The enlightened should redirect their frustrations with the state of humanity towards the construction of a hadiqa or garden which can, within its limited circumference, with due modesty, be endowed with many of the qualities of the eventual garden of paradise.
开悟的人应该把他们对人类现状的失望转向建造一个花园，可以在有限的花园圆周内，以应有的谦虚，被赋予最终天堂花园的许多品质。
Our garden should have flowing water, some reflecting pools, symmetrical flower beds, fruit trees and places to sit.
我们的花园应该有流水、倒影池、对称的花坛、果树和休憩的地方。
Everywhere where Muslim civilisation spread, gardens developed along with it and in the drier regions,
在穆斯林文明传播的地方，花园也随之发展起来。
where nothing would grow, flowers and trees were represented on carpets,
在干燥的地区，什么都无法生长，鲜花和树木就被铺在地毯上。
which functioned as miniature mobile gardens that could be carried on the back of a camel.
地毯的作用就像小型的移动花园，可以放在骆驼背上。
When the Muslims reached Southern Spain, the climate allowed them to create pieces of horticulture which astonish and seduce us to this day.
当穆斯林到达西班牙南部时，那里的气候使他们能够创造出时至今日仍令我们震惊和着迷的园艺作品。
A telling observation about gardening is that almost everyone over the age of sixty-five is concerned with it, and almost no one in their late teens has ever evinced the slightest interest in it.
关于园艺的一项生动的观察表明，几乎所有65岁以上的人都对园艺感兴趣，几乎没有一个十几岁的人对园艺表现出丝毫的兴趣。
The difference isn’t coincidental.
这种区别不是巧合。
A person’s enthusiasm for gardening is inversely correlated to their degrees of hope for life in general.
一般来说，一个人对园艺的热情与他们对生活的希望程度成反比。
The more one believes that the whole of existence can be rendered perfect, that love and marriage can be idyllic, that our careers can reward us materially and honour us creatively,
一个人越是相信生活可以变得完美，爱情和婚姻可以如田园诗般一样，我们的事业可以给我们物质上的回报，在创作上给我们荣誉，
the less time we will have for beds of laurel or thyme, lavender or rosemary.
我们就越没有时间睡在有着月桂、百里香、薰衣草或迷迭香图案的床上。
Why would we let such minor interventions detain us when far greater perfection is within reach?
当完美触手可及时，我们为什么要让这些微不足道的干预阻碍我们呢?
But a few decades on, most of our dreams are liable to have taken a substantial hit, much of what we put our faith in professionally and romantically will have failed,
但几十年后，我们的大多数梦想都可能遭受重大打击，我们在事业和爱情上的很多信念都将破灭，
at which point we might be ready to look with different, and significantly more sympathetic eyes, at the consolations offered by cyprus trees and myrtle hedges, geraniums and lilies of the valley.
到那时，我们可能已经准备好用不同的、明显更有同情心的眼睛来看待塞浦路斯树、桃金娘树篱、天竺葵和山谷里的百合花所提供的安慰了。
No longer will gardening be a petty distraction from a mighty destiny, rather a shelter from gusts and squalls of despair.
园艺将不再是从巨大的命运中分散注意力的琐碎事情，而是躲避绝望的阵风和咆哮的避难所。
Islam is appropriately wise in its ambitions.
伊斯兰教的理想是充满智慧的。
It doesn’t tell its followers to plough themselves a farm, nor does it advise them to focus on a window box.
伊斯兰教没有告诉信徒去耕种自己的农场，也没有建议他们专注于一个窗口盒子。
The scale is carefully calibrated: neither too big to mire us in unmanageable expense and bureaucracy nor too small to humiliate and sadden us.
仔细斟酌了规模大小：既不会大到让我们的开支无法控制、陷入官僚主义之中，也不会小到让我们蒙羞和感到难过。
The garden becomes a perfect home for our remaining pleasures in a troubled world;
花园成为我们在纷乱的世界中享受剩余乐趣的完美家园；
it’s where we can repair to contemplate islands of beauty once we have come to know and sorrowfully navigated oceans of pain.
一旦我们了解了世界、悲伤地航行在痛苦的海洋中，我们就可以在花园里进行修复、凝视着美丽的岛屿。
