AFTER RETURNING from sunset prayers in the mosque next door, Khursheed Ahmed shoos away(挥手赶走) his all-male entourage to talk to a female journalist. The 71-year-old community leader is glum(闷闷不乐的). A law he spent months unsuccessfully campaigning against has put him in a quandary(处于两难境地). How, he wonders, can a person be both a God-fearing Muslim and a law-abiding Indian?(他想知道，一个人怎么能既是敬畏真主的穆斯林，又是守法的印度人？) “If you don’t follow sharia(伊斯兰教法), you are not a Muslim,” he says. But since January 2025 it has been illegal for Muslims in Mr Ahmed’s home state of Uttarakhand to obey many of their customary family laws.
从隔壁清真寺做完日落祈祷回来后，库尔希德·艾哈迈德挥手让他的男性随从们离开，以便与一名女记者交谈。这位71岁的社区领袖神情忧郁。他花了数月时间反对的一项法律未能成功，如今让他陷入两难境地。他想知道，一个人怎么能既是敬畏真主的穆斯林，又是守法的印度人？“如果你不遵守伊斯兰教法，你就不是穆斯林，”他说。但自2025年1月起，在艾哈迈德先生的家乡北阿坎德邦，穆斯林遵守许多传统家庭法律已属违法。
This is what awaits much of India. Uttarakhand, up in the Himalaya, was the first state in independent India to be subject to a uniform civil code (UCC), meant to apply to almost all its citizens regardless of creed.(位于喜马拉雅山区的北阿坎德邦是独立印度第一个实行统一民法典的邦，该法典旨在适用于几乎所有公民，不论其信仰。) The code aims to replace religion-based personal laws with a single rulebook for marriage, divorce, inheritance and adoption. So far this year, codes that are in essence(本质上) identical have been passed by legislators in the states of Assam, Gujarat and Madhya Pradesh, though none is yet in force(生效); another five states are planning to follow. If West Bengal passes its own law, as expected this month, close to 30m more Muslims will face Mr Ahmed’s dilemma.
这就是印度大部分地区将要面临的情况。位于喜马拉雅山区的北阿坎德邦是独立印度第一个实行统一民法典（UCC）的邦，该法典旨在适用于几乎所有公民，不论其信仰如何。该法典旨在用一部涵盖婚姻、离婚、继承和收养的统一规则手册取代基于宗教的个人法律。今年迄今，阿萨姆邦、古吉拉特邦和中央邦的立法者已通过了本质上相同的法典，尽管尚未生效；另有五个邦计划跟进。如果西孟加拉邦如预期那样在本月通过自己的法律，将有近3000万穆斯林面临艾哈迈德先生的困境。
All the states passing a UCC into law are ruled by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP), the Hindu-nationalist outfit(组织，团体) that runs the country and many of its states. It took over(接管) West Bengal after state elections in April. The BJP presents the new codes as a matter of universal human rights, in particular women’s rights. But look more closely and what is actually going on is a process of imposing on religious minorities the laws and customs that Hindus already follow.(但仔细审视，实际发生的是将印度教徒已经遵循的法律和习俗强加给宗教少数群体。)
所有将UCC立法的邦都由印度人民党（BJP）统治，该党是印度教民族主义组织，掌管着国家及其许多邦。在4月的邦选举后，它接管了西孟加拉邦。印度人民党将新法典描述为普遍人权问题，尤其是妇女权利。但仔细审视，实际发生的是将印度教徒已经遵循的法律和习俗强加给宗教少数群体。