2011.07.29

根据一些史料的记载，1805年，托马斯·杰斐逊在白宫主持了第一个开斋晚宴。

In 1805, Thomas Jefferson hosted what some consider the first iftar at the White House.

2010年，奥巴马总统在白宫举行的开斋晚宴上说：“莱麦丹斋月（Ramadan）令人想起伊斯兰一直是美国的重要组成部分。来自突尼斯的第一位穆斯林驻美大使受到杰斐逊总统的款待，他在200多年前因为莱麦丹斋月的缘故为客人在日落时分安排了一场晚宴——使得它成为在白宫举行的第一个为人所知的开斋晚宴。”

“Ramadan,” said President Obama at a White House iftar dinner in 2010, “is a reminder that Islam has always been a part of America. The first Muslim ambassador to the United States, from Tunisia, was hosted by President Jefferson, who arranged a sunset dinner for his guest because it was Ramadan — making it the first known iftar at the White House, more than 200 years ago.”

 

奥巴马总统提及的晚宴发生在1805年12月9日，杰斐逊的客人是西迪·索利曼·梅利梅利（Sidi Soliman Mellimelli）。他是突尼斯大公派来的特使，在华盛顿住了六个月。梅利梅利出使美国的背景是巴巴里（Barbary）诸国对美国的商船实行海盗袭击以及美国扣留试图突破对的黎波里实行封锁的突尼斯船只而引起的激烈争端。

The dinner to which the president referred took place on December 9, 1805, and Jefferson’s guest was Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, an envoy from the bey (chieftain) of Tunis who spent six months in Washington. The context of Mellimelli’s visit to the United States was a tense dispute over piracy on American merchant vessels by the Barbary states and the capture of Tunisian vessels trying to run an American blockade of Tripoli.

梅利梅利在莱麦丹斋月期间抵达美国，杰斐逊邀请这位特使到总统官邸作客，把用餐时间从通常的下午 3 时 30 分特意改为“正好在日落时分”，以表示对客人宗教习惯的尊重。

Mellimelli arrived during Ramadan, and Jefferson, when he invited the envoy to the president’s house, changed the meal time from the usual hour of 3:30 p.m. to “precisely at sunset” in deference to the man’s religious obligation.

 

杰斐逊对于伊斯兰教的了解有可能来自于他对自然法则所作的法学研究。1765年，杰斐逊购买了两卷《古兰经》的英语译本，收藏在他的私人图书馆中。他的私人藏书后来为1815年建成的现代美国国会图书馆奠定了基础。

The dinner to which the president referred took place on December 9, 1805, and Jefferson’s guest Jefferson’s knowledge of Islam likely came from his legal studies of natural law. In 1765, Jefferson purchased a two-volume English translation of the Quran for his personal library, a collection that became, in 1815, the basis of the modern Library of Congress.

 

美国国务院国际信息局 http://iipdigital.usembassy.gov/iipdigital-mgck/index.html