The First Message of Islam
On the First Message of Islam, based on the Medinese Quranic texts, the Prophet founded, in Medina, the first Islamic regime. That regime was a great revolution which radically transformed the way of life in the Arabian Peninsula and, later on, in other parts of the world. Indeed, that regime had done a great deal to ameliorate the terrible conditions under which men, women and children were living. For instance, it had strictly prohibited infanticide which was a widespread practice amongst the Arabs who used to murder their infant daughters; instituted alms-giving into a compulsory religious rite so as to improve the economic conditions of the poor and needy; enjoined the Prophet to counsel with his people but left him fully free as to whether to accept or reject their counsel; and improved the lot of women in comparison with the conditions under which they lived before the advent of Islam.
But despite all those achievements, the First Message of Islam, based on the Medinese texts, was not the final word of Islam, because it did not go all the way to realize the principles of economic, political and social equality. Indeed, with all due respect, the legislation and laws belonging to the First Message of Islam were neither socialist or democratic, because socialism and democracy were, then, neither popular demands, nor within the mental abilities or material resources of the day. Furthermore the First Message discriminated, for reasons to be sought in history, between men and women on the basis of creed, sex, etc...
So in this age of ours, when men everywhere aspire to establish a socialistic, democratic society where social equality prevails, the First Message of Islam fall short of these aspirations, a thing felt by all the intelligent sections in the Islamic communities, though denied by the old, decaying, so-called “religious” circles. The failure of the First Message of Islam to satisfy the needs and aspirations of modern man does not mean the end of Islam. It simply means that it is time to start expounding the principles of the Second Message of Islam so as to evolve Islamic laws to the level where they meet the needs and demands of modern man, and as to equip him with the individual method of successfully coping with his inner problems and contradictions to attain absolute individual freedom, therefore living in eternal bliss.
