The Second Message of Islam

$35.00

In stock (can be backordered)

Category:

Description

Author: Mahmoud Mohamed Taha
Translated by: Abdullahi Ahmed An-Na’im
Publisher: Syracuse University Press
Year: 1996
Pages: 178
Printed: USA
ISBN: 0-8156-2705-X
Binding: Soft Cover
Book Condition: New
Weight: 290gr.
Description: Following the Prophets emigration from Mecca to Medina, the Meccan texts were repealed and the Medinese texts began to be revealed. The repealing of the Meccan texts did not mean that they were thrown away. In fact, the high moral precepts embodied in them, such as respect for the dignity of every human being as equals, care for others, love, etc … all continued to be exemplified in the model set by the Prophet’s life, who adhered in his “private” life to the grand Meccan texts. Of course, the Prophet as a leader of his nation continued to depend on the Medinese texts as the main source of all legislation and the laws promulgated by him.

The above mentioned situation resulting from the adherence of the Prophet, in his “private” life, to the Meccan texts, on the one hand, and the use of the Medinese texts as the basis for all social, political and economic legislation on the other, meant that two quite different levels of Islam, a level adhered to by the Prophet and another adhered to by the nation at large, were then coexistent. The former level was, indubitably, far more humane and advanced than the latter. That level based on the Meccan texts and exemplified by the Prophet’s life represents what we have called the Second Message of Islam.

The concept of evolving Islamic laws from the Medinese to the Meccan level is a very radical and new concept, never stated before in the history of Islamic thought. Indeed this concept represents a real breakaway for the New Islam Mission, which preaches the Second Message of Islam, from all traditional thinking in Islam, because it implies the repealing of the Medinese texts which have, hitherto, been the basis of all existing laws and legislation, as well as their replacement by the Meccan texts as the main source of all new laws and legislation which are going to supersede the existing ones.

The concept of evolving Islamic laws from Medinese to the Meccan level has many serious repercussions in all planes, political, economic as well as social. But it may be sufficient, in this context, to point out that the main driving force behind this evolution of Islamic laws is the realization of equality in all aspects of life, so as to construct a good society where democracy and socialism are reconciled, and where social equality prevails.

Additional information

Weight 0.290 kg