Jabir ibn Abdullah quotes the Prophet (peace be upon him) as saying: “I have been given five privileges which were not given to anyone before me: I have been supported by fear traveling a month ahead of me; the earth has been assigned to me as a place of worship and a source of purification.
“Anyone from my community may pray wherever he is when prayer is due. War gains have been made lawful to me while they were not made lawful to anyone before. I have been allowed to intercede on behalf of my followers. Prophets before me used to be sent to their own local communities while I am sent to all mankind.” (Related by Al-Bukhari).
The Prophet outlines these five privileges, acknowledging God’s favors and expressing his gratitude. He is in no way boasting about them. He is also highlighting them to his community so that they will remain grateful to God for them. The first privilege is that the Prophet was supported with fear being struck into the hearts of his enemies.
A question arises here: Is this privilege special for the Prophet only or extended to his community in later generations? There is no clear indication given by the Prophet on this point.
Many scholars are of the view that it is special for the Prophet only, but some of them say that it applies to the Muslim community in all generations, provided that it adheres to Islam in all its affairs.
The second privilege concerns prayer, which is an essential element in all divine religions. The Prophet says: “There is no goodness in a religion that does not include prayer.”
The Prophet stresses here the fact that Muslims offer their prayers anywhere and can use the earth for dry ablution, if they have no water.
This is an important privilege because earlier prophets had to offer their prayers in their temples or special places of worship. We all make use of this privilege all the time.
We conduct our congregational prayers in mosques, as well as in our places of work, schools, colleges or at home.
A Muslim who works all day long in an office or a factory where there are hundreds of employees who are non-Muslims can easily take a few minutes to offer his prayers at his place of work, without disrupting his work.
If water is not available, we can use the concession of dry ablution, using plain earth in a symbolic gesture that makes our prayers valid.
Having said that, we should remember that there are clearly outlined exceptions. Prayers cannot be offered in graveyards, on rubbish heaps, in slaughter houses, camel stables, on the open road, in bathrooms, or in some other particular places. These are well defined, even though there are differences among schools of thought concerning some of them.
We will be discussing the other three privileges next week, God willing.
