Islam and the "Sacred and Profane"

Within most religions there is a distinction between good and bad, holy and secular. Specifically in Christianity and Judaism, there are specific evil beings, such as Satan and hell, and specific holy places, such as the cross of Jesus or the western wall. According to Armstrong, this distinction, in reference to Eliade's book of the same name, represents the dichotomy of the "sacred and the profane"(Armstrong 221). Within these religions, these beings and places are intrinsically special and are set apart from normal day to day life. However, in Islam, the prophet Mohammed makes it clear that this distinction does not and should not exist. Mohammed emphasizes that there is "no intrinsic evil, " and that " all space was sacred and no one location was holier than another." Muslims believe that because all things originated from God, that they are all holy, or at least have the potential to become holy when “the final day comes”, even stating that Satan would be forgiven and reunited with their God. (Armstrong 221). This obviously violates Eliade’s statement that the sacred and profane, are not only two separate entities throughout history and especially religion, but that they are essential to the religious person (Eliade 10). 

While reading this passage, I initially believed that this merging of the sacred and profane within Islam acted as a counterargument to Eliade; that Islam in some way acted as an exception the separation of the profane and sacred. However, I soon realized that Islam may in fact further prove Eliade’s ideas, not counter them. Armstrong later notes that in the creation of Islam, Mohammed realizes that humans “need symbols on which to focus.”  (Armstrong 221). While Mohammed knows that in the Islam faith, there is no such thing as a sacred space, he still acknowledges that humans at a base level need something to focus their spiritual energy. As a result, the religion emphasizes the need to create a separation of the profane and sacred, and thus the three sacred centers of the Islamic faith were created. The fact that even religious texts and the stories of prophets such as Mohammed understand that humans generally are unable to separate their secular and spiritual lives only further verifies Eliade’s theory of the sacred and profane. 

Works Cited

Armstrong, Karen. Jerusalem. Ballantine Books, 29 Apr. 1997.

Mircea Eliade. Mystic Stories : The Sacred and the Profane. Boulder, East European Monographs, In Cooperation With Editura Minerva, Bucharest ; New York, 1992.