The Elevation in Sanctity of al-Aqsa and al-Quds

Abstract

The existing research literature in the field of religion and in related disciplines points to a historical and contemporary process of sanctification of places, but in almost no instance does the literature address the conditions in which a holy site’s status is elevated to a higher position on the scale of sanctity, as has occurred with Jerusalem. Emile Durkheim made a dichotomous distinction between “sacred” and “profane” in religious life in general. He maintained that “if religious life is to develop, a sacred place must be prepared for it, one from which profane life is excluded… [the] institution of temples and sanctuaries arise from this.”¹ Perhaps, Durkheim’s contribution to the question of what is a sacred place is based on his approach to the sacred as something that comes from the human and from society and is superimposed on specific geographical properties.² However, a study by Dawn Mari Hayes of medieval churches in Europe found that mundane and profane life was an integral reality of Christian sacred places.³