“Sacred time is a "time out of time," when the community's sense of the sacred interrupts ordinary experiences of time” (Patheos.com).According to the Muslim conception God has not only created the world, but also supports everything that is going on in it now. “The Muslim calendar (based on the lunar year) dates from the emigration (hijrah) of the Prophet from Mecca to Medina in 622. Ramadan is the most sacred time in the Islam. Has a sacred significance and is part of the religion. His is month of the worship, the month in which the Qur'an was revealed, the month in which the evil forces are chained, the month of remission of sins. The post is held in order to honor and satisfy Allah and is intended to increase the piety, temper the inner world in the fight with their weaknesses and passions for the next year, not to overestimate the importance of the benefits, improve the attitude towards the people around. The entire month from sunrise to sunset is observed a strict fast ("Eid"), which implies a rejection of water, food and intimate relationships in the daytime (Encyclopedia Britannica).
Being absolutely transcendent and unknowable God gives people the signs of its presence on the other side. These signs include day and night, sun and moon, heaven and earth. It is worth mentioning that Sacred is not limited by any particular segment of the space, it is better to say that Sacral is referred to the whole space. No single place in the world can be more than others because God is for the east and for the west; whenever one goes he will see the God’s face. Prayer in Islam has a role of ongoing dialogue with God, in which man utters ritual formulas and God as the only true leader meets a particular event in his life. In addition, every action of a Muslim is ritually executed under the guidance of God. Such Muslim feature is explained by the fact that mosque is not perceived a priori holy place, according the Quran, direct speech of God. Consecration of the place (and object) can also be achieved by the mark of Koranic or divine names. “For Muslims, the Qur'an comes directly and literally from God” (Atheism.about.com).
When considering Islam (including developed sacred geography) it is necessary to separate the two traditions - Sunni and Shiite. The reason for the split of Islam to these two trends is the question of the legitimacy of spiritual domination (and hence secular power) in the community of Muslims, who gets up after the death of Muhammad in 632. Shiite doctrine states that the Prophet Muhammad, his daughter Fatima, her husband Ali and their descendants eleven downlink (so-called fourteen infallible) are the manifestation of Divine Light. They are endowed with supreme knowledge, grace and supernatural abilities. In addition to the supreme temporal power the imam as the sole authority in the interpretation of the Koran has the status of a spiritual master, the shepherd who leads the faithful people to comprehend the hidden meaning of things, the Executive Regulations of the Divine in the world of the unseen. This cosmic function of imams is co-Bring-lei sacred history known as Mashhad. One of the possible translations of the term mash-chad phrase can be a place of martyrdom. Faithful Shiites believed that praying next to the graves would bring them closer to God. The graves of the imams are considered to be the places of finding grace in the vicinity which are perceived with spiritual truth, and in this sense the idea of holiness and the cult of saints in Shiism is very close to of Orthodox or Christian one.
Works Cited
Atheism.about.com,. 'Islam And The Sacred: Sacred Texts, Places, And Times Sacred To Muslims'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
Encyclopedia Britannica,. 'Islam (Religion) :: The Hajj'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
Patheos.com,. 'Sacred Time'. N.p., 2014. Web. 11 Dec. 2014.
