Books: "Five Times of Prayer" by Sufi Author Offers Metaphors of Spiritual Ascent

"Five Times of Prayer" is a mystical Sufi explanation of the five daily prayers performed under the umbrella known as Islam, the path to purity, the surrender to the light.

Five Times of Prayer is a mystical Sufi explanation of the five daily prayers performed under the umbrella known as Islam, the path to purity, the surrender to the light. Poet and novelist Sharon Marcus offers her own ecstatic verification of the mysteries embedded in these five prayers, each prayer represented by one section of he book length poem.

As a map to the metaphors of spiritual accent, the five sections simultaneously reflect stages of revelation for the world, for the body of the soul and divine knowledge. A contemplation which is both personal and anecdotal takes the poet through an understanding of her connection to God, to M.R. Bawa Muhaiyaddeen, her Sufi Master, and to an understanding of her life in prayer.

Excerpt:

We come now to the final prayer, the season of a single day, a stark    intercalary night set between the years to make our time Come out right, to release us from the cycles, the circles which make    up our birth and our death, the path from here called sufiyyat Leading to the final revelation, the ultimate disclosure behind the veil    of flesh a pure wind sweeping through the open space in Your Presence, with Your clarity illuminating the long, dark night, brilliant    comets hurtling towards the point from all directions, beloved Lord, My only friend who has given me everything, has shown me everything,    what stands before You now is no other than You, no different from You, what stands before You now was brought here by the luminous sheikh,    the qutb for this age whom You with infinite grace sent to find me.

Toronto based poet and novelist Sharon Marcus has written nine books of poetry, four novels, a collection of short stories, three works of non-fiction and a scattering of miscellaneous pieces, book reviews and the like. For the most part, the poetry is lyrical, ecstatic, searching for revelation, always with a passionate obligation to guard the gates of language, to protect rhythm and preserve substance; each of the four novels investigates a different form, all very lyrical, all incorporating extensive use of verse one way or another, the fourth novel in alternating sections of verse and prose; the non-fictional works, whether political or personal, describe events too odd for fiction.

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