Rating: 
Summary: Enter this sacred space
Review: This is definitely one of the best books on Salat that I have ever seen. I read it cover to cover without setting it down. Barks and Green have put together some of the most beautiful images with some of the most beautiful words and come through keeping all the sacredness of the prayers. They cover all the essentials of the Muslim prayers, explaining in very accessible terms the hows of what to do. But more than that, they also make the prayer palpable to even those that may never have done it. By combining art and the poetry of Mevlana Jelaluddin Rumi they create the atmosphere of the connection with God that one feels during the deepest salat. I think that almost anyone, after reading this book will at least want to try out salat for a few days. Maybe even make a strong comitment to doing it for a long time. But even if not, after reading this book, more people will understand the heart of Islam, the prayer we repeat at least 5 times every day and what really is going on inside, what depth of feeling is during this prayer. Recomended without reservation to anyone.
Rating:
Summary: The Heart of the Matter
Review: This slender book contains profound insights into the nature and essence of prayer. Based largely on the teachings of Shaikh Bawa Muhaiyaddeen (? -1986), a Sufi Shaikh from Sri Lanka who lived and taught from Philadelphia for the last 15 years of his life.... While written in the context of Muslim prayers, it's relevant to prayer in all religions. It is also an excellent guide to salat - ritual prayer in Islam. The book explains in detail (with pictures) the various steps in salat. But more than that it relates the times of prayer and steps within prayer to spiritual development and awareness. And it is here that the real value of the book comes forth. Using this as a base, the authors then describe a meditative prayer exercise - similar to Vedic "follow the breath" meditations. In short this is not an academic description of prayer or theory but an invitation to readers to embark on the path. The only negative - and this is a very very minor quibble - is with some of the transliterations of Arabic and grammatical comments.
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