Forty Rules Of Love - Book Review.

“How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. If we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.” 

 

Full of poetry, companionship, friendship and heartbreak, French born Turkish author, Elif Shafak, takes us on a soul awakening journey in her novel Forty Rules Of Love. Novel starts off with the story of a women named Ella, who’s about to be 40 soon. Ella is living a boring life. With no major changes in life, Ella is a dedicated housewife. Until she decides to work for a literary agency and is given a manuscript to read. That is where her life takes a turn and she dives into the world of sufism.  The manuscript is a novel based on 13th century poet Rumi and his companion Shah Shams Of Tabriz written by A.z Zahara, the novel takes us through the journey of their companionship. Beginning with how Shah Shams Of Tabriz had a vision of his death, and decides its time he finds himself a companion and delivers his knowledge. Fast forwarding to when he is in Baghdad he hears of this spiritual scholar Mawlana Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. Commonly known as Rumi, residing in Turkey. Shams travels miles and finally reaches Konya, Turkey and meets with Rumi. They both instantly become extremely fond of each other. And create such a marvelous bond of friendship, the world remembers it for centuries. 

                A philosopher met a dervish one day. And they instantly hit it off. The two talked for days on   end, completing each other's sentences. Finally when they parted company, the philosopher reported of the conversation, 'All that I know, he sees.'

Next the sufi reported his account: 'All that I see, he knows.'

On the other hand, the more Ella read this novel the more she felt disconnected with her life and she became extremely interested in the person behind this amazing write up. So she wrote to A.z zahara and their friendship started off. The more Ella got to know A.Z Zahara the more she found similarities between Shah Shams Of Tabriz and him.

Often I come across people who read this novel and praise Rumi but let's not forget our wandering darvish Shah Shams Of Tabriz who was the reason Rumi became a sufi and a poet, today known across the globe as the best poet the history has ever seen.  though Rumi was always a poet but he never knew, till the hearbreaking separation with Shams Tabriz broke him into one. Shams states in his book 

Rumi thinks he can never be a poet yet there's a poet in him. And a fabulous one. Now that poet is being revealed.

The novel 40 Rules Of  Love is so intriguing no one feels bored at any point. And the fact it jumps from one time line to another, from the contemporary world to the 13th century, makes the reader stick to it like a magnet. I personally can not count how many times I've read this novel and every time I read it I find a deeper meaning to it, as if I almost skipped some part of it the last time I read it. 

There's so much I can write about this novel. But I'll leave it just so you guys can read it and find out what it is all about. The novel is so well written that I can not give it 5 stars. It deserves all the stars in the galaxy.