AuthorElif Shafak
CountryTurkey
LanguageEnglish
GenreLiterary Fiction
PublisherPenguin Books
Publication date
March 2009
Pages354
AwardsPrix ALEF* - Mention Spéciale Littérature Etrangère
ISBN9780141047188

The Forty Rules of Love is a novel written by the Turkish author Elif Shafak,[1][2][3] Her interest in writing this book was influenced by the degree she received in Gender and Women’s Studies.[4] The book was published in March 2009.[5] It is about Maulana Jalal-Ud-Din, known as Rumi and his companion Shams Tabrizi.[6][7] This book explains how Shams transformed a scholar into a Sufi (mystic) through love.[8] More than 750,000 copies of this book were sold in Turkey and France.[9]

Synopsis

"A novel within a novel, The Forty Rules of Love tells two parallel stories that mirror each other across two very different cultures and seven intervening centuries."[10] It starts when a housewife, Ella, gets a book called Sweet Blasphemy for an appraisal.[11] This book is about a thirteenth century poet, Rumi, and his spiritual teacher, Shams.[10] The book presents Shams's Forty Love Rules at different intervals.[12][13] Sweet Blasphemy was structured in a way to focus on the five elements of nature: Water, Air, Earth, Fire and Void. The chapters in each section revealed a story in line with the nature of each element.[14] The story presented in the novel is based on "love and spirituality that explains what it means to follow your heart".[15]

The letter "b"

Every chapter of the book starts with letter "b".[11] It is because the secret of Quran lies in Surah Al-Fatiha and its spirit is contained in the phrase Bismillah ir Rehman ir Rahim (In the name of Allah, the most Beneficent and the most Merciful).[16] The first Arabic letter of the Bismillah has a dot below it that symbolizes the Universe as per Sufism thoughts.[17]

Reception

The Forty Rules of Love won Prix ALEF* - Mention Spéciale Littérature Etrangère.[18] It was also nominated for the 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.[18] On 5 November 2019 BBC News listed The Forty Rules of Love on its list of the 100 most influential novels. It was included in the "Love, Sex & Romance - February" category of Novels That Shaped Our World.[19][20]

References

  1. ↑ “Our Compass” Archived 2019-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, “International Herald Tribune”, November 27, 2013
  2. ↑ "Looking for God: Following the Path of Love","alif.id", October 13, 2019
  3. ↑ "Books of the week: From Stephen King's The Institute to Margaret Atwood's The Testaments, our picks","www.firstpost.com", September 16, 2019
  4. ↑ Safak, Elif; Chancy, Myriam J. A. (2003). "Migrations: A Meridians Interview with Elif Shafak". Meridians: Feminism, Race, Transnationalism. 4 (1): 55–85. doi:10.1353/mer.2004.0006. ISSN 1547-8424.
  5. ↑ “Analysis: The Forty Rules of Love” Archived 2019-08-03 at the Wayback Machine, “Analysis of Love”, 2010
  6. ↑ “The Forty Rules of Love – review” Archived 2016-09-13 at the Wayback Machine, “The Guardian”, December 5, 2014
  7. ↑ Rashid, Yamna."The Forty Rules of Love taught me What i know now, it's been my motivation, inspiration and has helped me become a better person and it holds a speshal place in my heart", "SHIFA KHAN (FUTURE BEST TIMESSELLER", June 1, 2017
  8. ↑ Kazim, Maisam. “Overview of Forty Rules of Love”, “Pamir Times”, March 3, 2018
  9. ↑ “Forty Rules Of Love by ELIF SHAFAK”, “lagazetteverdun”, November 29, 2016
  10. 1 2 “Elif Shafak” Archived 2018-08-22 at the Wayback Machine, “Literary Festivals UK”,
  11. 1 2 Alev Adil.“The Forty Rules of Love, By Elif Shafak” Archived 2019-08-03 at the Wayback Machine,“The Independent”, July 9, 2010
  12. ↑ “Sham’s of Tabriz’s 40 Rules of Love”, “The Vision Weekly”, November 4, 2011,
  13. ↑ Imran Ali Buth."The Forty Rules of Love","www.greaterkashmir.com", May 4, 2017
  14. ↑ Wahab, Momina (2020-07-26). "The Forty Rules of Love — Book Review". Medium. Retrieved 2022-12-01.
  15. ↑ "Five must-read books that help shape the way we think about the world","www.thenational.ae", June 7, 2019
  16. ↑ “Book Review: The forty Rules of Love by Elif Safak”, November 3, 2014
  17. ↑ Shweta. “Elif Shafak — Book Review of “40 Rules of Love”(Rumi & Shams of Tabriz )”, “Medium”, May 18, 2019
  18. 1 2 “The Forty Rules of Love Reader’s Guide”, “Penguin Random House”,
  19. ↑ "100 'most inspiring' novels revealed by BBC Arts". BBC News. 2019-11-05. Retrieved 2019-11-10. The reveal kickstarts the BBC's year-long celebration of literature.
  20. ↑ "The Novels That Shaped Our World: BBC reveals 100-strong list","www.thebookseller.com", November 5, 2019
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