| Italic Title: | The Forty Rules Of Love is more important for humanity. |
| Author: | Elif Shafak |
| Orig Lang Code: | en |
| Country: | Turkey |
| Language: | English |
| Genre: | Literary Fiction |
| Publisher: | Penguin Books |
| Pub Date: | March 2009 |
| Pages: | 354 |
| Awards: | Prix ALEF* - Mention Spéciale Littérature Etrangère |
| Isbn: | 9780141047188 |
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]
"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." It starts when a housewife, Ella, gets a book called Sweet Blasphemy for an appraisal. This book is about a thirteenth century poet, Shams Tabrizi, who was the spiritual teacher to Rumi. The book presents Shams's Forty Love Rules at different intervals.[10] [11] 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.[12] The story presented in the novel is based on "love and spirituality that explains what it means to follow your heart".[13]
Every chapter of the book starts with letter "b". 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).[14] The first Arabic letter of the Bismillah has a dot below it that symbolizes the Universe as per Sufism thoughts.[15]
According to Book Marks, the book received "pan" reviews based on four critic reviews, with one being "positive" and three being "pan".[16]
The Forty Rules of Love won Prix ALEF* - Mention Spéciale Littérature Etrangère. It was also nominated for the 2012 International IMPAC Dublin Literary Award. 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.[17]