When wistful nostalgia, longing and restlessness meets the mystical canon of Sufi, the result is an explosive catharsis of human vulnerability, vicissitudes and victory. Bestselling Turkish British novelist Elif Shafik’s latest work is a thoughtfully crafted juxtaposition of metaphysics, love and human relationships. A slim, but arresting book, Forty Rules of Love, expertly intersects the controllables with the unpredictable, meshes inevitability with resolve and coalesces courage and pain.
The book begins by introducing to the reader, its reluctant protagonist. Ella Rubinstein of Northampton, Massachusetts, a mother of three, and the wife of a prominent dentist, David, who believes that fidelity is an attribute that is good-to-have instead of must-to-possess, leads a non-descript life whose edifice is built on sacrifices. Prioritising her family over her own desires, Ella spends her time laying out exquisite dishes for the family, attending Fusion Cooking Clubs and taking her aging dog, spirt out for walks. Ignoring her husband’s adultery, Ella becomes a tolerable and even loving automaton compartmentalising her life to suit the needs of her spouse and offspring.
Until she is asked by her editor (at the prodding of David, Ella takes up a part time job of reading and reviewing books), to review a peculiarly titled book “Sweet Blasphemy.” The work of a debut author named Aziz Zahara, Sweet Blasphemy is set in thirteenth Century Konya, part of then Asia Manor. It was in Konya that the famed dervish, Shams-I Tabrīzī or Shams al-Din Mohammad (1185–1248), met and cemented his seminal relationship with Mewlānā Jalāl ad-Dīn Muhammad Balkhi, also known as Rumi. Under the able stewardship of Shams, Rumi would go on become the greatest poet in the Sufi canon and one of the most widely read poets of all time. However, the friendship between the two intellectual souls created rancour amongst the followers of Rumi, leading to the sudden disappearance of Shams from the life of Rumi.
Ella immerses herself in her reading of “Sweet Blasphemy,” and in the process undergoes an unfathomable metamorphosis. Just as Rumi’s latent potential was extricated by Shams, Aziz Zahara, succeeds beyond imagination in infusing a steely determination in Ella to reclaim her life, to pursue with neither fear nor trepidation, what rightfully belongs to her, and has always belonged to her. Buoyed by the exploits of Rumi & Shams, Ella tentatively begins corresponding with Aziz. As the stalactites and stalagmites of initial reticence slowly melt, Ella finds herself impossibly and irrepressibly drawn towards Aziz.
A free spirt in every sense of the term, Aziz is a nomadic seeker of the truth. Squalor and splendour mean the same to him as he remains untouched by ostentation and fame. Every correspondence between Ella and Aziz, while bridging the gap between Ella’s insecurity and confidence, also, unwittingly, yet inevitably drives a wedge in her relationship with David.
Forty Rules of Love is a compelling primer on Sufiism and its tenets. Personally, the book had me scampering to pick up books on Shams. Ms. Shafak’s concise list of bibliographical sources at the end of the book immensely helped in my endeavour. Oscillating between modern day Northampton and ancient Asia Minor, Ms. Shafak weaves a wonderful tapestry of emotions that blur the notions of time. The past serves as a mirror to the present, which in turn acts as a harbinger of the future. Future turns out to be a replication of the past in terms of wisdom gleaned. Shams’ extraordinary opposition to received wisdom and introduction of contrarian thinking, perceived by his detractors as downright skullduggery, contains important lessons that are relevant to this day. Yet another reason driving me to get works dealing with the life and times of Shams.
Forty Rules of Love – simple yet succinct, plain yet profound, exhilarating yet ennobling.
