Sweet Blasphemy

The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Elifa Shafak, British and Turkish writer, made waves when her first novel made mention of the Armenian Genocide. This novel is much different very reconciliatory . The novel is all about love. Love is everything. The 40 rules were composed by the wandering Sufi Dervish, Shams of Tabriz. He was also the one who converted Muslim scholar Rumi to Sufism . The novel also deal with cross cultural relations. Ella Rubinstein the protagonists is a Middle Aged Jewish woman who is unsatisfied with her marriage to her husband dentist. Her friend and confidant is a Scottish gentleman who converted to Sufism.

Feeling the need for a change, Ella decides to take on job of reading republished novels for a publishing company before the books are published . The book she is reading is called “Sweet Blasphemy” The book is a noveliztion of how Rumi and Shams of Tabriz met. Ella is trapped in a loveless marriage . She never though love was important for a marriage but rather other things like stability and responsibility. The marriage seems to work but she is not satisfied. Her husband has numerous affairs. While getting absorbed in the reading she decides to send the author and email. This soon sets off a chain reaction of correspondences.

The story “Sweet Blasphemy “ starts with Shams of Tabriz receiving a dream that he is to find a companion and teach him the 40 rules of love. The dream guides him to Damascus where he stays at a Dervish lodge in Damascus waiting for word of the companion. Within time a letter arrives and Shams of Tabriz goes to Konya to meet Rumi.

The arrival os Shams caused quite an uproar. Dervishes are looked down upon by fundamentalist Muslims as heretics. Shams causes Rumi to change how he interacts with people and who he interacts with. He will cause Rumi. To gain and lose friends. Different parts of. this novel are told. Through different sets of eyes. Some parts are told through the eyes of Shams or Rumi but also Sulaymaniyah the drunk and desert rose the prostitute.

In the end everyone gets set on a different course. The ending will leave you saddened yet hopeful. I myself want to explore Sufism more closely

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