The document summarizes Elif Shafak's novel "The Forty Rules of Love". It includes information about the author Elif Shafak, characters in the novel like Rumi and Shams, and summaries some of the 40 rules discussed in the novel, including rules about seeing God as love and compassion, finding God in others' hearts, and how love can purify the heart.

1. FORTY RULES OF LOVE

2. GROUP MEMBERS
 MUSHARAF HUSAIN
 NOOR FATIMA
 REHAN RASHEED
 SALMAN RASHEED
 19-NTU-PE-1029
 19-NTU-PE-1030
 19-NTU-PE-1031
 19-NTU-PE-1032

3. TITLE:
The FortyRulesofLove

4. ELIF SHAFAK (an award winning novelist)
 Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British novelist, public speaker, essayist,
academic and women’s right activist. She was born in 25 December 1971
in Strasbourg, France. She is the most widely read women writer in
Turkey. She is also a political scientist. She holds a degree in
International Relations, a master’s degree in Gender and women’s
study and a PhD in Political Science and Political Philosophy.
 She has publish nineteen books out of which eleven
are novels. Her books have been published in more
then forty40 countries. Shafak’s first novel was
Pinhan (The Mystic) was awarded the Rumi Prizein
1998.
 Her famous novel The forty Rules of Love was the
most famous novel sold 750 copies.

5. Basic Information
 The Forty Rules of Love is the most famous novel of Elif Shafak .
The book was published in March 2009.It was an all time best-seller
in Turkey and in France awarded with the Prix ALEF Mention Special
Literature Entrangere .It is also nominated for 2012 International
IMPAC Dublin Literary Award.
 In her poetic novel, Elif Shafak captures two parallel journeys
towards Love: set in modern times and another in the thirteen-
century, between Sufi masters Rumi and Shams ofTabriz.
 The intersection between Rumi and Shams reveal important lessons
about self, selflessness, and Divine submission.

6. Characters
o Ella
o Shams
o Rumi
o Hasan (the Begger)
o SultanWalad
o Suleiman
o Kimya (sham’s wife)
o Desert Rose (the Harlot)
o Aziz

7.  Ella Rubenstein is forty years old and unhappily married when she
takes a job as a reader for a literary agent. Her first assignment is
to read on Sweet Blasphemy, a novel written by Aziz Zahara.
 Ella is mesmerized by his tale of Shams's search for Rumi and the
dervish's role in transforming the successful but unhappy cleric
into a committed mystic, and advocate of love. She is also taken
with Shams's lessons, or rules, that offer insight into an ancient
philosophy based on the unity of all people and religions, and the
presence of love in each and every one of us. As she reads on, she
realizes that Rumi's story mirrors her own and that Zahara like
Shams has come to set her free.

8. Forty Rules of Love
 First Rule:
How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If God
brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it mean there is too much fear and
blame inside us. If we see God full of love and compassion, so are we.
 Second Rule:
The Path to the Trust is the labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your
heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Knowing your ego will lead to you
to the knowledge of God.
 Third Rule:
Each and every reader comprehends the Holy Qur’an on a different level in
tandem with the depth of hid understanding.
 Fourth Rule:
You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe,
because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue, or church. But if
you are still need of knowing him then find him in the heart of a true love

9.  Fifth Rule:
Intellect and love are made of different materials. Intellection ties people in
knots and risks nothing, but love dissolve all tangles and risks everything.
Intellect is always cautious and advises, Beware too much ecstasy,
“whereas love says, “Oh, never mind! Take the plunge, “Intellect does not
easily breakdown, whereas love can easily reduce itself to rubble. But
treasures are hidden among ruins. A broken heart hides treasures.
 Sixth Rule:
Most of the problems of the world stem from simple misunderstanding.
Don’t take words at face value. When you step into the zone of love,
language as we know it becomes obsolete. That which can’t be put into
words can be grasped through silence.
 Seventh Rule:
Loneliness and solitude are two different things. When you are lonely, it
is easy to delude yourself into believing that you are on right path.
Solitude is better for us;as it means being alone without feeling lonely.
 Eighth Rule:
Whatever happens in your life, no matter how troubling things might
seem, do not enter the neighborhood of despair. Even when all doors
remain closed, God will open up a new path only for you.

10.  Ninth Rule:
Patience doesn’t mean to passively endure. It mean to be farsighted
enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It
means to look at the thorn and seethe rose, to look at the night and see
the dawn.
 Tenth Rule:
East, West, South, or north makes little difference. No matter what your
destination, just be sure to make every journy a journy within .If you travel
within, you’ll travel the whole wide world and beyond.
 Eleventh Rule:
The midwife knows that when there is no pain, the way for the baby and
the mother can’t give birth. Likewise for a new Self to be born, hardship is
necessary. Love can only be perfect in pain.
 Twelfth Rule:
The quest for Love changes us. There is no seeker among those who
search for Love who has not matured on the way. The moment you start
looking for Love, you start to change within and without.

11.  Thirteenth Rule:
There are more fake gurus and false teachers in this world than the
number of stars in the visible universe. Don’t confuse power-driven, self-
centered people with true mentors. A genius spiritual master will not direct
your attention to himself and will not expect absolute obedience or utter
admiration from you, but instead will help you to appreciate and admire
your inner self.
 Fourteenth Rule:
Try not to resist the change that come your way. Instead let life live through
you. And don’t worry that your life is turning upside down.
 Fifteenth Rule:
God is busy with the completion of your work, both outwardly and inwardly.
He is fully occupied with you. Every human being is a work in progress that
is slowly but inexorably moving toward perfection. God deals with each of
us separately because humanity is a fine art of skilled penmanship where
every single dot is equally important for the entire picture.
 Sixteenth Rule:
It’s easy to love a perfect God, unblemished and infallible that He is. What
is for more difficult is to love fellow human beings with all their
imperfection and defects. Remember , one can only know what one is
capable of loving.

12.  Seventeenth Rule:
Real filth is the one inside. The rest simply washes off. There is only one type
of dirt that can’t be cleansed with pure waters, and that is stain of hatred and
bigotry contaminating the soul. You can purify your body through abstinence
and fasting, but only love will purify your heart.
 Eighteenth Rule:
Everything you can see around is present within you in varying degrees.
Therefore, don’t look for Sheitan outside yourself either. The devil is not extra
ordinary force that attacks from without. It is an ordinary voice within.
 Nineteenth Rule:
If you want to change the way others treat you, you should first change the
way you treat yourself. Unless you learn to love yourself, fully and sincerely,
there is no way you can be loved.
 Twentieth Rule:
Fret not where the road will take you. Instead concentrate on the first step.
That’s the hardest part and that’s what you are responsible for. Once you take
that step let everything do what is naturally does and the rest will follow. Do
not go with the flow. Be the flow.

13.  Twenty first Rule:
We were all created in His image , and yet we were each created different and
unique. No two people are alike. No two hearts beat to the same rhythm. If God
wanted everyone to be the same, He would have made it so.
 Twenty second Rule:
When a true lover of God goes into a tavern, the tavern become his chamber of
prayer, but when a wine bibber goes into same chamber, it becomes his tavern.
In everything we do, it is our heart that make the difference, not our outer
appearances.
 Twenty third Rule:
Life is a temporary loan, and this world is nothing but a sketchy imitation of
Reality. Only children will mistake a toy for the real thing. And yet human beings
either become infatuated with the toy or disrespectfully break it and throw it
aside. In life stay away from all extremities, for they will destroy your inner
balance.
 Twenty fourth Rule:
The human being has a unique place among God’s creation. “I breathed into
him of My Spirit,” God says. Each and everyone of us without exception is
designed to be God’s delegate on earth. Ask yourself, just how often do you
behave like a delegate, if you ever do so?

14.  Twenty fifth Rule:
Hell is here and now. So is heaven. Quit worrying about hell or dreaming
about heaven, as they are both present inside this very moment. Every
time we fall in love, we ascend to heaven. Everytime we hate, envy, or fight
someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell.
 Twenty sixth Rule:
The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected
through an invisible web of stories. Whether we are aware of it or not, we
all are in silence conversation. Do no harm. Practice compassion.
 Twenty seventh Rule:
This world is like a snowy mountain that echoes your voice. Whatever you
speak, good or evil, will somehow come to you.
 Twenty eighth Rule:
The past is an interpretation. The future is an illusion. The world doesn’t
move through time as if it were a straight line, proceeding from the past to
the future. Instead time moves through and within us, in endless spirals.

15.  Twenty ninth Rule:
Destiny doesn’t mean that your life has been strictly predetermined.
Therefore, to leave everything to fate and to not actively contribute to
the music of the universe is a sign of sheer ignorance. The music of
the universe is all pervading and it is composed on forty different
levels. Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune. You
might not change your instrument but how well you play is entirely in
your hands.
 Thirties Rule:
The true Sufi is such that even he is unjustly accused, attacked, and
condemned from all sides, he patiently endures, uttering not a single
bad word about any of his critics. A Sufi never apportions blame.
 Thirty first Rule:
If you want to strengthen your faith, you will need to soften inside. For
your faith to be rock solid, your heat need to be as soft as a feather.
 Thirty second Rule:
Nothing should stand between yourself and God. Not imams,
priests, rabbis, or any other custodians of moral or religion leadership.
Not spiritual masters, not even your faith. Believe in your values and
your rules, but never load them on others. If you keep breaking
other people’s heart, whatever religious duty you perform is no
good.

16.  Thirty third Rule:
While everyone in this world strive to get somewhere and become someone ,
only to leave it all behind after death, you aim for the supreme stage of
nothingness. Live this life as light and empty as the number zero.
 Thirty fourth Rule:
Submission doesn’t mean being weak or passive. It leads to neither fatalism
or capitulation. Just the opposite. True power resides in submission – a
power that comes from within. Those who submit to the divine essence of
life will live in unperturbed tranquility and peace.
 Thirty fifth Rule:
In this world, it is not similarities or regularities that take us a step forward,
but blunt opposite. And all the opposite in the universe are present within
each and everyone of us.
 Thirty sixth Rule:
This world is erected upon the principle of reciprocity. Neither a drop of
kindness nor a speak of evil will remain unreciprocated. Fear not the plot s,
deceptions, or tickets of other people. If somebody is setting a trap,
remember, so is God.

17.  Thirty seventh Rule:
God is a meticulous clockmaker. So precise is His order that everything on
earth happens in its own time. Neither a minute late nor a minute early. And
for everyone without exception, the clock works accurately. For each there
is a time to love and a time to die.
 Thirty eighth Rule:
It is never late to ask yourself, “Am I ready to change within?” Even if a
single day in your life is the same as the day before, it surely is a pity.
There is only one way to be born into a new life: to die before death.
 Thirty ninth Rule:
While the parts change, the whole always remain the same. For every thief
who departs this world, a new one is born. And every decent person who
passes away is replaced by a new one.
 Forties Rule:
A life without love is of no account. Don’t ask yourself what kind of love
you should seek, spiritual or material, divine or mundane, Eastern or
Western. Division only lead to more divisions.

18.  Love has no labels, no definition. It is
what it is, pure or simple. Love is the
water of life.
 And a lover is a soul of fire! The
universe turns differently when fires
loves water.

19.  Conclusion:
I think this book act as a torchbearer in our
life and one of his golden rules tell us to be
nonconformist that is do not go with the flow
be the flow. It shows us the path of love, real
love, love for humanity that all mankind
craves in their lives.