Jumia Books The Forty Rules Of Love By Elif Shafak, Relationships

"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."[9] It starts when a housewife, Ella, gets a book called Sweet Blasphemy for an appraisal.[10] This book is about a thirteenth century poet, Rumi, and his spiritual teacher, Shams.[9] The book presents Shams's Forty Love Rules at different intervals.[11][12] The story presented in the novel is basically on "love and spirituality that explains what it means to follow your heart".[13]

Every chapter of the book starts with letter "b".[10] 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]