Is it ever happened to you that you start reading a book and wished you never finished reading this book! I thoroughly enjoyed reading this book. Yes, it is about Love as the title suggests but it has all the Sufi feels. If you know and appreciate Rumi, and his concept of love, grab this book, you will love it. This book shows the journey of the Islamic Scholar Rumi to the World Famous Poet Rumi. This book shows you two different world and two different time zone, and different cultures, the story of Rumi and The Shams of Tabriz from the thirteen century and Ella and Aziz Z. Zahara from twenty first century, but what connects both the world is searching the answers about love.
About Author
Elif Shafak is a Turkish-British novelist, essayist, public speaker, political scientist and activist. Her book have prominently featured the city of Istanbul, and dealt with themes of Eastern and Western culture, roles of women in society, and human rights issues. Her books have been translated into 55 languages, and she has emerged as “Turkey’s leading female novelist” and known worldwide.
Shafak holds a PhD in political science. She has advocated for women’s rights, minority rights and freedom to speech. Certain challenging topics addressed in her novels, such as child abuse and the Armenian genocide, have led to legal action from authorities in Turkey that prompted her to emigrate to the United Kingdom.
About Book
This book is the amalgamation of knowledge and experiences, like two rivers are meeting without getting lost into each other but streaming parallel, side by side, sharing their stories with each other, knowing that they both are different but their only dream is to meet the vast, dreamy ocean. Companionship what they seek not the similarity.
Rumi – the popular Islamic Scholar had the vast knowledge and thousands of disciples met The Shams of Tabriz – a wandering dervish with unconventional ways and heretical proclamations, who had seen both the world, best and the worst, met different people, known different cultures and religions. It was Rumi’s power over words and Shams’ spiritual mystical experiences as a Sufi created the magic the world is witnessing for centuries. Their companionship transformed Rumi from mainstream cleric to a world famous and passionate poet, advocate of love, committed mystic. Rumi broke free himself from all the conventional rules and stood for spirituality, love and opened his heart to people of all backgrounds.
Ella thinks that her life is perfect (dentist husband, three children, large Victorian busy house in Rhode Island, and everything was sorted like car insurance, retirement plans, college savings, joint bank accounts, in addition two enviable apartments in Boston and in Rhode Island) until she meets Aziz through his book about Rumi and Shams and emails. Aziz regards himself as a Sufi and photographer who wanders the world just like Shams. Ella was always looking for something in her life but didn’t know what it was and when she finally found it, she broke herself free from all the prejudices.
This book is all about searching answers about love. Knowing, witnessing, accepting, surrendering in love, Also knowing that love has not only happy side but it gives you pain too and asks for patience and whoever takes the road of love, always comes out matured. how you see love maybe different from others, but love shows you who you are! It is like coming home to yourself. Love is the reason. Love is the goal. Love simply is, pure, easy, untainted, and nonnegotiable. This is very mystical book about love and gives the deep insight about love whereas these days many people think that people are easily replaceable and love means only goodtimes and happy side. The curious souls like me who always want to know the deep meaning of love, get yourself this book, you will be thrilled!
Quoting my favorite line from the book.
“No matter who we are or where we live, deep inside we all feel incomplete. It’s like we have lost something and need to get it back. Just what that something is, most of us never finds out. And of those who do, even fewer manage to go out and look for it.”
“How we see God is a direct reflection of how we see ourselves. If god brings to mind mostly fear and blame, it means there is too much fear and blame welled inside us. if we see God as full of love and compassion, so are we.”
“Don’t judge the way other people connect to God, To each his own way and his own prayer. God does not take us at our word. He looks deep into our hearts. It is not the ceremonies or rituals that make a difference, but whether our heart are sufficiently pure or not.”
“Intellect ties people in knots and risks nothing, but love dissolves all tangles and risk everything. Intellect is always cautious and advises, ‘Beware too much ecstasy’, whereas love says, ‘Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!’ Intellect does not easily break down, whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble. But treasures are hidden among ruins. A broken heart hides treasures.”
“A Sufi is thankful not only for what he has been given but also for all that he has been denied.”
“Patience does not mean to passively endure. It means to be farsighted enough to trust the end result of a process. What does patience mean? It means to look at thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn, to know that time is needed for a crescent moon to become full.”
“Just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong, Love can only be perfected in pain.”
“Try not to resist the change that come your way. Instead let life live through you. And do not worry that your life is turning upside down. How do you know that the side you are used to is better than the one to come?”
“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 first step let everything do what it naturally does and the rest will follow. Do not go with the flow. Be the flow.”
“Find the one who will be your mirror.”
“Love cannot be explained. It can only be experienced. Love cannot be explained, yet it explains all.”
“Destiny doesn’t mean that your life has been strictly determined. Your destiny is the level where you will play your tune. You might not change your instrument but how well to play is entirely in your hands.”
“Faith and love turn human beings into heroes.”
“Numbing the pain is not the same as healing it.”
“We don’t need to hunt for love outside ourselves, All we need to do is to eliminate the barriers inside that keep us away from love.”
“The light of the sun isn’t overshadowed by the blindness of the eyes of the denier, the one who refuses to see.”
“Beauty is in the eyes of the beholder, Everybody will watch the same dance, but each will see it differently. So why worry? Some will like it, some won’t.”
“Love is the water of life. And a lover is a soul of fire! The universe turns differently when fire loves water.”
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