It's such a beautiful book. A wonderful tale of love and spiritual for Ella (and us of course), based on Rumi and Shams Tabrizi relationship and stories. It's a journey through the lives of ordinary people. I enjoyed it and could relate to many issues that arouse. One of my favourites and I love Rumi's poems anyway :)
Like Shams said, "As I went trough all these experiences, I began to compile a list that wasn't written down in any book, only described in my soul. This personal list I called The Basic Principles of the Itinerant Mystics of Islam. To me these were universal, dependable, and invariable as the laws of nature. The Forty Rules of the Religion of Love, which could be attained through love and love only."
Here are some of the rules that I find quite beautiful, just thought I'd share with you:
# 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. Be thankful! It's easy to be thankful when all is well. 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 means? It means to look at the thorn and see the rose, to look at the night and see the dawn. Impatience means to be so shortsighted as to not be able to see the outcome. The lovers of God never run out of patience, for they know that time is needed for the crescent moon to become full.
# For a new Self to be born, hardship is necessary, just as clay needs to go through intense heat to become strong.
# Try not to resist the changes 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?
# You can purify your body through abstinence and fasting, but only love will purify your heart.
# 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 had wanted everyone to be the same, He would have made it so. Therefore, disrespecting differences and imposing your thoughts on others is tantamount to disrespecting God's holy scheme.
# 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.
# The universe is one being. Everything and everyone is interconnected through and invisible web of stories. Practice compassion.
# If you keep breaking other people's heart, whatever religious duty you perform is no good.
# 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 tome to love and a time to die.
# 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...divisions only lead to more divisions. Love has no labels, no definitions. It is what it is, pure and simple. Love is the water of life and a lover is a soul of fire. The universe turns differently when fire loves water."
And one of my favorite Rumi's quote:
"Not christian or jew or muslim, not hindu, buddhist, sufi or zen....not any religion or cultural system....I am not the east nor of the west...my place is placeless, a trace of the traceless....love..."
Go find the book and read the whole story :)
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