Hello again.. You know that I am going to talk about a book in this post (spot on!!) but there is more to it.. Let me tell you something about myself and my interest in Sufism (which was 0 , on a scale to from 1- 10) ‘before’ I read the book . My husband and my brother (who by the way are ‘brothers from different mothers’) have to be blamed for it. All I have over heard them talking is about Sufis and Mystics and Poets and Poetry.. so much so that I kind of got an overdose of it 🙂 On a more serious note, I don’t seem to understand why I never took interest in their conversations and tagged them as boring. But this book has changed it all for me.

A very dear friend of mine, got me this book as a present. It sat in my bookshelf for about a month and I never touched it.. as I was reading another book (which I will tell you about in a later post and unlike her I like to read one book at a time :P) But this weekend I picked it up and I couldn’t put it down!!! Given my interest level in Sufism and Mysticism, I thought it will take me ages to read this one.. BUT I finished reading it within 24 hours. I was hooked! When was the last time you read a book that you read while you ate, cooked, helped your kids with their homework and even took it to the bathroom with you? (instead of your smart phone :P). This book did that to me – Go get your copy and read it!

Two things that I loved about the book, the content of course and the way it is written.. two different stories interwoven beautifully.. But more than anything the Forty Rules of Shams of Tabriz about Life and Love and his way of interpreting our religion. Its all about the ‘Love of the Divine’.. and NOT ‘Fear of God’. I have no words to describe it BUT its a MUST read! I think I will read it again and again and fall in love with it over and over again.

A few of the highlights of the book that has touched me deeply…

“Hell is in the 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. Every time we hate, envy or fight someone, we tumble straight into the fires of hell.”

Is there a worse hell than the torment a man suffers when he knows deep down in his conscience that he has done something wrong, awfully wrong? Ask that man. He will you what hell is. Is there a better paradise than the bliss that descends upon a man at those rare moments in life when the bolts of the universe fly open and he feels in possession of all the secrets of eternity and fully united with God? Ask that man. He will tell you what heaven is.

How beautiful is this !!! I love it! There are lots and lots of such beautiful things that has touched my soul..  Another one I loved…

“You see, God’s love is an endless ocean, and human beings strive to get as much water as they can out of it. But at the end of the day, how much water we each get depends on the size of our cups. Some people have barrels, some buckets , while some others have only got bowls.”

And few others….

To read more about the author and the book .. visit Elif Shafak’s Official Website.