Touched by Shams, Transformed by Rumi: My Emotional Journey with The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

A Soul-Stirring Book Review: The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak

“Every true love and friendship is a story of unexpected transformation.”

Some books entertain. Some inform. But once in a while, a book comes along that changes you — piece by piece, word by word, thought by thought. The Forty Rules of Love by Elif Shafak is one such book. It doesn’t merely tell a story; it holds your heart gently and then cracks it open — so light can enter.

A Journey Within, I picked up this book on an ordinary day, not knowing it would be anything but ordinary. What began as a tale about a middle-aged woman named Ella Rubinstein turned into a deep, emotional excavation of my own beliefs — about love, faith, companionship, and the silence we live with when our souls are not truly heard.

Ella’s quiet life — a life of routine, resignation, and emotional detachment — felt painfully familiar. She receives a manuscript titled Sweet Blasphemy for review, and as she reads it, we too are pulled into the enchanting story of Rumi and Shams of Tabriz, set in the 13th century.

And that’s where the magic begins.

Shams and the Forty Rules, through the voice of the wandering dervish Shams, we are gifted the forty rules of love — not as commandments, but as soft, unflinching truths that invite us to look within. His presence in Rumi’s life awakens a fire so transformative that it turns the scholar into a mystic, a poet, a lover of God and humanity. Their bond is not just spiritual — it is raw, beautiful, painful, and real.

Each rule made me pause. Some stung. Some healed. But all of them spoke to that quiet place inside us where we’ve buried our own longings, fears, and unlived truths.

The Layers of Love, this book isn’t just about romantic love. It’s about the kind of love that shatters ego, love that dares to break you open so you can be reborn. It’s about surrender, faith, companionship, divine connection — and the lonely, courageous path to self-discovery.

The parallel timelines — Ella’s awakening and Rumi’s transformation — echo across centuries, reminding us that the human heart hasn’t changed much. We still crave meaning. We still yearn for truth. We still hide from love — and ache for it all the same.

Tears Between the Lines, what makes this book so emotional is not just the story, but the mirror it holds up to your own life. I found myself weeping — not because something sad happened, but because something true did. This book doesn’t beg you to believe in God, or Sufism, or mysticism. It simply whispers, “Believe in love. Real love. Bold, soul-widening love.”

The Forty Rules of Love is a book you don’t finish — you carry it with you. It’s the kind of book you reread when your heart is tired. It reminds you that love is not something to be found — it’s something to be lived, every moment, every breath, every encounter.

If your soul has been quietly waiting for something — something to stir it, soothe it, and set it free — this book will find you. And you will never be quite the same again.

Favourite Passage:

“The moment you start to act like life is a blessing, it starts feeling like one.”

This book was a blessing. A gentle storm. And I am grateful for every word.