The Forty Rules of Love

by Elif Shafak

It was always like this. When you spoke the truth, they hated you. The more you talked about love, the more they hated you.

I have seen the worst and the best in humanity. Nothing surprises me anymore.

As I went through all these experiences, I began to compile a list that wasn’t written down in any book, only inscribed in my soul. This personal list I called The Basic Principles of the Itinerant Mystics of Islam.

The Path to the Truth is a labor of the heart, not of the head. Make your heart your primary guide! Not your mind. Meet, challenge, and ultimately prevail over your nafs with your heart. Knowing your ego will lead you to the knowledge of God.

“When something needs to be said, I’ll say it even if the whole world grabs me by the neck and tells me to keep quiet.”

“There is no question Baghdad is a remarkable city, but no beauty on earth lasts forever. Cities are erected on spiritual columns. Like giant mirrors, they reflect the hearts of their residents. If those hearts darken and lose faith, cities will lose their glamour. It happens, and it happens all the time.”

One thing that has helped me personally in the past was to stop interfering with the people around me and getting frustrated when I couldn’t change them.

Submission is a form of peaceful acceptance of the terms of the universe, including the things we are currently unable to change or comprehend.

“One of the rules says, You can study God through everything and everyone in the universe, because God is not confined in a mosque, synagogue, or church. But if you are still in need of knowing where exactly His abode is, there is only one place to look for Him: in the heart of a true lover.