The COVID and Forty Rules of Love is a novel written by Elif Shafak, a Turkish author. The book is about Maulana Jalal-ud-din Rumi and Shams Tabrizi. The book explains how Shams transformed Rumi from a scholar into a Sufi.
Reading this book during the COVID lockdown made me understand love and believe in God. The writer explained in the book two parallel stories happening in different cultures and in different eras.
The forty rules narrative and preached by Shams from time to time changed my perspective about life.
A few of my favourite rules are:
Shams priceless messages about love, God, life, and optimism helps us to be strong in a difficult situation. His rules guide us not to give up on God in challenging circumstances and keep believing in his grace, love, and blessing because this is the only way to get out of despair.
This book helps to understand the importance of empathy, gratitude and kindness.
I think in the current situation of the pandemic when we all are facing lots of uncertainties and difficulties in life, reading this book can help us to get reassurance that a good time will come, and we will be able to enjoy life again. We need to be empathetic to each other and trust God.
