Love and Longing for the Reed-bed: A Comparative Study of Sufi Themes in The Forty Rules of Love and the Mathnawi

Abstract

This article explores the recurrence of Sufi themes in Elif Shafak’s novel, The Forty Rules of Love, and draws comparisons to similar selections from Jalaluddin Rumi’s Mathnawi. This paper will examine claims that Shafak employs concepts more connected to New Age Spirituality than Sufism in her novel, and has oversimplified Islamic Sufi concepts to appeal to an international readership. Through the comparative study of the fictional narrative with the poetry, I will examine whether or not Shafak’s characters in The Forty Rules of Love undergo a spiritual journey, or are Sufi seekers towards the Ultimate Truth. By using the Mathnawi as a form of reference for the Sufi journey, I will conduct a thematic comparative analysis of selected passages from the Mathnawi and Shafak’s narrative to investigate the Sufi dimension of this book. By comparing close readings of selections from the novel with the Mathnawi, Sufi themes such as that of restlessness, searching for enlightenment, fanā’, and the infinite power of Divine Love are presented. This article argues, through the thematic comparisons, that Sufi themes are predominant in the historical narrative of the novel, while the contemporary narrative lacks the Islamic basis of the Sufi path.

Keywords

• Mathnawi
• Elif Shafak
• Jalaluddin Rumi
• Sufism
• New Age Spirituality

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