Infatuation Rules
Infatuation Rules
Photo: Leeloo Thefirst
There are no such '40 Rules of Love' anywhere in the works of Rumi, Shams or Khayyam. Shafak is not a scholar of Islam, but instead a novelist. She shows no signs of understanding even the basic tenets of Sufism.
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Read More »The past decade and a half has seen a growing popularity of authors who write about the East, usually Muslim societies. These writers themselves live in the West, but have taken it upon themselves to explain the East and Islam to others in the West. With one bestseller following another, some writers have become celebrities across the world. These authors, who usually write and speak fluent English, are the West’s favourite story tellers of the Muslim world, but only if, they tell a story that matches the one found in old and recycled stereotypes of the East. The story that often will reduce the richness and diversity of an entire region, framed in the same, essentially disrespectful manner. For example, country x (Afghanistan, Iran or Turkey etc) is highly traditional, ultra-religious and the protagonist, a young boy or girl, is at odds with his or her religious society and upbringing and wants to break free. The theme, though often subtle, is that the way of life the individual seeks are essentially Western, and the ultra-traditional communities and their wider society needs major reforms, without which, life is unbearable. There are two possible worlds that exist one) religious doctrine and tradition (usually Islam) are holding back society, leading to unspoken injustice and tragedy (usually the poor women are reserved as victims) or two) the society is a highly exaggerated Orientalist imagining, where spirituality and mysticism still permeates modern urban cities. The author will borrow certain Islamic traditions, philosophies and figures to suit a narrative and conveniently discard of the serious and the boring orthodox Islam that might come with the story. In any case, religion is bad at worst, or irrelevant at best – but the intrinsic egotistic desires of the individual that yearn for freedom are without doubt good and must not be questioned. This phenomenon is nothing new. At least for the past two centuries, European Orientalists have been active participants in this practise. The mysterious East with its harems and magic carpets, the one thousand and one nights and the endless horizon of sand dunes has become a particular delicacy for the Western reader. Modern authorship from writers who themselves trace their roots to the East have simply continued the same reductionist model, though with varying degrees of success. Before Elif Shafak, the author of the imaginary ‘Forty Rules of Love’ came along, the famous British Orientalist Edward Fitzgerald had already introduced a very loose translation of poetry attributed to the Persian mathematician and poet Omar Khayyam. Khayyam was only received with open arms in Europe because his poetry was seen as ‘liberating’, liberating not only the poor English reader, who was tied down by puritan Christian doctrines of Europe, but also free of any serious Islamic influence that might have creeped up in Khayyams work. Later Coleman Barks and others would strip Islam from any and all works of Rumi, Hafez and Saadi. Orientalist authors like Kipling and Conrad are long gone, and today’s reader is ever more aware of the old trappings of the past. Furthermore, never before in history have millions upon of Muslims called the West their home. With second, third and in some case fourth generation Muslims of immigrant ancestry, identifying themselves as quintessentially ‘Western’, there is a certain appetite and nostalgia to read something about their ancestral homelands, ideally from one of their ‘own’. This untapped demand has been met, quite successfully, by Elif Shafak, Khaled Hosseini and to a degree Orhan Pamuk. All three authors born in the East, but left the East to make the West their permanent home. With little to no fictional literature available in Western bookstores on what life is like in Afghanistan, India, Turkey or Iran, novels fictionalised in Kabul, Tehran, Istanbul or Delhi offer a rare insight into life, love and pain in a far away land. Though none of these authors pretend to write non-fiction, there are certain assumptions and liberties taken by the author and their publisher when a story set in a far away city is published. Yes, the story is fictional, but are the backdrops entirely imaginary? If actual religious or historical characters and events are used to set a story, can the reader really tell what is real and what is pure fabrication? I would argue not. An unaware reader who picks up a copy of the world best-seller ‘Kite-Runner’ with the name Khaled Hossein printed below at an airport bookstore, will almost certainly assume the author is genuine, qualified and the story no matter how fictional is based on real events.
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Read More »Elif Shafak, the author ‘Forty Rules of Love’, ‘The Architect’s Apprentice’ and ‘The Bastard of Istanbul’ has gained worldwide fame for her English novels that are framed in a pseudo spiritual/Sufi ‘Islamic’ cloak. Originally from Turkey, Shafak now lives in London. But the works of Elif Shafak are not without their many controversies. When reviewing Shafak’s work, we must me mindful that unlike the critique that is often put-on poor translations of Eastern literature (Rumi or Hafez), there is no issue of translation with Shafak. She is one of the few ‘Eastern’ authors who writes directly in English (alongside Khaled Hosseini), though her work ironically enough is translated back into Eastern languages for local audiences to digest.
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Read More »Poems by Omar Khayyam by Richard Le Gaillienne (Incomplete and riddled with countless errors). It can be argued that Shafak has created an amalgamation of ideas and philosophies from the various writings of at least three Muslim poets which she transformed into her own 40 rules. Her own imagination determined which verses, which lines and which words spoke to her and nothing more. By relying only on others translations (majority of which are quite poor in accuracy), it should be assumed almost all of the rules has created are fabrications, if not in meaning, then in spirit from the original work of the author. But Shafak has found success not only in the minds and hearts of non-Muslim readers, but also amongst Muslims. She has masterfully crafted her image as an ‘authentic’ Eastern author, who borrows from her own Turkish culture and history, to pen stories that has full right and privilege to. Her own atheistic values do not, and should not, disqualify her from writing about Islam, but her decision to conflate Sufism with new-age spiritualism that is agnostic at best, is highly dubious. Shafak also holds no theological qualifications, her ability to decipher and interpret religious doctrines of Rumi and Shams in her own mind hold no weight in even a generous academic test. The love that Shafak constantly refers to in her book is human love, often masked as spiritual and higher, forgetting (perhaps by purpose) that the love Rumi and Shams spoke of was usually for God, the very religious idea of God in Islam. Not a cosmic spiritual force that many pseudo-Sufi interpretations apply today to Rumi. The global rise of interest in Sufism has created a multi-million industry in yoga, spirituality, poetry and literature. Much of the ‘Sufi’ industry is filled with imitators who openly reject any faith, but borrow and decorate empty spiritual concepts with the label of Sufism. The void left by religion in the West clearly needs a filler, and the need to belong to something, without belonging to the whole religion, is a popular decision made by many. This ‘Sufism-Lite’ which has no clear God, no Prophets, no hell, no strict doctrine is allusive and yet alluring. Shafak has masterfully captured the hearts of many who seek meaning in the meaningless. In summary, Shafak is a very successful writer. She writes fiction, pure and simple. Her work is marketed as such, so we must ask, why is it not consumed as such? To her credit, she is honest about her personal beliefs, so we must be honest with what we take away from her works. So when we read, for example, the Forty Rules of Love, we must remember the following points: It is fiction not based on Islam or Sufism. At best, it is loosely inspired by some generic tenets found in Sufism. The book does not instill any real Islamic values. Its protagonist is a woman who justifies her own affair through fabricated values and rules attributed to Rumi or Tabriz. There are no such ’40 Rules of Love’ anywhere in the works of Rumi, Shams or Khayyam. Shafak is not a scholar of Islam, but instead a novelist. She shows no signs of understanding even the basic tenets of Sufism. Although she touches upon the concept of shedding the ego in the book, the story clearly leans towards a worldly love, not one of God. It glorifies (and sanctions using religious doctrine) of one’s lower desires without regard to the consequence to others. An atheist secular Turkish novelist should not be the start, middle or the end point for any students of Sufism or spirituality that stems from Islam. Any serious readers or curious minds should head instead to the topic of ‘Tasawwuf’ (the actual concept of Sufism found in Islam). In closing we must remember who Rumi was and for whom his breath exhaled, and for whom his heart beat. On his death bed, he was asked by his wife: “Oh Rumi, plead with God to let you stay here longer”, to which he replied: “Am I a thief? have I stolen someone’s goods? is this why you would confine me here and keep me from being re-joined with my Love?” This Love is Allah. The night is known as Seb-I Arus – The Wedding Day. The day Rumi joined his Creator. The Almighty God. The very Muslim God.
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