The Forty Rules of Love

Rule 1 : Seeing God

How we see God
is a direct reflection of
how we see ourselves.
If God brings to mind
Mostly fear and blame,
It means there is too much
fear and blame
welled inside us.
If we see God
As full of love and compassion
So are we.

Rule 2 : Know! through heart

The path to the Truth
Is the labour 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 yourself will
Lead you to the knowledge of God.

Rule 3 : Immanence of God.

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.

Rule 4 : Intellect and Love

Intellect and love
Are made of different materials.
Intellect ties people in knots
And risks nothing,
But love dissolves all tangles
And risks everything.
Intellect is always cautious and advises,
“Beware too much ecstasy!”
Whereas love says,
“Oh, never mind! Take the plunge!”
Intellect does not easily break down,
Whereas love can effortlessly reduce itself to rubble.
But treasures are hidden among ruins.
A broken heart hides treasures.

Rule 5 : Beyond words

Most of the problems of the world,
Stem from linguistic mistakes
And simple misunderstandings.
Don’t ever take words at face value.
When you step into the zone of love,
Language as we know it
Becomes obsolete.
That which cannot be put into words
Can only be gasped through silence.

Rule 6 : Truly seeing self & God

Loneliness and solitude
Are two different things.
When you are lonely,
It is easy to delude yourself
Into believing that
You are on the right path.
Solitude is better for us,
as it means being
alone without feeling lonely.
But eventually it is best
To find a person,
The person who
Will be your mirror.
Remember, only in
Another person’s heart can you
Truly see yourself and
The presence of God within you!

Rule 7 : Gratitude always

Whatever happens in your life,
No matter how troubling things might seem,
Do not enter the neighborhood of despair.
Even when all doors remain closed,
God will open up
A new path only for you.
Be thankful!
It is easy to be thankful
When all is well.
A Sufi is thankful
Not only for what he has been given
But also for all that he has been denied.

Rule 8 : Patience eternal

Patience does not mean to passively endure.
It means to be farsighted enough
To trust the end result of a process.
What does patience mean?
It means to look at the thorn
And see the rose,
To look at the night,
And see the dawn.
Impatience means
To be shortsighted
As to not be able to see the outcome.
The lovers of God
NNever run out of patience,
For they know
That time is needed for
Crescent moon to become full.

Rule 9 : Different levels

Each and reader comprehends the Holy Quran
On a different level in tandem
With the depth of his understanding.
There are four levels of insight.
The first level is the outer meaning
And it is the one
That the majority of the people are content with.
Next is the Batins - the inner level.
Third, there is the inner of the inner.
And the fourth level
Is so deep
It cannot be put
Into words and
Is therefore bound to remain indescribable

Rule 10 : The journey within

East, west, south or north,
Makes little difference.
No matter what your destination,
Just be sure to make
Every journey a journey within.
If you travel within,
You will travel the whole wide world
And Beyond.

Rule 11 : Perfection in pain

The midwife knows that when
There is no pain,
The way for the baby
Cannot be opened
And the mother cannot give birth.
Likewise for a new self to be born,
Hardship is necessary.
Just as clay needs to go through
Intense heat to become strong.
Love can only be
Perfected in pain.

Rule 12 : The quest of change

The quest for Love changes us.
There is no seeker among those,
Who search for Love
who has not matured on the way.
The moment you start seeking for Love,
YOu start to change within and without.

Rule 13 : Fake Gurus

There are more fake gurus and false teachers,
In this world, than the number of stars
In the visible universe.
Don’t confuse power-driven,
self-centered people
With true mentors.
A genuine spiritual master
Will not direct your attention
To himself or herself
And will not expect absolute obedience
Or utter admiration from you,
But instead will help you
To appreciate and admire your inner self.
True mentors are as transparent as glass.
They let the light of God pass through them.

Rule 14 : Embracing change

Try not to resist the changes
That come your way.
Instead let life live through you.
And do not worry
That your life is turning upside down.
How do you know
That the side you are used to
Is better than the one to come?

Rule 15 : The divine in everyone

God is busy with completion of your work,
Both outwardly and inwardly.
He is fully occupied with you.
Every human being is a work in progress
That is slowly but inexorably
moving toward perfection.
We are each an unfinished work of art
Both waiting and striving to be completed.
God deals with each of us separately
because humanity is a fine art
Of skilled penmanship
Where every singled dot
Is equally important for the entire picture.

Rule 16 : The difficulty of loving humans

It is easy to love a perfect God,
Unblemished and infallible that He is.
What is far more difficult
Is to love fellow human beings
With all their imperfections and defects.
Remember, one can only know what one is capable of loving.
There is no wisdom without love.
Unless we learn to love God’s creation,
We can neither truly love nor truly know God.

Rule 17 : The real filth

Real filth is the one inside.
The rest simply washes off.
There is only one type of dirt
That cannot be cleansed with pure waters,
And that is stain of hatred,
And bigotry contaminating the soul.
You can purify your body
Through abstinence and fasting,
But only love will
Purify your heart.

Rule 18 : The Singularity

The whole universe is contained
Within a single human being - you.
Everything that you see around,
including the things you might not be fond of
And even the people you despise or abhor,
Is present within you in varying degrees.
Therefore do not look for Sheitan
Outside yourself either.
The devil is not an extraordinary force
That attacks from without.
It is an ordinary voice within.
If you get to know yourself fully,
Facing the honesty and hardness
Both your dark and bring sides,
You will arrive at
A supreme form of consciousness.
When a person knows himself or herself,
he or she knows God.

Rule 19 : We are all one

If you want to change
the way others treat you,
You should first change
the way you treat yourself.
Unless you learn to love yourself,
Fully and sincerely,
There is no way you can be loved.
Once you achieve that stage,
However, be thankful
For every thorn
that other might throw at you.
It is a sign that you will soon
be showered in roses.
How can you blame others
For disrespecting you
When you think of yourself
As unworthy of respect?

Rule 20 : Be the flow

Fret not where the road will take you.
Instead concentrate on the first step.
That’s the hardest part
And that’s what you are responsible for.
Once you take that step
Let everything do what it naturally does.
And rest will follow.
Do not go with the flow
Be the flow.

Rule 21 : Respecting differences

We are all created in His image,
And yet we were each created
different and unique.
No two people are alike.
No two hearts beat to the same rhythm.
If God had wanted everyone to be the same,
He would have made it so.
Therefore, disrespecting differences
And imposing your thoughts on others,
Is tantamount to disrespecting God’s holy scheme.

Rule 22 : The Inner Realm

When a true lover of God
Goes into a tavern,
The tavern becomes his
chamber of prayer,
But when a wine bibber goes
Into the same chamber,
It becomes his tavern.

In everything we do,
It is our hearts
that make the difference,
Not our outer appearences.

Sufis do not judge
Other people on how they look
Or who they are.

When a Sufi stares at someone,
He keeps both eyes closed
And instead opens a third eye -
The eye that sees the inner realm.

Rule 23 : The temporary loan

Life is a temporary loan,
And this world is nothing
But a sketchy imitation of Reality.

Only children would mistake
A toy for the real thing.

And yet human beings
Either become infatuated with the toy
Or Disrespectfully break it
And throw it aside.

In this life stay away from
all kind sof extremities,
For they will destroy
your inner balance.

Rule 24 : The human divinity

The human being has a unique place
Among God’s creations.
Each and every one of us without exception
Is designed to be God’s delegate on Earth.

As yourself, just how often
do you behave like a delegate.
If you ever do so?
Remember, it falls upon each of us
To discover the divine spirit
Inside and live by it.

Rule 25 : Hell and heaven

Hell is in the here and now.
So, is heaven.
Quit worrying about hell
Or dreaming about heaven,
As they are both
Present inside this very moment.

Every time we fall in love,
We ascend to heaven.
Every time we hate,
Envy, or fight someone,
We tumble straight into
The fires of hell.

Rule 26 : The One Being

The universe is one being.
Everything and everyone
Is interconnected
Through an invisible web of stories.

Whether we are aware of it or not,
We are all in a silent conversation.
Do no harm.
Practice compassion.
And do not gossip behind anyone’s back -
Not even a seemingly innocent remark!
The words that come out of our mouths
Do not vanish
But are perpetually stored in
Infinite space,
And they will come back to us
In due time.
One man’s pain will hurt us all.
One man’s joy will make everyone smile.

Rule 27 : The echoes of snowy mountain

This world is like
A snowy mountain,
That echoes your voice.

Whatever you speak,
Good or evil,
Will somehow come back to you.

Therefore, if there is someone
Who harbors ill thoughts about you,
Saying similarly bad things about him
Will only make matters worse.
You will be locked in a vicious circle
Of malevolent energy.

Instead of forty days and nights
Say and think nice things about that person.
Everything will be different
At the end of the forty days,
Because you will be different inside.

Rule 28 : Time - The endless spiral within

The past is an interpretation.
The future is an illusion.
The world does not move through time
As if it were a straight line,
Proceeding from past to the future.
Instead time moves
Through and within us,
In endless spirals.

Eternity does not mean infinite time,
But simply timelessness.

If you want to experience
Eternal illumination,
Put the past and the future
Out of your mind
And remain within
The present moment.

Rule 29 : The Destiny of 40 levels

Destiny does not mean that
Your life has been strictly predetermined.
Therefore, to leave everything to fate
And to not actively contribute
To the music of the universe
Is a sign of sheer ignorance.

The music of the universe is all pervading
And it is composed on
Forty different levels.

Your destiny is the level
Where you will play your tune.
You might not change
Your instrument, but
How well you play is entirely in your hands.

Rule 30 : The Only One

The true Sufi is such that
Even when he is unjustly accused, attacked,
And condemned from all sides,
he patiently endures,
Uttering not a single bad word
About any of his critics.

A Sufi never apportions blame.
how can there be opponents
Or rivals or even “others”
When there is no “self” in the first place?

How can there be anyone to blame
When there is only One?

Rule 31 : Expansion and softening of heart

If you want to strengthen your faith,
You will need to soften inside.
For your faith to be rock solid,
Your heart needs to be as soft as a feather.

Through an illness, accident, loss
Or Fright, one way or another,
We all are faced with incidents
That teach us how to
Become less selfish and judgmental,
And more compassionate and generous.

Yet some of us learn the lesson
And manage to become milder,
While some others end up
becoming even harsher than before.

The only way to get closer to Truth
Is to expand your heart
So that it will encompass
All humanity and still have
room for more Love.

Rule 32 : The Fetish of the Truth

Spiritual growth is about
The totality of our consciousness.
Not about obsessing over
particular aspects.

Nothing should stand between
Yourself and God.

Not imams, priests, rabbis,
Or any other custodians of
Moral or religious leadership.
Not spiritual masters,
Not even your faith.

Believe in your values and your rules,
But never lord them over others.
If you keep breaking other people’s hearts,
Whatever religious duty you perform is no good.

Stay away from all sorts of idolatry,
For they will blur your vision.
Let God and only God be your guide.
Learn the Truth,
My friend, but be careful
Not to make fetish out of your truths.

Rule 33 : Consciousness of nothingness

While everyone in this world
Strives to get somewhere
And become someone,
Only to leave it all behind after death,
You aim for the supreme stage of nothingness.

Live this life as
light and empty as the number zero.
We are no different from a pot.
It is not the decorations outside
But the emptiness inside
That holds us straight.
Just like that,
It is not what we aspire to achieve
But the consciousness of nothingness
That keeps us going.

Rule 34 : Submission to the Divine essence

Submission does not mean being weak or passive.
It leads to neither fatalism nor Capitulation.
Just the opposite.
True power resides in submission -
A power that comes from within.

Those who submit to the divine essence of life
Will live in unperturbed tranquillity and peace
Even when the whole wide world
Goes through turbulence after turbulence.

Rule 35 : Co-existence of the Opposites within

In this world, it is not similarities
Or regularities that take us a step forward,
But blunt opposites.

And all the opposites in the universe,
Are present within each and every one of us.
Therefore, the believer needs to meet
The unbeliever residing within.
And the non believer should get
To know the silent faithful in him.

Until the day one reaches the stage
Of Insan-i-Kamil, the perfect human being,
Faith is a gradual process
And one that necessitates
Its seemingly opposite : Disbelief.

Rule 36 : The will of God

The world is erected
Upon the principle of reciprocity.

Neither a drop of kindness
Nor a speck of evil will
Remain unreciprocated.

Fear not the plots,
Deceptions, or tricks of other people.
If somebody is setting a trap,
Remember, so is God.

He is the biggest plotter.
Not even a leaf stirs outside
God’s knowledge.

Simply and fully believe in that.
Whatsoever God does, He does beautifully.

Rule 37 : God the clockmaker

God is a meticulous clockmaker.
So precise is His order
That everything on earth happens in its own time.
Neither a minute late or a minute early.
And for everyone without exception,
The clock works accurately.
For each there is a time to love,
And a time to die.

Rule 38 : Dying before death

It is never too late to ask yourself,
“Am I ready to change the life I am living?
Am I ready to change within?”
Even if a single day in your life
Is the same as the day before,
it surely is a pity.
At every moment and with each new breath,
One should be renewed and renewed again.
There is only one way to be born into a new life
To die before death.

Rule 39 : Change and Sameness

While the parts change
The whole always remains the same.
For every thief who departs this world,
A new one is born.
And every decent person who passes away
is replaced by a new one.
In this way
Not only does nothing remain the same
But also nothing ever really changes.

Rule 40 :

A life without love is of no account.
Don’t ask yourself what kind of love you should seek,
Spiritual or material,
Divine or mundane,
Eastern or Western,
Divisions only lead to more divisions.
Love has no labels,
No definitions.
It is what it is is,
Pure and Simple.

Love is the water of life.
And a lover is a soul of fire!
The universe turns differently
When fire loves water.