The Sufi Compromise In The Person-situation Debate In Elif Shafak's The Forty Rules Of Love

Résumé: Elif Shafak’s novel The Forty Rules of Love depicts a very insightful account of Rumi’s relationship with Shams of Tabriz, a Dervish who initiates Rumi to Sufism. One of the most important lessons that Rumi learns from Shams is not to fall prey to virtue ethicists. The main question addressed in this research is: how does Sufism interact with social psychology in The Forty Rules of Loves? More particularly, this study aims to examine the Sufi compromise between Aristotelian virtue ethics and situationism through a study of characters. This research concludes that while most characters' perceptions of one another are based on trait theory, Shams offers a new alternative to character analysis that achieves a happy medium between virtue ethics and situationism through a Sufi all-embracing message of love and tolerance.

Publié dans la revue: المجلة الجزائرية للأبحاث والدراسات