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TheFihi Ma Fihi orFīhi Mā Fīhi (Persian:فیه ما فیه),lit. ''It Is What It Is" or "In It What Is in It'') is aPersian prose work of 13th century Sufi mystic and Iranian poetJalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī.[1] The book has 72 short discourses.
According toJ. M. Sadeghi the titleFihi Ma Fihi has appeared on a copy dated 1316. Another copy of the book dated 1350 has the titleAsrar al-Jalalieh. Rumi himself in the fifth volume ofMasnavi-i Ma'navi mentions[2] that
بس سؤال و بس جواب و ماجرا
بُد میان زاهد و رب الوری
که زمین و آسمان پرنور شد
در مقالات آن همه مذکور شد
— Reynold A. Nicholson.The Mathnawi Of Jalauddin Rumi, vol. VI, p. 161
which most likely refers to this book. The titleMaghalat-e Mowlana of copies of the book published in Iran follows this.
Not much is known about the publication time and the writer of the book. According toB. Forouzanfar, the editor of the most reliable copy of the book, it is likely that the book was written bySultanwalad, the eldest son of Rumi, based on manuscripts and notes taken by himself or others from the lectures of his father onMasnavi-i Ma'navi.
In theEssence of Rumi, John Baldock states thatFihi Ma Fihi was one of Rumi's discourses written towards the end of his life. Rumi lived from 1207 to 1273 soFihi Ma Fihi was likely written some time between 1260 and 1273 by Rumi himself.
This book is one of the firstPersian prose books after the so-calledPersian literature revolution (enghelāb-e adabi). Moreover, the book has become an introduction to theMasnavi. Also many concepts inSufism are described in this book in simple terms.
The book has been translated into English under the titleDiscourses of Rumi byA. J. Arberry in 1961 and consists of 71 discourses. Another translation by Dr. Bankey Behari was published in 1998 under the titleFiha Ma Fiha, Table Talk of Maulani Rumi (DK Publishers, New Delhi),ISBN 81-7646-029-X. A more recent translation into English, with commentary for each of the discourses, by Doug Marman (with the assistance of Jamileh Marefat, a direct descendant of Rumi) was published in 2010 under the titleIt Is What It Is, The Personal Discourses of Rumi (Spiritual Dialogues Project, Ridgefield, Washington),ISBN 978-0-9793260-5-9. Another English translation, by W.M. Thackston, Jr, was published in 1994 under the title 'Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi' (Putney, VT: Threshold Books, 1994; republished by Shambhala Publications, 1999).
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