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Fihi Ma Fihi

Persian prose work by Rumi

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General referenceInterpretive dossier study · Crown Archives visual atlas
Record originEnglish Wikipedia
Text licenseCC BY-SA 4.0
Source revisionJul 7, 2026
Entity authorityQ4115385 ↗
Source-derived summary

The Fihi Ma Fihi or Fīhi Mā Fīhi (Arabic: فیه ما فیه), lit. ''It Is What It Is" or "In It What Is in It'') is a Persian prose work of 13th-century Sufi mystic and a poet from modern day Afghanistan, Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad Rūmī. The book has 72 short discourses.

Description

The title and origin of the book

According to J. M. Sadeghi the title Fihi Ma Fihi has appeared on a copy dated 1316. Another copy of the book dated 1350 has the title Asrar al-Jalalieh. Rumi himself in the fifth volume of Masnavi-i Ma'navi mentions that

which most likely refers to this book. The title Maghalat-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 to B. Forouzanfar, the editor of the most reliable copy of the book, it is likely that the book was written by Sultanwalad, the eldest son of Rumi, based on manuscripts and notes taken by himself or others from the lectures of his father on Masnavi-i Ma'navi.

In the Essence of Rumi, John Baldock states that Fihi Ma Fihi was one of Rumi's discourses written towards the end of his life. Rumi lived from 1207 to 1273 so Fihi Ma Fihi was likely written some time between 1260 and 1273 by Rumi himself.

Editorial summary

“Fihi Ma Fihi” enters the record as persian prose work by Rumi. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Fihi, Persian and prose can confirm, complicate or overturn.

Editorial reviewA practical starting point whose main value is the path it opens into stronger specialist and primary sources. The current lead gives the account dated anchors—1316, 1350, 1207, 1273—that can be checked directly. The selected authority fields contribute no independent date. Its strongest next move is a source search built around Fihi, Persian and prose.
Editorial analysis

Why this record matters

“Fihi Ma Fihi” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Fihi, Persian and prose provides the most credible route into that argument.

Evidence profile

The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 7, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q4115385. None of the 0 selected statements returned an explicit reference. The first chronological checks are 1316, 1350, 1207 and 1273.

Critical limits

Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.

How to read it

Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.

Best used for
  • Subject orientation
  • Search vocabulary
  • Locating named sources
Verify next

The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.

Three-step research path

  1. Establish the record: confirm the title “Fihi Ma Fihi”, its source revision and the description used here.
  2. Expand the search: follow Fihi Ma Fihi primary sources, Fihi Ma Fihi archive and Fihi research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
  3. Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.

Questions for further research

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Source & attribution

This entry incorporates text from “Fihi Ma Fihi” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.