Signs of the Unseen: The Discourses of Jalaluddin Rumi

This is a book with comments of Rumi on different facts and people. It is not always easy to read, after all it is 800 years old ! But most of what he says is still the same as it ever was. The basics of life do not change. I love Rumi. He can say more in one page then most writers in a whole book.

I find this translation of Rumi's Fihe-Ma-Fihe to be an extremely valuable and reliable resource. I use this book and highly recommend it to everyone including my students in the In The Footprints of Rumi ([...]) course that I teach both live and online. This work is a labor of LOVE!

This is by far (other than a Holy Book) the most eloquent yet piercing book. Packed with the knowledge of one who has experienced or tasted what they are speaking of. Although this is a translated work, the heart moving quality remains intact. A rare jewel.

Professor Thackston has done admirably with this translation of "Fihi ma fihi." Especially since, in my opinion, this is the hardest of Rumi's works to translate.In his poetry, Rumi is sublime, and accordingly difficult to translate, but any translator can only do so much with a poem. If you miss some nuances, it's just the tradeoff that the translator of poetry must make. The "Masnavi", on the other hand, is a lengthy work, but it has a coherence that makes the translator's life relatively easy and compels the reader on."Fihi ma fihi", however, very often seems to ramble off in a thousand directions. Indeed, sometimes it's hard to escape the feeling that this book was Rumi's attic, all full of jumbled odds and ends, many of them beautiful, but not necessarily in any coherent order. In fact, however, a second reading can reveal that the book is a great deal more than that. If you have been under the impression that Rumi is a sort of Omar Khayyam for the New Age, this book can convince you that just possibly he belongs in company with Shakespeare, Goethe and Pushkin.This translation is eminently readable and even prods the reader on. Professor Thackston has certainly succeeded in translating Rumi's infallible knack to make us look at the world through different eyes. The one sacrifice was Rumi's elegant rhetoric, which just can't be translated. For that you'll have to learn Farsi. In the meantime, this book is to be enjoyed.

Very comprehensive and lovingly compiled and explained by his closest companions, for the true Rumi Lover.

beautiful, must read...!!!

Nice book I am Rumi fan

In Arabic this book was known as "Fîhî ma Fîhî", which means, unhelpfully, "In It What Is In It". It consists of conversations between the great Sufi and those who came to see him, recorded by his followers. Any subject can and does come up, and the Master's associations of ideas are subtle and far-reaching. Just as he could improvise sublime lyric poetry when the mood struck him, here he creates profound spiritual teachings out of chance remarks and faint suggestions.If you're familiar with Rumi and want to go beyond occasional delight and inspiration in his poetry, to learn more about him and his teachings, this may be the easiest point of entry. It catches Rumi off-guard, or rather shows he was never off-guard: it's the next best thing to having home movies of him.I have known and loved the A.J. Arberry translation for years. Arberry was the greatest English Islamic scholar of his generation, I have nearly all his books, and if his grave were within 1000 kilometres I would place anemones on it regularly... BUT... I must confess that when translating from Arabic or Persian, he felt compelled to use an odd old-fashioned English of no time or place, an invention of his own. I got accustomed to phrases like "Mannikin, God exists of a certainty" or "Whatsoever thou soughtest".I will miss them, to be honest. But for 99% of the population, a translation into idiomatic modern English will be an unmixed blessing. Don't be put off by the way Rumi seems to drift from topic to topic or suddenly leap off in some entirely unexpected direction. This is not a mistake; he was not getting confused in his old age. He was wide awake and he wants to keep you awake.

The Book itself is an Excellent read but its paperback bind quality is really poor. Very limited choice out there for different bindings.

EXCELLENT BOOK TO READ