About Read & Reflect Series
Read & Reflect is a new publication series by the The Institute of Ismaili Studies designed to make Islamic, including Ismaili, intellectual and cultural heritage accessible to general, non-specialist readers.
Each title in the series introduces a focused topic through short, beautifully crafted chapbook style publications that are easy to read and carry. The series brings together original texts, English transliteration, translation, audio recitation, and reflective essays to support understanding, learning, and personal engagement.
Over time, the Read & Reflect series will expand to cover a wide range of themes, including texts, figures, ethics, poetry, history, and devotional traditions, with future editions planned in multiple languages and accessible formats such as audio and podcasts.
Thoughtful, portable, and inclusive, Read & Reflect invites readers to pause, learn, and reconnect with living traditions in everyday moments.
Fīhi mā fīhi
Discourse of Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Balkhī al-Rūmī
Volume 1: Discourse 1
Translation and Commentary by Rahim Gholami
Fīhi mā fīhi—“In it is what is in it”—is the Arabic-Persian title of Mawlānā Jalāl al-Dīn Muḥammad al-Balkhī al-Rūmī’s Discourses: seventy-one intimate teachings delivered in conversation and preserved by his circle. Resonating with Qurʾānic calls to remember “what is in it,” these discourses are meant to be taken with resolve and lived—as a balance weighing intention and action, and as a mirror reflecting the soul back to itself. Spoken in thirteenth-century Konya amid the upheavals of the Mongol age, Rūmī moves with ease between parable, anecdote, and luminous counsel. He addresses both scholars and seekers, returning again and again to the inward struggle—where love, humility, and selfknowledge free us from the subtle captivities of ego and ambition. This Read & Reflect series presents each discourse as a compact volume with an English translation, a brief introduction, and guiding notes that clarify key allusions—inviting you not only to read Rūmī, but to reflect, remember, and begin to practise “what is in it.”
This volume will be published soon. Please check back for updates.
Know Your Qasidas
Discover Ismaili devotional poetry through text, translation and recitation
Translation and Commentary by Daryoush Mohammad Poor
Know Your Qasidas is the first title in the Read & Reflect series, introducing qasidas, devotional compositions central to the spiritual and cultural life of many Ismaili communities, particularly those that are part of Iranian and Central Asian traditions. Each qasidaA polythematic poem originating in pre-Islamic Arabia. It has come to refer to any poem of a certain length in Arabic, Persian and Turkish literatures, often including the eulogy of… More is presented in its original language, with an English transliteration, translation, and a short explanatory essay. QR-linked audio renditions enable readers to listen to and follow the recitation.
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