The Prophet 

(book)
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The Prophet

First edition cover

Author Kahlil Gibran

Cover artist Kahlil Gibran
Country United States
Language English
Subject Life and the human condition
Genre Prose poetry
Publisher Alfred A. Knopf
Publication date 1923
Media type Book
Pages 107
OCLC 1744006
Dewey Decimal 811.19
Followed by The Garden of the Prophet 

The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables written in English by the Lebanese-

American poet and writer Kahlil Gibran.[1] It was originally published in 1923 by Alfred A.
Knopf. It is Gibran's best-known work. The Prophet has been translated into over 100
different languages, making it one of the most translated books in history, and it has
never been out of print.
Synopsis
The prophet Al Mustafa has lived in the city of Orphalese for 12 years and is about to
board a ship which will carry him home. He is stopped by a group of people, with whom
he discusses topics such as life and the human condition. The book is divided into
chapters dealing with love, marriage, children, giving, eating and drinking, work, joy and
sorrow, houses, clothes, buying and selling, crime and punishment, laws, freedom,
reason and passion, pain, self-knowledge, teaching, friendship, talking, time, good and
evil, prayer, pleasure, beauty, religion, and death.

Popularity
The Prophet has been translated into more than 100 languages, making it one of the
most translated books in history. By 2012, it had sold more than nine million copies in its
American edition alone since its original publication in 1923.
Of an ambitious first printing of 2,000 in 1923, Knopf sold 1,159 copies. The demand
for The Prophet doubled the following year—and doubled again the year after that. It
was translated into French by Madeline Mason-Manheim in 1926. By the time of
Gibran's death in 1931, it had also been translated into German. Annual sales reached
12,000 in 1935, 111,000 in 1961 and 240,000 in 1965. The book sold its one millionth
copy in 1957. At one point, The Prophet sold more than 5,000 copies a week worldwide.
Inspiration
Though born a Maronite, Gibran was influenced not only by his own religion but also by
the Bahá’í Faith, Islam, and the mysticism of the Sufis. His knowledge of Lebanon's
bloody history, with its destructive factional struggles, strengthened his belief in the
fundamental unity of religions, something which his parents exemplified by welcoming
people of various religions in their home. Connections and parallels have also been
made to William Blake's work, as well as the theological ideas of Walt
Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson such as reincarnation and the Over-soul. Themes
of influence in his work were Arabic art, European Classicism (particularly Leonardo Da
Vinci) and Romanticism (Blake and Auguste Rodin), the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood,
and more modern symbolism and surrealism.
Gibran’s strong connections to the Baháʼí Faith started around 1912. One of Gibran's
acquaintances, Juliet Thompson, reported several anecdotes relating to Gibran. She
recalled Gibran had met 'Abdu'l-Bahá, the leader of the religion, at the time of `Abdu'l-
Bahá's journeys to the West. Gibran was unable to sleep the night before meeting him
in person to draw his portrait in April 1912 on the island of Manhattan. Gibran later told
Thompson that in 'Abdu'l-Bahá he had "seen the Unseen, and been filled”. Gibran
began work on The Prophet in 1912, when "he got the first motif, for his Island God,"
whose "Promethean exile shall be an Island one" rather than a mountain one. In
1928, after the death of `Abdu'l-Bahá, at a viewing of a movie of `Abdu'l-Bahá, Gibran
rose to talk and proclaimed in tears an exalted station of `Abdu'l-Bahá and left the event
weeping still.
Royalties and copyright control
The book entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2019. It was
already in the public domain in the European Union, Canada, Russia, South
Africa, and Australia.
Gibran instructed that on his death the royalties and copyrights to his materials be
owned by his hometown, Bsharri, Lebanon. The Gibran National Committee (GNC), in
Bsharri, manages the Gibran Museum. Founded in 1935, the GNC is a non-profit
corporation holding the exclusive rights to manage the Lebanese author Kahlil Gibran's
copyright in and to his literary and artistic works.

The Garden of the Prophet

Gibran followed The Prophet with The Garden of the Prophet, which was published
posthumously in 1933. The Garden of the Prophet narrates Al Mustafa's discussions
with nine disciples following Al Mustafa's return after an intervening absence.

Adaptations
 1973 – The Profit; Albran's Serial, a parody published in 1973 by
Price/Stern/Sloan, California, as written by the fictional Kehlog Albran (pseudonym
for authors Martin A. Cohen and Sheldon Shacket). It reached fourth printing in
1981.
 1974 – The Prophet by Khalil Gibran: A Musical Interpretation featuring Richard
Harris. Music composed by Arif Mardin, Atlantic Records
 2002 – Electronic and new-age music composer Gandalf and narrator Thomas
Klock created an audiobook CD with German version – Der Prophet – layered with
music.
 2009 – The Prophet: Music Inspired by the Poetry of Khalil Gibran; An album by
Australian oud virtuoso Joseph Tawadros, Winner of Limelight Award for Best World
Music Achievement 2010, Nominated for an Australian Recording Industry Award
(ARIA) for Best World Music Album 2010.
 2010 – The Propheteer; A book of political satire reimagining The Prophet as
George W. Bush lecturing his cronies on the White House lawn while waiting for his
chopper bound for Texas. ISBN 978-1-4502-6057-2
 2014 – Kahlil Gibran's The Prophet; Salma Hayek announced an animated
feature film version of the book, with her serving as producer and as the voice of the
character Karima. Each chapter was directed by an individual director, with The Lion
King's Roger Allers overseeing the project.
 2021 – The film An American Prophecy, directed by Aaron Dworkin and
produced by Robin Schwartz, includes recitations from the book by front-line
healthcare workers, who introduce each section with reflections on their experience
battling the Covid-19 pandemic.