The writer of the book “The Prophet” is Khalil Gibran. Khalil Gibran was a Lebanese national. After spending his early years at Lebanon, he along with his family moved to United States. Khalil Gibran from very early age knew different languages like Arabic, English and few more. The credit goes to her mother who was very helpful and supportive in learning. Khalil Gibran was not only a poet and writer but a very good painter as well. He learned painting form France and his thoughts were transferred on paper by him in the form of short stories. Mainly his work is in Arabic language. Khalil Gibran is famous for his poetry, intellectual writings and thoughts. He got famous when his book The Prophet published in 1923 (Roger M.Allen). This book is in poetry style, but the stories written in such a manner that every individual is get attracted to it. This book brought Khalil Gibran among top writers of the world.
This book is a combination of emotions, philosophy and spiritual factors. The book tells us the story of a boy who is migrated to other place, but still wants to go back to his homeland. Although he spends many years in a new land but he still was not adjusted to the norms and traditions of that land. Whoever has read the book is simply washed away by the thoughts and imaginations of the writer. The basic idea depicted in a very nice poetic ways. This book conveys a message that how a boy returns to his land and this was one of his dreams. For him, the dream was difficult but not impossible.
The Prophet named Al-Mustafa meets different people and talks to them about the various aspects of their lives. The love, the weddings, the happiness, lives of babies and grownups, sorrows in the lives, and at the same time the very bitter fact of life, immortality, these all aspects are addressed in the book by the character “Al-Mustafa,” The Prophet . It means all parts and sections of life included in this book. A book on the topic of love and weddings and marriages is portraying a very beautiful version. The Prophet relates the love to a very difficult course of life. One indulged in love does not mean he/she loves someone, and that’s all. But the real essence is the hardships one face in the ways of love. Similarly, according to the book, the prophet speaks about the marriage and wedding in a very philosophical manner. The marriage does not mean that two people now will compromise or will affect each other’s lives and decisions. But in true essence, marriage is a chance to live together and at the same time the individual identity is not lost. So when we go down reading the book more and more, we come to know about the wisdom and the true attitude of the writer towards life. The writer has very simply and beautifully expressed the norms of life through beautiful verses of poems. The book also imparts a very clear picture on the way people live in the world depending on their incomes and salaries. The prophet confines the idea of unemployment to the person’s social life. If any person loses his/her job, it is not mere losing money but losing face value and losing confidence. From this point, we can clearly see how closely Khalil Gibran, the writer, has examined the life and pattern of life. By working, man can contribute to the earth as well as to the individual lives. So the prophet says by working, by engaging into kind of work provides a positive message that one works for the purpose of providing benefit to those who they love. By working not only earth and its environment get positive attitude but the loving relation also strengthens.
Apart from these two aspects of love, work and marriage, the sorrow, and the kids’ lives are also discussed by the writer in the book. The book shows the attachment of a person to the lifelong luxuries. If any person feels comfortable with the luxurious life, it means that a person is willing to go on the route that is very thin and fragile. It means the life should not be meant only for spending in luxurious ways.
The book also gives a very close insight to the spiritual and physical freedom. When a writer talks about the prayer in the book, he shows his sign of love towards God, but at the same time God knows what is in the hearts of a man. When someone prays it does not mean that God knows nothing about one’s sorrows or sufferings. God just wants to make a relation between the one who wants and one who grants.
Finally, we can conclude the thinking and ideas portrayed in the book. The book shows that a man is not in one state of mind always. Similarly, a man has to pass through different phases of life. And a man should face every phase with bravery. If there is happiness in life, the sorrows are also part of the life. If one wants to be happy, he/she must learn to live in the world by accepting all the challenges that come in their way.
Khalil Gibran in his poetic verses very beautifully narrated various phases of lives. The prophet tells us that if we see someone is separated from others that does not mean in a real sense, but separating from others mean getting isolated. For every human being, emotions and it’s expression are necessary. The true essence of life is to face bravely every phase that comes in the life.
References:
Gibran, Khalil. The Prophet. The Floating Press, , 01-Jan-2009.
Roger M. A. Allen, Joseph Edmund Lowry, Devin J. Stewart. Essays in Arabic Literary Biography: 1850-1950. Otto Harrassowitz Verlag, 2010.
