By James Aitchison

When the Lebanese-born American poet Kahlil Gibran published The Prophet in 1923, he little knew it would become one of the best-selling books of all time.

Nor could he have known that the world’s most famous rockstar Elvis Presley would become one of its most devoted adherents.

Gibran was born in 1883 in the village of Bsharri, Lebanon, then part of the Ottoman Empire.  His Maronite Christian family immigrated to the United States in 1895.  By 1911, Gibran was settled in New York and had become a respected writer, poet and visual artist.  However, he rejected being called a philosopher.

The prestigious Alfred A. Knopf company published his first book The Madman in 1918, while Gibran was still writing The Prophet; Knopf published that book too.  

Recognised as the single most important influence on Arabic poetry and literature during the first half of the twentieth century, Gibran explored many literary forms — poetry, parables, short stories, political essays, letters and plays.  After he studied painting in Paris, he created nearly seven hundred original works of art, working primarily with pencil, ink, water colour and gouache.

A heavy drinker, Gibran died in 1931, aged 48, from cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis in one lung.  His remains, and his royalties, were transferred to his birth village Bsharri where a museum dedicated to his works is located. 

At the time of his death, his work was hailed as innovative, “breaking with forms of the past, by symbolism, and a sentimental, melancholic yet oratorical style”.  He lived to see The Prophet gain initial acclaim — but died long before it became a global bestseller.

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The counterculture of the 1960s and 1970s led to The Prophet’s soaring in popularity.  It became a New Age “bible” and has remained popular ever since.  In fact, it has never been out of print since it was first published.  Translated into more than 100 languages, it clearly ranks amongst the top ten most translated books in history.

In July 1956, Elvis Presley’s then girlfriend June Juanico gave the rockstar his first copy of the book.

Presley was immediately touched by Gibran’s writing.  Its language and spirit resonated with the singer and he referred to the book for the rest of his life.  It became his lodestar and he shared the book’s philosophy with friends and fellow artists.  His marked-up copies still exist in two museums.  

Presley wasn’t Gibran’s only pop culture acolyte.  John Lennon used a quote in the song Julia from the Beatles’ 1968 album The Beatles, also known as “The White Album”.  Johnny Cash recorded an audio cassette book The Eye of the Prophet.  David Bowie mentioned Gibran in his song The Width of a Circle.

The book’s influence, and Gibran’s writing, have sent ripples spreading through many cultures.

In Gibran’s 1925 essay, The New Frontier, he posed a question for the leaders of the newly created state of Lebanon: “Are you a politician asking what your country can do for you or a zealous one asking what you can do for your country?”  Thirty-six years later, concluding his inaugural address, President John F. Kennedy made his iconic statement: “Ask not what your country can do for you — ask what you can do for your country”.

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After Shakespeare and Lao-Tzu, Kahlil Gibran is the third most widely read poet in history.  The Prophet was one of the best-selling books in the 20^th Century — in the United States alone.

The King of Rock ’n’ Roll, the boy from Mississippi, was merely one soul touched by Gibran’s immortal words.