Åbo Akademis bibliotek

The Prophet is a book of 26 prose poetry fables written in English by the Lebanese-American poet and writer Kahlil Gibran on the subject of Life and the human condition. 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.

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.

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.

The Prophet was first published in 1923. E-Book: ePUB, 13,000 words, average reading time 1 hour, 5 min. Also available as audiobook, read by Mark F. Smith, running time 1 hour, 28 min.

Khalil Gibran (1883–1931) was a Lebanese-American writer, poet, visual artist and Lebanese nationalist. A member of the New York Pen League, he is chiefly known in the English-speaking world for his 1923 book The Prophet, an early example of inspirational fiction including a series of philosophical essays written in poetic English prose. Gibran is the third-best-selling poet of all time, behind Shakespeare and Laozi. The Prophet has been translated into as many as 110 languages.