Khalil Gibran

Although Khalil Gibran had affairs with numerous women, he remained a bachelor all his life. It is believed that after returning from Paris in 1910, he proposed to Mary Elizabeth Haskell, but she rejected the proposal because of their age difference. Instead they remained friends for life.

Although he spent the major part of his life in the USA, he was ever loyal to his homeland and never took up US citizenship. In his will, he left a substantial amount for the development of Lebanon so that his countrymen are not forced to emigrate.

On April 10, 1931, at the age of forty-eight, Gibran died from cirrhosis of the liver and tuberculosis in New York. On his death, ‘The New York Sun’ declared that ‘A Prophet Is Dead' and the people of the city held a two-day vigil.

Khalil Gibran, christened as Gibran Khalil Gibran, was born on January 6, 1883 in the ancient town of Bsharri, in the Mount Lebanon Mutasarrifate located in the Kadisha Valley in northern Lebanon, into a family of Maronite Christians. At the time of his birth, it was a semi-autonomous part of the Ottoman Empire.

Khalil’s father, Khalil Gibran Saad Youssef Gibran, was initially a clerk in his uncle’s apothecary shop, but before long he accumulated a huge debt from gambling and lost his job. Later he was appointed a strong man by a local administrator, Raji Bey. He was rough and bad tempered.

Khalil’s mother, Kamila nee Jubran/Rahme, was married twice before and Khalil’s father was her third husband. She had a son named Peter (Butros) from her first marriage. Six years senior to Khalil, he was very industrious and devoted to the family.

Apart from his step-brother Peter, Khalil had two younger sisters, Mariana and Sultana. Their life in the isolated village in Kadisha Valley was devoid of earthly comforts. Khalil never went to school, but was taught Arabic and Bible by the priests who visited their house.

In 1891, Khalil’s father was jailed on charges of graft and their property was confiscated by the authorities. Left homeless, they initially lived in the homes of their relatives, before deciding to follow Kamila’s brother to the USA.

While living in Lebanon, Khalil Gibran used to communicate with Josephine Preston Peabody, a noted poetess, whom he had earlier met at one of the exhibitions held by his mentor Fred Holland Day. In 1903, she helped him to exhibit some of his works at Wellesley College, Massachusetts.

On May 3, 1904, he held his debut exhibition at Day’s studio at Boston. Here he met Mary Elizabeth Haskell, known for helping several talented people. She was the owner of Miss Haskell's School for Girls, later becoming the headmistress of the Cambridge School.

Believing that Gibran had an outstanding future, Haskell began to patronize him. She not only taught him English, but also helped him financially and used her influence to advance his career. Although she was ten years her senior, the two became friends and remained so until his death.

In the winter of 1904, Day’s studio caught fire and Gibran’s entire portfolio was destroyed. He then started writing for an Arabic newspaper, ‘Al-Mouhajir’ (the Emigrant), earning $2 per article. His first article was titled ‘Ru’ya’ (Vision).

In 1905, Gibran had his first work published. Titled ‘Nubthah fi Fan Al-Musiqa’, it was a passionate, but immature work about music. Concurrently, he began studying English with Haskell.

Khalil Gibran is best remembered for his 1923 publication ‘The Prophet’. In this book, the poet talks about twenty-six different subjects such as love, marriage, children, work, death, self-knowledge, eating and drinking, joy and sorrow, buying and selling, crime and punishment, reason and passion through Prophet Almustafa’s conversation with a group of people. The first edition of the book, written in English, was sold out within two years and until 2012, it had sold nine million copies in its American edition alone. It has been translated into forty languages.