We start The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran on August 27, 2026 – in the UKV Zoom Room on Thursday evenings at 8pm EDT.
The prophet Almustafa, having lived in the city of Orphalese for 12 years, finally sees the ship that will carry him home arrive in the harbour. The people of Orphalese, seeing that the prophet is about to leave, call to Almustafa, begging him to stay, and follow him to the great square before the temple. The seeress Almitra, the first person in the city to believe in Almustafa, comes out of the temple and asks him to speak to the gathered crowd before leaving. The rest of the book, apart from the final chapter, consists of Almustafa’s speeches to the crowd on a number of themes relating to life and the human condition.
The people ask the prophet to speak, in turn, of 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.
Each essay reveals deep insights into the impulses of the human heart and mind. The Chicago Post said of The Prophet: “Cadenced and vibrant with feeling, the words of Kahlil Gibran bring to one’s ears the majestic rhythm of Ecclesiastes . . . If there is a man or woman who can read this book without a quiet acceptance of a great man’s philosophy and a singing in the heart as of music born within, that man or woman is indeed dead to life and truth.”
After speaking on all of these topics, Almustafa says a final farewell to the people of Orphalese, and departs on the ship.
Please join us in the UKV Zoom Room on Thursday evenings at 8pm EDT.
