Kahlil was born in Lebanon, which, like Palestine, was a province of Ottoman Turkey control. Lebanon was somewhat disunified by religion but Kahlil's Christian family were friends with Muslims. The Turkish leaders were called Pashas.
On coming to America, Kahlil's boyhood home was in Boston until about 1900 when he had written enough stories and done enough art to make a living and he moved out on his own to New York where many artists lived; with a trip to Lebanon and another to Paris to strengthen his art. In his writing Kahlil used both Christian and Muslim ideas, a combination sometimes called Sufi which is sometimes its own thing, sometimes a group inside Islam, and sometimes … well it all gets confusing how people see mystical ideas and religious ideas but at the very least the commonality among religions was reflected in Kahlil's ideas and writings. Anyway, he happened to move close to Juliet Thompson who was a Bahá’í by then and Bahá’ís also had an understanding that all the religions were from God. It isn’t exactly the same ideas as Sufis might say but it’s a lot closer to Sufi ideas than to those common among the various religionists of the day who tended to be more separate and think they were better. And Kahlil and Juliet became friends and she often read his writings and they probably showed eachother their drawings and other art pieces. Juliet introduced Kahlil to Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings and later Kahlil called them great.
So in 1912 'Abdu’l-Bahá was coming to America and the way Bahá’ís in America often communicated their ideas about the specifics of who `Abdu’l-Bahá was and Who He was, let alone how the newspapers referred to Him, it would be a common enough idea to say `Abdu’l-Bahá was like the return of Jesus in the flesh and here he was coming to America. Bahá’ís were figuring out speaking opportunities and chances to meet people all across America. Somewhere along the way Kahlil asked if he could have a visit with `Abdu’l-Bahá and draw Him. This idea was approved and the night before Kahlil met `Abdu’l-Bahá, so an entry in a letter to a confidant says, Kahlil could not sleep. Alas we don’t know what went through his mind that night. But the next day indeed they met and Kahlil began a drawing of Him. And they met another day and Gibran worked on the drawing more. But `Abdu’l-Bahá had many meetings and events transpire. In broad strokes, as was pointed out elsewhere on the internet and in books, `Abdu’l-Bahá was a man who had been freed from imprisonment, came to spend time on an island of Manhattan where He gave talks and inspired people with His words and actions. People flocked to meet Him and He was also able to make space to talk with children. And after some months later still in 1912 He was to leave this island of Manhattan and eventually go home. Juliet Thompson herself was very devoted to `Abdu’l-Bahá and often did risky things to be able to watch and serve Him at any occasion, especially on this island. It is also known that Kahlil began working on the ideas for the book The Prophet in 1912.
Most coverage of Kahlil Gibran and the Bahá’í Faith ends there. If you read carefully there are a few more incidents but it becomes a bit unachored in time and place. I’m here to lengthen and specify that background.
In December 1915 Gibran replied to a letter from Thompson receptive to meeting more of her friends including Baha'i Albert Vail, then already known for his great speaking ability and later member of the Race Amity conferences that happened, often partnered with Louis Gregory. We don't know that they met but it is possible - Vail was in Boston 1916 for example.
In 1919 a certain Christian minister attended the unveiling of the Tablets of the Divine Plan in New York. This minister was even on the program to give a talk during the meetings, though alas we don’t know what he said. The talks were generally inspiring Bahá’ís to take these great ideas and calls to action in the Tablets to heart as a something to really take to heart. And here’s this Christian minister on the program. He was not the only Christian minister present but he would have a longer relationship with the Faith - bit different kind of minister one would think. It gets more interesting. Two people were noted members of his church - Kahlil Gibran, who had already begun to share readings drafts of his book, and Mountfort Mills, a Bahá’í and one who in a few years would be elected chairman of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of American and Canada. At the time people were more loose about affiliations, and, again, at the time, the Bahá’ís in New York had no single place or center to go to so Bahá’ís went in directions to meetings as was convenient to them including other Churches. Mountfort Mills went to this a-typical Christian minister’s Church. Where Gibran also went and gave readings of his book as he was working on it. And during the time he began to call it The Prophet. Indeed `Abdu’l-Bahá noted there might be some letters coming that Gibran and the minister should consider publishing more widely. And Gibran himself was also at the 1919 convention and spoke to the group.
In the Spring of 1921 it goes further. In the newspapers there are advertisements of Kahlil Gibran and the Bahá’ís calling a meeting. At this church. To discuss the personal importance of the Prophet in a religion. Alas we don’t know what happened at the meeting but the list of Bahá’ís attending the meeting included Juliet and other very well known Bahá’ís.
In 1922 a Bahá’í traveling teacher sent by 'Abdul-Bahá spoke at this Church more than once.
The Prophet was published in 1923. Kahlil recognition was spreading. Book clubs were reading it, parts were appearing in newspapers, it and he were getting more and more well known. It was approachable and meaningful to people. They loved it. By 1926 annual readings occur at this Church.
In 1928 the Bahá’ís have bought space to have their own Center. And to dedicate the Center they have two elements of the program advertised - a viewing of the one film of `Abdu’l-Bahá that was taken when He was in New York, and comments by Kahlil Gibran. Juliet was there and commented on this but didn’t say when or where this happened. But there’s a newspaper advertisement listing viewing the film and that Kahlil Gibran would be there in 1928. The way Juliet tells the story, from the viewing of the film onward, Kahlil was in tears. When he went on stage he was in tears. When he began to speak he was in tears. He couldn’t get a sentence out. He was overcome, crying. Suddenly he yelled out “I declare `Abdu’l-Bahá the Manifestation of the Age!” and ran from the auditorium weeping. He had used Bahá’í terminology, not Christian or Muslim, and he got it kind of wrong - Bahá’ís don’t see `Abdu’l-Bahá as “the Manifestation of the Age”; that’s Bahá’u’lláh, `Abdu’l-Bahá’s “Manifestation of the Age” and father. But `Abdu’l-Bahá has the station of being the Exemplar, or shall we say the example, of the teachings of His Father (and yes that has a double meaning, at least.) So the mixup is close to home. Plenty close for a non-Bahá’í to get alittle confused.
Also in 1928 Kahlil Gibran published another book - Jesus, the Son of Man - and there is some mention he wrote it thinking of `Abdu’l-Bahá. But it goes further. When WWI ended in the Ottoman retreats and Palestine and Lebanon were freed by force, the Pasha threat to kill `Abdu’l-Bahá failed in their retreat. Where the British took up the protectorate of Palestine the French took it up of Lebanon and then independences of their own began to form, distinctly.
“For some years” before 1932 Bahá’ís continued to hold an observance for the Ascension of 'Abdul-Bahá in St. Mark’s-on-the-Bowerie, the Church of the minister discussed.
From there the story of Kahlil Gibran and the Bahá’í Faith goes silent as far as we know now. He died in early 1931 and he never married though he loved two women and asked both to marry him. It didn’t work out either time, alas, and in truth he didn’t have much more time before he died.
Now the endnotes including a couple points not covered above:
* Found by Dr. Hussein Ahdieh circa 2020-1 and saved to archive.org: Kahlil Gibran Autograph Letter Signed, Boston; postmarked December 28, 1915. Addressed to Miss Juliet Thompson. Gibran expresses his delight in making acquaintances with Thompson's friends and wishes her a happy New Year. It reads, in full: "I shall be more than glad to know Albert Vail. Your friends are my friends - even those whome [sic] I have not yet known. I wonder how many friends you and I have of whome we know nothing? I know that the new year will bring you blessings - just as well as I know that the heavens will fulfill all the great dreams of your great heart. And may the Salam of Allah be with you always." Accompanied by the letter's original transmittal cover as well as a 4.75" x 7" black and white photograph of Gibran. https://web.archive.org/web/20210907150657/https://historical.ha.com/itm/autographs/authors/kahlil-gibran-autograph-letter-signed-total-2-items-/a/6216-47276.s (and Vail in Boston in 1916 is at https://www.newspapers.com/clip/1119093/albert-r-vail-at-church-society-meeting/ )
* The May 17, 1919 Star of the West notes Rev. Guthrie from St. Marks-in-the-Bouwerie Church on the program for the reception for the national Ridvan Feast, where the Tablets of the Divine Plan were unveiled, April 26. See - http://starofthewest.info/viewer.erb?vol=10&page=55 and http://starofthewest.info/viewer.erb?vol=10&page=59
* Gibran's comment is on page 60… "The Convention of Abdul-Baha", by Joseph H. Hannen, Star of the West, eds Albert Windust, Gertrude Buikema, Zia Bagdadi, v10n4, May 17, 1919, p60, see https://bahai.works/index.php?title=File:SW_Volume10.pdf&page=60
* https://newtopiamagazine.wordpress.com/2013/04/16/the-brothers-guthrie-pagan-christianity-of-the-early-20th-century/ "The Brothers Guthrie: Pagan Christianity of the Early 20th Century", by Kimberly Nichols, Newtopia Magazine, April 16, 2013, notes that in 1919 Kahlil Gibran was appointed to the St. Mark’s Arts Committee and that he read from his yet to be published book The Prophet, “his voice echoing in the small church.” (and) `Abdu’l-Bahá had directed Mills to join the church and was given some leadership in the church.
* https://books.google.com/books?id=ErhJAAAAYAAJ&lpg=PA192&ots=PKh37pJ6sn&pg=PA192, The Message of the East, a Vedanta Monthly, from October, 1921, noted that in 1919 the “distinguished young Arab poet, Kahlil Gibran, first read some of his own poems” at the church.
* https://bahai.works/Star_of_the_West/Volume_10/Issue_6 see page 110 in a Tablet to Juliet Thompson.
* Gibran's exhibiting at St. Mark's https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4729792/exhibition_by_kahlil_gibran_at_st/ St. Mark's-in-the-Bouwerie…, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)8 Nov 1919, Sat • Page 16
* Newspaper clippings about Kahlil Gibran and the Bahá'ís having a meeting on the importance of the Manifestation at the church:
and in the NY Times
-> Note the Bahá'í participants - Glenn Shook, Howard McNutt, Horace Holley, Juliet Thompson, Mrs. I. F. Chamberlain, Urbain Ledoux.
* For the inaugural meeting of the NY Bahá'í Center see:
Prior to this work compiling newspaper clippings the best available information is from: Bushrui, Suheil B.; Jenkins, Joe (1998).
Kahlil Gibran, Man and Poet: a New Biography. Oneworld Publications. ISBN 978-1851682676. Of course there is
https://bahai-library.com/thompson_diary Diary of Juliet Thompson by Juliet Thompson and Marzieh Gail, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1983, first written or published 1947. And alittle more recent works include Christopher Buck's “Kahlil Gibran" in
American Writers: A Collection of Literary Biographies. Supplement XX in 2010. See:
https://www.academia.edu/4332823/_Kahlil_Gibran_American_Writers_Supplement_XX_2010_ which was also translated into Arabic and French, and another work atat
https://books.google.com/books?id=2fRoYQSLfL8C&lpg=PA110&ots=V922_UrM5w&pg=PA110 Discovering Imageless Truths; the Bahá'í Pilgrimage of Julieth Thompson, artist, by Christopher G. White, Chapter 4 in
American Religious Liberalism, edited by Leigh E. Schmidt, Sally M. Promey, Indiana University Press, Jul 30, 2012, pp. 97–115, see pp. 109-110 and a kernel of some ideas of this note also comes from
http://bahaiteachings.org/bahai-influence-on-kahlil-gibrans-the-prophet though it too lacks knowledge of these newspaper clippings (see the comments there.)
Also please note that Kahlil Gibran may reference some Bahá'í ideas but he also has others - he believed in reincarnation for example. And in the age he wrote, among progressive thinkers, there was some priority to noting women as capable and deserving of note on their own and not solely to be represented by the man of the relationship. Thus he refers to marriage as that of partners and not of the single unity of marriage - these ideas of respecting women and the leadership of women are reflected in Bahá'í teachings and the Bahá'ís have distinguished a remarkable level of achievement promoting women in the Faith and beyond (see among my notes,) Bahá'í marriages emphasis the joining in union rather than in partnership. But given all that I can highly recommend viewing the animated feature The Prophet based on Kahlil Gibran and his book. You would not be far away to picture the antics of Almitra as reminiscent of Juliet, lol, albeit more of her spirit than her age and her concern of course more for 'Abdu'l-Bahá; not that the production company of the video even knew about her.
(Originally on a FB note from June 2016)
