Khalil was born in Lebanon, which, like Palestine, was a province of Ottoman Turkey control. Lebanon was somewhat disunified by religion but Khalil’s Christian family were friends with Muslims. The Turkish leaders were called Pashas.
On coming to America, Khalil’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 Khalil 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 Khalil’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 Khalil and Juliet became friends and she often read his writings and they probably showed eachother their drawings and other art pieces. Juliet introduced Khalil to Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings and later Khalil 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 Khalil asked if he could have a visit with `Abdu’l-Bahá and draw Him. This idea was approved and the night before Khalil met `Abdu’l-Bahá, so an entry in a letter to a confidant says, Khalil could not sleep. Alas we don’t know what went through his mind that night. But the next day indeed they met and Khalil 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 Khalil began working on the ideas for the book The Prophet in 1912.
Most coverage of Khalil 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 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 preset 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 - Khalil Gibran, who had already begun to share readings drafts of his book, and Montfort 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. Montfort Mills went to this a-typical Christian minister’s Church. Where Khalil 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”.
In the Spring of 1921 it goes further. In the newspapers there are advertisements of Khalil 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. Khalil’s 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 Khalil 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 Khalil Gibran would be there in 1928. The way Juliet tells the story, from the viewing of the film onward, Khalil 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 Khalil 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 Khalil 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:
* 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
* 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.
* 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 Khalil Gibran and the Bahá'ís having a meeting on the importance of the Manifestation at the church:
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4729852/talk_by_kahlil_gibran_with_bahais/ New Thought - Do we need a new world religion to unite the old religions?, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)26 Mar 1921, Sat • Page 7
and in the NY Times
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4788552/kahlil_gibran_talks_with_bahais_do/
-> Note the Bahá'í participants - Glenn Shook, Howard McNutt, Horace Holley, Juliet Thompson, Mrs. I. F. Chamberlain, Urbain Ledoux.
* Sep 1922 Star of the West notes Fazel Mazindirani spoke at St. Marks’s-in-the-Bouwerie more than once - http://starofthewest.info/viewer.erb?vol=14&page=28
* For the inaugural meeting of the NY Baha’i Center see https://bahaikipedia.org/Coverage_of_the_Baha%27i_Faith_in_New_York_City_via_the_New_York_Age_newspaper#1928
and
- http://bahai-library.com/gail_thompson_remembers_gibran
and
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4753728/viewing_of_abdul_baha_film_with_ahmed/ View Baha’i film, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)3 Mar 1928, Sat • Page 3
* https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4730680/memorial_for_kahlil_gibran/ The Rev. Dr. William Norman Guthrie…, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)24 Oct 1931, Sat • Page 11
* https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4823493/bahai_talks_at_center/ Baha'i Center(advert), The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)5 Dec 1931, Sat • Page 13 Rev. Guthrie appears at Baha’i Center.
* Baha’is had held the Ascension of `Abdu’l-Bahá commemoration in 1932 “and for some years” at St. Mark’s-in-the-Bouwerie - http://bahai-news.info/viewer.erb?vol=01&page=462
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 bahai-library.com/thompson_diary Diary of Juliet Thompsonby Juliet Thompson and Marzieh Gail, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1983, first written or published 1947. And alittle more recent work was included at https://books.google.com/books?id=2fRoYQSLfL8C&lpg=PA110&ots=V922_UrM5w&pg=PA110#v=onepage&q&f=false 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 Khalil Gibran may reference some Bahá'í ideas but he also has others - he believed in reincarnation for example.
On coming to America, Khalil’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 Khalil 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 Khalil’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 Khalil and Juliet became friends and she often read his writings and they probably showed eachother their drawings and other art pieces. Juliet introduced Khalil to Bahá’u’lláh’s Writings and later Khalil 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 Khalil asked if he could have a visit with `Abdu’l-Bahá and draw Him. This idea was approved and the night before Khalil met `Abdu’l-Bahá, so an entry in a letter to a confidant says, Khalil could not sleep. Alas we don’t know what went through his mind that night. But the next day indeed they met and Khalil 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 Khalil began working on the ideas for the book The Prophet in 1912.
Most coverage of Khalil 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 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 preset 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 - Khalil Gibran, who had already begun to share readings drafts of his book, and Montfort 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. Montfort Mills went to this a-typical Christian minister’s Church. Where Khalil 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”.
In the Spring of 1921 it goes further. In the newspapers there are advertisements of Khalil 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. Khalil’s 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 Khalil 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 Khalil Gibran would be there in 1928. The way Juliet tells the story, from the viewing of the film onward, Khalil 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 Khalil 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 Khalil 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:
* 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
* 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.
* 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 Khalil Gibran and the Bahá'ís having a meeting on the importance of the Manifestation at the church:
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4729852/talk_by_kahlil_gibran_with_bahais/ New Thought - Do we need a new world religion to unite the old religions?, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)26 Mar 1921, Sat • Page 7
and in the NY Times
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4788552/kahlil_gibran_talks_with_bahais_do/
-> Note the Bahá'í participants - Glenn Shook, Howard McNutt, Horace Holley, Juliet Thompson, Mrs. I. F. Chamberlain, Urbain Ledoux.
* Sep 1922 Star of the West notes Fazel Mazindirani spoke at St. Marks’s-in-the-Bouwerie more than once - http://starofthewest.info/viewer.erb?vol=14&page=28
* For the inaugural meeting of the NY Baha’i Center see https://bahaikipedia.org/Coverage_of_the_Baha%27i_Faith_in_New_York_City_via_the_New_York_Age_newspaper#1928
and
- http://bahai-library.com/gail_thompson_remembers_gibran
and
- https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4753728/viewing_of_abdul_baha_film_with_ahmed/ View Baha’i film, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)3 Mar 1928, Sat • Page 3
* https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4730680/memorial_for_kahlil_gibran/ The Rev. Dr. William Norman Guthrie…, The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)24 Oct 1931, Sat • Page 11
* https://www.newspapers.com/clip/4823493/bahai_talks_at_center/ Baha'i Center(advert), The Brooklyn Daily Eagle (Brooklyn, New York)5 Dec 1931, Sat • Page 13 Rev. Guthrie appears at Baha’i Center.
* Baha’is had held the Ascension of `Abdu’l-Bahá commemoration in 1932 “and for some years” at St. Mark’s-in-the-Bouwerie - http://bahai-news.info/viewer.erb?vol=01&page=462
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 bahai-library.com/thompson_diary Diary of Juliet Thompsonby Juliet Thompson and Marzieh Gail, Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1983, first written or published 1947. And alittle more recent work was included at https://books.google.com/books?id=2fRoYQSLfL8C&lpg=PA110&ots=V922_UrM5w&pg=PA110#v=onepage&q&f=false 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 Khalil Gibran may reference some Bahá'í ideas but he also has others - he believed in reincarnation for example.
Let me know what you think...
1 comment:
For those interested I've also got a version of this inside facebook… see https://www.facebook.com/notes/steven-kolins/on-khalil-gibran-and-the-bahá%C3%AD-faith/1044854908902314
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