The Prophet represents the acme of Kahlil Gibran's achievement Writing in English Gibran adopted the tone & cadence of King James I's Bible fusing his personalised Christian philosophy with a spirit & oriental wisdom that derives from the richly mixed influences of his native Lebanon His language has a breath-taking beauty Before returning to his birthplace Almustafa the 'prophet' is asked for guidance by the people of Orphalese His words redolent with love & understanding call for universal unity & affirm Gibran's certainty of the correlated nature of all existence & of reincarnation The Prophet has never lost its immediate appeal & has become a ubiquitous touchstone of spiritual literature