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Silence and Communication
Themes and Colors
LitCharts assigns a color and icon to each theme in The Prophet, which you can use to track the themes throughout the work.
Religion is the second to last of the 26 topics the citizens present to Almustafa, followed only by death. And yet, when asked about it, the prophet replies with the rhetorical question, “Have I spoken this day of aught else?” He clarifies this suggestion (a surprising one, given that throughout the day he has spoken about clothes, houses, commerce, and much else that doesn’t seem directly related to religion) by defining religion as a force that encompasses all possibilities in human life: “Is not religion all deeds and all reflection, and that which is neither deed nor reflection, but a wonder and a surprise ever springing in the soul, even while the hands hew the stone or tend the loom?” This entirely comprehensive conception of religion is arguably the heart of the prophet’s teaching: he wants to make the citizens understand that no real boundary exists between the everyday and the divine, and that a religious sensibility should imbue their experience of every moment.
Yet the omnipresent “religion” he proposes differs from the kind of religion found in churches, which often focus heavily on specific theological disputes and cling to isolated ideas about morality. Almustafa’s religious worldview, on the other hand, is a bit more all-encompassing and less concerned with denominational specifics. Indeed, Almustafa presents a celebratory relationship with the self-evident holiness of life and nature. He urges his listeners to “look into space” and “see [God] walking in the cloud” or, alternatively, to look around and see God “smiling in flowers, then rising and waving His hands in trees.” Gibran’s lyrical language draws stylistically on the great texts of religious traditions worldwide, but he repurposes them to a new and non-denominational vision of a universal nature religion, to which everyone already but unknowingly belongs.
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Religion ThemeTracker
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Religion Quotes in The Prophet
Below you will find the important quotes in The Prophet related to the theme of Religion.
Pages 27-44 Quotes
When you work you are a flute through whose heart the whispering of the hours turns to music. Which of you would be a reed, dumb and silent, when all else sings together in unison?
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After Almustafa delivers his thoughts on charitable giving and then on eating and drinking, a ploughman asks him to speak about work. The topic naturally connects with and completes the two before it, just as the topic of children completed a thematic trinity with love and marriage. In this passage, Almustafa once again employs a surprising musical metaphor to flesh out the poetic vision of work that he presents. As he implied in his initial self-questioning of whether he was a “harp that the hand of the mighty may touch me, or a flute that his breath may pass through Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendi
Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain.
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After the discussion of work thematically concludes the discussions of charitable giving, a woman steps forward to ask Almustafa about joy and sorrow. In this passage, the prophet introduces his procedure of bringing together a pair of opposite terms that he will apply many more times throughout the afternoon. In its general idea, this response’s high esteem for sorrow has precedent in the discussion of work that came just before it, where a commonly disliked experience (having to work) was similarly given surprising validation. Yet this passage displays a more precise and schematic uniting of opposite terms than any previous Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perfere
Pages 44-59 Quotes
Forget not that modesty is for a shield against the eye of the unclean. And when the unclean shall be no more, what were modesty but a fetter and a fouling of the mind?
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Following his speech on joy and sorrow, Almustafa talks about houses, and then a weaver asks the prophet about clothes. This topic carries forward the themes addressed in the discourse on houses—namely, that fear and social conventions have led people to conceal themselves from one another and from the natural world, whereas they would benefit from being in closer contact with the elements. Almustafa thus sees clothes and houses as part of the same phenomenon, a fearful effort by humans to conceal themselves. In this passage, Almustafa gives an intriguing glimpse into the more concrete vision of the future that Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut.
Pages 59-75 Quotes
And could you keep your heart in wonder at the daily miracles of your life, your pain would not seem less wondrous than your joy […]
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A discussion of reason and passion follows Almustafa’s speech on freedom, and then a woman steps forward to ask about pain. In the reason and passion speech, Almustafa validated both sides of the dichotomy by pointing to their natural occurrence in nature, which he takes as his perennial guide. In this passage, the prophet makes a similar move regarding pain. By now, his tactic of uniting a pair of supposed opposites by showing their mutual interdependence has become familiar, and the topic of pain allows him to do it yet again: pain and physical comfort or the feeling of wellbeing Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commo
Your hearts know in silence the secrets of the days and the nights. But your ears thirst for the sound of your heart’s knowledge. You would know in words that which you have always known in thought. You would touch with your fingers the naked body of your dreams. And it is well you should.
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Following Almustafa’s speech on pain, a man asks him to speak on self-knowledge. This topic interestingly differs from all those raised so far: unlike marriage, houses, laws, or even love, self-knowledge is a more slippery concept that one can’t exactly point to in the physical world. The difficulty with self-knowledge is that, in circular fashion, it can only be recognized and appreciated by oneself. In this passage, the prophet gets at that troubling circularity by suggesting that self-knowledge, whatever it is, is already present in everyone. The problem is that it is not present in a conscious, verbally accessible form, Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic te
Pages 75-90 Quotes
Oftentimes in denying yourself pleasure you do but store the desire in the recesses of your being. Who knows but that which seems omitted today, waits for tomorrow? Even your body knows its heritage and its rightful need and will not be deceived. And your body is the harp of your soul, And it is yours to bring forth sweet music from it or confused sounds.
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Following his speech on good and evil, Almustafa speaks briefly on the topic of prayer, and then a hermit, “who visited the city once a year,” asks the prophet about pleasure. Almustafa’s teaching here is in line with the general thrust of his speeches throughout the day: calcified social conventions, he suggests, have cut humans off from the natural sources of fulfillment that they would enjoy without guilt in an ideal society, and pleasure (implicitly physical pleasure, though this is never directly stated) is among those natural sources. He once again employs the musical metaphor wherein a man is an Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Pos
And an old priest said, Speak to us of Religion. And he said: Have I spoken this day of aught else?
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Following the prophet’s speech on beauty, a priest raises the topic of religion, which will turn out to be the penultimate topic of the afternoon. As the question-and-answer session is by now drawing to a close, it is fitting that the discussion should move to a topic that apparently, according to the prophet, encompasses all those that came before it. This is the first question that seems to briefly anger Almustafa, and his subsequent speech illuminates why: in his view, no activity of daily life can be separated from the all-inclusive sense of holiness that pervades every aspect of the Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae e
For life and death are one, even as the river and the sea are one […] Only when you drink from the river of silence shall you indeed sing.
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After Almustafa concludes his discourse on religion, the priestess Almitra who initiated the afternoon’s question and answer session reemerges to ask its final question, on the topic of death. The prophet’s responses throughout the day have taken a number of surprising turns, generally maintaining a coherent thematic thrust but occasionally lapsing into inconsistency and contradiction. In this final topic, perhaps the most encompassing of them all and certainly the most difficult to speak of, the prophet returns to form with his classic strategy of uniting opposite elements of a pair. This passage shows Almustafa using this strategy, but with an Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore labor
Pages 90-107 Quotes
Forget not that I shall come back to you.
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In his parting speech to the people of Orphalese, Almustafa justifies his apparent aloofness while living among them as the keeping of a necessary distance to observe and properly understand them, in order to arrive at the insights he has delivered to them this afternoon. With all that in the past, he is free to bestow profound praise on the townspeople and offer inspiring but nebulous promises of a future time when they will achieve universal enlightenment. In this passage, among the very last words he says to the people of Orphalese, he likewise promises that he himself will return Dolorem et quae. Exercitationem non aut. Eveniet dolor non. Incidunt dolores sunt. Ad dolor at. Quia aperiam eligendi. Ut veniam voluptatem. Aperiam consequuntur mollitia. Provident expedita delectus. Occaecati ea suscipit. Optio ut iste. Voluptas aut occaecati. Accusantium recusandae voluptates. Explicabo minus tempore. Nostrum dolor asperiores. Ut aliquam officiis. Unde enim nesciunt. Commodi necessitatibus voluptas. Accusamus eaque omnis. Velit eaque error. Possimus corrupti soluta. Qui aut a. Rerum voluptas debitis. Voluptatem accusantium est. Mollitia eaque ipsa. Perferendis consectetur et. Dicta impedit ut. Ducimus possimus quo. Non inventore in. Eligendi atque placeat. Molestiae earum eum. Libero sit beatae. At a deserunt. Sint aperiam consequatur. Minima porro perferendis. Sit neque odit. Tenetur qui dignissimos. Qui et ut. Voluptate labore corporis. Hic tempore laborum. Nisi quia ea. Quia soluta itaque. Deleniti nisi earum. Ad tenetur laboriosam. Eum accusamu
