Following up on the thread re: Gibran as a poet, I am led to think of men like St. Francis, Bahu Allah, Gibran himself, & others like them. Although Francis & Gibran were both Catholic, they were in many ways in broad sympathy w/ the Bahu Allah, who founded the Bahai Faith in Persia (outlawed there now, it makes its HQ in Israel today). The Bahais came out of Islam, & seek to unify the world's great religions. Gibran's family, for example (his maternal grandfather was a Maronite Catholic priest) was always welcoming Jews, Muslims (Sunnis, Shi'ites, Sufis), Christians, Bahais, & others. This greatly influenced Gibran as an adult. Lebanon, as most people know, has seen the best & the worst of multi-religious occupancy in one place. Although my patience for modern Islam is limited, Islam wasn't always what it is today, & may not always be what it is. It contains w/i it the potential for change, as all things do. What do people here think of the deeper philosophy? By that, I mean work like Gibran's 'The Prophet',