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Transcriber's Note regarding the illustrations

  "The Book of Khalid" contains illustrations drawn by Khalil
  Gibran, the other early Arab-American writer (author of "The
  Prophet"), that are well-known and exceptional. There are no
  captions in the original book, and are very difficult to describe
  in words. Their locations in the text have been marked with the
  text '[Illustration]'. The reader is encouraged to view these
  illustrations in the HTML version of this ebook.

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                          THE BOOK OF KHALID




                                 THE
                            BOOK OF KHALID

                                  BY
                             AMEEN RIHANI

[Illustration]




                               NEW YORK
                        DODD, MEAD AND COMPANY
                                 1911




                           COPYRIGHT, 1911
                       BY DODD, MEAD & COMPANY

                      _Published, October_, 1911




CONTENTS

BOOK THE FIRST

IN THE EXCHANGE

 CHAPTER                                                          PAGE
         AL-FATIHAH                                                  v
         TO MAN                                                      3
       I PROBING THE TRIVIAL                                         5
      II THE CITY OF BAAL                                           14
     III VIA DOLOROSA                                               25
      IV ON THE WHARF OF ENCHANTMENT                                34
       V THE CELLAR OF THE SOUL                                     46
      VI THE SUMMER AFTERNOON OF A SHAM                             58
     VII IN THE TWILIGHT OF AN IDEA                                 70
    VIII WITH THE HURIS                                             83

BOOK THE SECOND

IN THE TEMPLE

         TO NATURE                                                  97
       I THE DOWRY OF DEMOCRACY                                     99
      II SUBTRANSCENDENTAL                                         115
     III THE FALSE DAWN                                            125
      IV THE LAST STAR                                             130
       V PRIESTO-PARENTAL                                          143
      VI FLOUNCES AND RUFFLES                                      154
     VII THE HOWDAJ OF FALSEHOOD                                   167
    VIII THE KAABA OF SOLITUDE                                     181
      IX SIGNS OF THE HERMIT                                       192
       X THE VINEYARD IN THE KAABA                                 202

BOOK THE THIRD

IN KULMAKAN

         TO GOD                                                    217
       I THE DISENTANGLEMENT OF THE ME                             219
      II THE VOICE OF THE DAWN                                     231
     III THE SELF ECSTATIC                                         239
      IV ON THE OPEN HIGHWAY                                       249
       V UNION AND PROGRESS                                        274
      VI REVOLUTIONS WITHIN AND WITHOUT                            287
     VII A DREAM OF EMPIRE                                         298
    VIII ADUMBRATIONS                                              311
      IX THE STONING AND FLIGHT                                    325
       X THE DESERT                                                333
         AL-KHATIMAH                                               341




AL-FATIHAH


In the Khedivial Library of Cairo, among the Papyri of the Scribe of
Amen-Ra and the beautifully illuminated copies of the Koran, the
modern Arabic Manuscript which forms the subject of this Book, was
found. The present Editor was attracted to it by the dedication and
the rough drawings on the cover; which, indeed, are as curious, if not
as mystical, as ancient Egyptian symbols. One of these is supposed to
represent a New York Skyscraper in the shape of a Pyramid, the other
is a dancing group under which is written: "The Stockbrokers and the
Dervishes." And around these symbols, in Arabic circlewise, these
words:--"_And this is my Book, the Book of Khalid, which I dedicate to
my Brother Man, my Mother Nature, and my Maker God._"

Needless to say we asked at once the Custodian of the Library to give
us access to this Book of Khalid, and after examining it, we hired an
amanuensis to make a copy for us. Which copy we subsequently used as
the warp of our material; the woof we shall speak of in the following
chapter. No, there is nothing in this Work which we can call ours,
except it be the Loom. But the weaving, we assure the Reader, was a
mortal process; for the material is of such a mixture that here and
there the raw silk of Syria is often spun with the cotton and wool of
America. In other words, the Author dips his antique pen in a modern
inkstand, and when the ink runs thick, he mixes it with a slabbering
of slang. But we started to write an Introduction, not a Criticism.
And lest we end by writing neither, we give here what is more to the
point than anything we can say: namely, Al-Fatihah, or the Opening
Word of Khalid himself.

With supreme indifference to the classic Arabic proem, he begins by
saying that his Book is neither a Memoir nor an Autobiography, neither
a Journal nor a Confession.

"Orientals," says he, "seldom adventure into that region of fancy and
fabrication so alluring to European and American writers; for, like
the eyes of huris, our vanity is soft and demure. This then is a book
of travels in an impalpable country, an enchanted country, from which
we have all risen, and towards which we are still rising. It is, as it
were, the chart and history of one little kingdom of the Soul,--the
Soul of a philosopher, poet and criminal. I am all three, I swear, for
I have lived both the wild and the social life. And I have thirsted in
the desert, and I have thirsted in the city: the springs of the former
were dry; the water in the latter was frozen in the pipes. That is
why, to save my life, I had to be an incendiary at times, and at
others a footpad. And whether on the streets of knowledge, or in the
open