Overview

Jamil Elabed, the author of this 8thGolden Copy edition of the translation into Arabic of Khalil Gibran'sThe Prophet, spent twenty years and eight editions refining this work. The Arabic language is his greatest passion. As a graduate of English Language and Literature, his English language skills helped him translate one of the greatest books in history into Gibran's mother tongue, a book that has sold more than one hundred million copies worldwide and has been translated into more than a hundred languages. Jamil revelled in the company of Gibran's visions and thoughts over the years, hence his relentless refinement to bring this Golden Copy to as close to perfection and thorough faithfulness to the original text as he possibly could. This obsession was driven by his primary purpose of providing Arabic readers with the same pleasure that readers of the original English text bask in. This herculean linguistic challenge Jamil undertook changed his life in so many ways. The vagueness of being was no longer as vague; we are no longer more body than spirit; what is here is not all that is there. The Prophet is a long poem that we all crave to sing. A song the translator sang with Gibran, albeit in Arabic this time. The Arabic words and phrases came from the same reservoir and transcendental echoes as their English counterparts; from the same mysterious caves, bearing the same breath and the same rhythm. However, the translator leaned heavily on the grandeur and the inherent vigorousness and tunefulness of the Arabic language that sent its words fluttering like robins in flight, and the phrases streaming like a brook in a melody of image and sound, reflecting those which Gibran saw and heard in his short but enormously bountiful and inspiring life.

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Reviews

The images in this translation are more accurately defined, more intellectually oriented and more intense than those in Gibran's texts. Butrous Hallaq, the critic, professor of Arabic Literature, Sorbonne University, Paris, France. This translation conveys the sheerness and diaphaneity of Gibran's spirit. Had Gibran written The Prophet in Arabic, he would have done no more than what Jamil Elabed did with his masterly pen. The Syrian writer, artist and diplomat, Sabah Kabbani. I return to The Prophet in Jamil Elabed's translation to find it deeper and more graceful than my knowledge of it from previous translations. Abdessalaam Al-Ojaily. The Syrian Foreign Minister, parliamentarian, physician and novelist. This elegant work reveals the translator's wide knowledge, ability and resourcefulness. Riad Nourallah, Professor of Translation, Westminster University, London, UK. Dazzling, spellbinding and enchanting. Lebanese daily Al-Safeer. This translation feels like an original work. It captures all the dimensions of Gibran, even those the English language in which he wrote did not help him convey. Zuhair Samhouri, English Philology professor, Damascus University, Syria. One cannot tell with any certainty who wrote the Arabic and who wrote the English. Muhammad Kujjah, President of Syria's Archaeological Society. This is a transcendental ladder to the clouds and a window unto the stars. I hope to see it turned into a musical, for every word in it bursts with melody and awakens the spirit. The Syrian film director and scriptwriter Rafiq Al-Sabban. This translation preserved the glow akin to Gibran's visions. Hanna Mineh, the Syrian novelist. An elevated translation of the highest quality. Ragheed Al-Solh, Oxford University, UK.

Author Information

Jamil Elabed is a Syrian-British Translator who worked as a broadcast journalist in the BBC World Service in 1994, and in the spring of 1998 published the first edition of his translation of Gibran's The Prophet. He won the European Union Commissions Creative Translation Award followed by the British University of East Anglia's Translation Residency Grant. He has been a full member of the Institute of Translation and Interpreting [ITI] since 2000. Jamil taught translation and interpreting at Leeds University while freelancing as a professional conference interpreter.

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