Dr. Hossam Badrawi Official Website
“Great people created conscience…”
In continuation of mentioning the extent of the influence of those to whom I dedicate the books “An Invitation to Think” and “Dare to Think,” I am writing today about a character whose family and friends around me say that I never stop referring to his words in my conversations with them and repeating some of his sentences, which indicates the depth of my influence by their meanings… He is Gibran Khalil Gibran.
His book, from which I learned a lot, is “The Prophet,” which the world of culture celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. He wrote it in English at the beginning of the twentieth century, and more than forty translations were translated into Arabic. The best and sweetest of them, from my point of view, was the translation by Dr. Tharwat Okasha.
Dr. Okasha says about him: It is a sap of pain, experience, and adversity, formulated with beauty and wisdom.
Gibran was honest with himself, and his life, his feelings, the turmoil of his soul, the pangs of his conscience, his fear, the harsh circumstances around him, and the bitterness of his life, were carried out by his pen and his brush. My passion for learning to draw at the age of sixty may have been influenced by him, so that I could add paintings to my words that complement their meanings, as Gibran used to do, for his brush was his scepter after his pen.
Gibran says in one of his most beautiful sayings about marriage, and I am convinced and repeat:
“You were born together, and together you remain…
But, let there be spaces between you…
And let each of you love the other, but do not make love a shackle…
Rather, make it a flowing sea between the shores of your souls.
And let them rise together…but without touching each other…
Let one of you fill his companion’s cup, but do not drink from one cup…
And let each of you give the other some of his loaf, and be careful not to agree on one loaf.
Sing…and dance…and have fun together, but let everyone be alone…
The columns of the temple are based on a separation…
And the strings of the harp sound, and if they tighten, they will separate…
Gibran says about children, which is the wisdom of dealing with young people as well, whether we are parents or teachers, which has penetrated my conscience and is still systematic in my thinking:
“Your children, what are your children…
They are born with a longing for life itself,
Through you they come to life, but not from you.
And if they live under your care, then they are not yours…
You may house their bodies, not their souls…
Do not try to make them like you, but rather try to be like them
Life does not go backwards…nor does it slow down as it did yesterday.”
He sings, on the tongue of the Prophet in his book, what made me understand a different meaning of giving that penetrates my soul, saying:
“You give little…when you give from what you have,
If you give of yourself, you truly give….
Do you only have things that you take care of and guard for fear that you will need them tomorrow?
Is the fear of need anything but the need itself? ”
“It is beautiful to give to someone who asks you…and it is more beautiful to give to someone who does not ask you and you realize his need.”
“How often do we say that you pour myself into giving, but I only give to those who deserve it….
This is not the saying of the trees in your garden… nor the flowers in your garden… nor the flocks in your pasture.
She gives in order to live, because refraining from giving is the path to perdition.
Then he says: “And who are you that people should reveal to you what is hidden in their chests and cast off the cloak of pride, so that you see in them naked destinies and neglected pride?
Look first: Are you worthy of purity and a tool for giving?
The truth is that life is what gives life, and you, who think you are a giver, are not the only witness to that.”
I can almost see Gibran’s genius in Al-Mustafa’s dialogue with his people when he says about clothes:
“Do not forget that modesty is a shield that protects you from the looks of impure people. If the impurity is removed, what remains is anything but the contact of your bodies and your feelings with the beauty of God’s breath.”
Love is considered to Gibran as it is to me
Presti
Partnership, spiritual harmony and being. Some researchers have given Gibran’s concept of love a special name, which is “gebraic love.” Women played a major role in his life, and even in the formation of his intellectual and artistic personality, and the combination of feelings of love, friendship, and intimate meeting despite the distance between him and May Ziadeh, whom he had never met physically, and yet they were united intellectually and spiritually, in love and friendship, was an inspiring matter.. Perhaps my vision of the friendship between Men and women have been shaped by my life experiences, as Gibran describes, and I said this describing my philosophy: “The beautiful thing about friendship with a woman is that there is no blame in it and no need to justify an action or absence.”
Gibran says, and I see it in my relationships with my friends: “A fake friend is like a shadow. He walks behind me when I am in the sun, and disappears when I am in the dark.”
“Save for your friend the best that is in yourself. If he has the right to know the ebbs and flows of your life, then let him also know the tides that flood it.”
“And what kind of friend is this that you only seek to spend your free time with?
A friend was not found to fill the emptiness of your soul, but to fill your need, and mix the sweetness of friendship with laughter, joy, and happiness.”
Gibran followed two trends in his writings. One took force and revolted against the rules of Salafism in religion, and the other loved enjoying a pure life, and he expressed both trends together, as he expressed in his poem “The Processions” sung by the Lebanese singer Fairouz: “Give me the flute and sing, for singing is the secret of immortality, and the groaning of the flute remains after That existence ceases to exist.”
Gibran interacted with the issues of his time, the most important of which was his revolt against Arab subordination to the Ottoman Empire, which he fought in his books and letters. Given his Christian background, Gibran was keen to clarify his position that he respected Islam and wished for the return of its glory, and was against the politicization of religion, whether Islamic or Christian.
In this regard, Gibran wrote in an article that he described as a letter “to Muslims from a Christian poet”:
I hate the Ottoman Empire, but I love the Turks, and I burn with jealousy for the nations sleeping under the Ottoman flag.
I do not like illness, but I love a diseased body. I hate paralysis, but I love limbs affected by it…. I revere the Qur’an, but I despise those who use the Qur’an and hadiths as a means to thwart the efforts of true Islam and true Muslims. I also despise those who use the Bible as a means of ruling and beheading Christians.
He says: “Religions, despite their differences, are one religion.”
In continuation of mentioning the extent of the influence of those to whom I dedicate the books “An Invitation to Think” and “Dare to Think,” I am writing today about a character whose family and friends around me say that I never stop referring to his words in my conversations with them and repeating some of his sentences, which indicates the depth of my influence by their meanings… He is Gibran Khalil Gibran.
His book, from which I learned a lot, is “The Prophet,” which the world of culture celebrates its 100th anniversary this year. He wrote it in English at the beginning of the twentieth century, and more than forty translations were translated into Arabic. The best and sweetest of them, from my point of view, was the translation by Dr. Tharwat Okasha.
Dr. Okasha says about him: It is a sap of pain, experience, and adversity, formulated with beauty and wisdom.
Gibran was honest with himself, and his life, his feelings, the turmoil of his soul, the pangs of his conscience, his fear, the harsh circumstances around him, and the bitterness of his life, were carried out by his pen and his brush. My passion for learning to draw at the age of sixty may have been influenced by him, so that I could add paintings to my words that complement their meanings, as Gibran used to do, for his brush was his scepter after his pen.
Gibran says in one of his most beautiful sayings about marriage, and I am convinced and repeat:
“You were born together, and together you remain…
But, let there be spaces between you…
And let each of you love the other, but do not make love a shackle…
Rather, make it a flowing sea between the shores of your souls.
And let them rise together…but without touching each other…
Let one of you fill his companion’s cup, but do not drink from one cup…
And let each of you give the other some of his loaf, and be careful not to agree on one loaf.
Sing…and dance…and have fun together, but let everyone be alone…
The columns of the temple are based on a separation…
And the strings of the harp sound, and if they tighten, they will separate…
Gibran says about children, which is the wisdom of dealing with young people as well, whether we are parents or teachers, which has penetrated my conscience and is still systematic in my thinking:
“Your children, what are your children…
They are born with a longing for life itself,
Through you they come to life, but not from you.
And if they live under your care, then they are not yours…
You may house their bodies, not their souls…
Do not try to make them like you, but rather try to be like them
Life does not go backwards…nor does it slow down as it did yesterday.”
He sings, on the tongue of the Prophet in his book, what made me understand a different meaning of giving that penetrates my soul, saying:
“You give little…when you give from what you have,
If you give of yourself, you truly give….
Do you only have things that you take care of and guard for fear that you will need them tomorrow?
Is the fear of need anything but the need itself? ”
“It is beautiful to give to someone who asks you…and it is more beautiful to give to someone who does not ask you and you realize his need.”
“How often do we say that you pour myself into giving, but I only give to those who deserve it….
This is not the saying of the trees in your garden… nor the flowers in your garden… nor the flocks in your pasture.
She gives in order to live, because refraining from giving is the path to perdition.
Then he says: “And who are you that people should reveal to you what is hidden in their chests and cast off the cloak of pride, so that you see in them naked destinies and neglected pride?
Look first: Are you worthy of purity and a tool for giving?
The truth is that life is what gives life, and you, who think you are a giver, are not the only witness to that.”
I can almost see Gibran’s genius in Al-Mustafa’s dialogue with his people when he says about clothes:
“Do not forget that modesty is a shield that protects you from the looks of impure people. If the impurity is removed, what remains is anything but the contact of your bodies and your feelings with the beauty of God’s breath.”
Love is considered to Gibran as it is to me
Presti
Partnership, spiritual harmony and being. Some researchers have given Gibran’s concept of love a special name, which is “gebraic love.” Women played a major role in his life, and even in the formation of his intellectual and artistic personality, and the combination of feelings of love, friendship, and intimate meeting despite the distance between him and May Ziadeh, whom he had never met physically, and yet they were united intellectually and spiritually, in love and friendship, was an inspiring matter.. Perhaps my vision of the friendship between Men and women have been shaped by my life experiences, as Gibran describes, and I said this describing my philosophy: “The beautiful thing about friendship with a woman is that there is no blame in it and no need to justify an action or absence.”
Gibran says, and I see it in my relationships with my friends: “A fake friend is like a shadow. He walks behind me when I am in the sun, and disappears when I am in the dark.”
“Save for your friend the best that is in yourself. If he has the right to know the ebbs and flows of your life, then let him also know the tides that flood it.”
“And what kind of friend is this that you only seek to spend your free time with?
A friend was not found to fill the emptiness of your soul, but to fill your need, and mix the sweetness of friendship with laughter, joy, and happiness.”
Gibran followed two trends in his writings. One took force and revolted against the rules of Salafism in religion, and the other loved enjoying a pure life, and he expressed both trends together, as he expressed in his poem “The Processions” sung by the Lebanese singer Fairouz: “Give me the flute and sing, for singing is the secret of immortality, and the groaning of the flute remains after That existence ceases to exist.”
Gibran interacted with the issues of his time, the most important of which was his revolt against Arab subordination to the Ottoman Empire, which he fought in his books and letters. Given his Christian background, Gibran was keen to clarify his position that he respected Islam and wished for the return of its glory, and was against the politicization of religion, whether Islamic or Christian.
In this regard, Gibran wrote in an article that he described as a letter “to Muslims from a Christian poet”:
I hate the Ottoman Empire, but I love the Turks, and I burn with jealousy for the nations sleeping under the Ottoman flag.
I do not like illness, but I love a diseased body. I hate paralysis, but I love limbs affected by it…. I revere the Qur’an, but I despise those who use the Qur’an and hadiths as a means to thwart the efforts of true Islam and true Muslims. I also despise those who use the Bible as a means of ruling and beheading Christians.
He says: “Religions, despite their differences, are one religion.”
He used to keep Jesus in half of his chest, and Muhammad in the other half, and whisper to every citizen living in the Arab world, “You are my brother, and I love you. I love you prostrating in your mosque, kneeling in your temple, and praying in your church. You and I have one religion and the branches of this religion are fingers joined.” In the hand of divinity, which points to the perfection of the soul.”
Gibran possessed a literary style that distinguished him greatly from other poets and writers of his time. Among his most prominent sayings that express our era are:
“The platform of humanity is its silent heart, not its talkative tongue.”
“Between something spoken that was not intended and something intended that was not spoken, a lot of love is lost.”
“Perhaps disagreement is the shortest distance between two ideas.”
“The truth needs two men: a man who speaks it and a man who understands it.”
As for freedom, his approach was different from most of what I read, but his wisdom was great when he said about freedom:
“If there is a tyrant in front of you whose throne you want to replace, first make sure that he has destroyed the throne that you established for him in yourself. Is it possible for a tyrant to rule the free or the honorable unless their freedom is marred by tyranny and their pride is mixed with shame?”
“If tyranny is a concern that you would like to get rid of, then you are the one who chose it for yourself, and no one imposed it on you… And if it is a fear that you would like to dispel, then it resides in your heart, and its reins are not in the hands of the one you fear.”
I say: Freedom does not come to us, but rather we must aspire to it and be liberated within ourselves from slavery to an unjust ruler or to ideas that take possession of our souls and are dictated to us by others.
Gibran said: “I learned silence from the chatterbox, leniency from the fanatic, kindness from the harsh person, and what is strangest of all is that I do not acknowledge the kindness of these teachers.”
And I realized that I was repeating the meaning when I said to my students: I learned from the most skilled doctors, but I learned a lot from the most ignorant and least skilled of them. When I was a young doctor, I used to tell myself to remember to never do the same as them. A person always learns from everyone around him.
Perhaps you, reader, if you have known me, read me, or watched me, have realized the extent of Gibran’s influence on my emotions, my sentences, and my words, from his unity of existence and religions, his vision of beauty, his definition of love and friendship, his wisdom in human relationships, and his expression of his philosophy in word and drawing…. .
May God have mercy on those who inspired me with their art and illuminated my mind with their wisdom.
Gibran possessed a literary style that distinguished him greatly from other poets and writers of his time. Among his most prominent sayings that express our era are:
“The platform of humanity is its silent heart, not its talkative tongue.”
“Between something spoken that was not intended and something intended that was not spoken, a lot of love is lost.”
“Perhaps disagreement is the shortest distance between two ideas.”
“The truth needs two men: a man who speaks it and a man who understands it.”
As for freedom, his approach was different from most of what I read, but his wisdom was great when he said about freedom:
“If there is a tyrant in front of you whose throne you want to replace, first make sure that he has destroyed the throne that you established for him in yourself. Is it possible for a tyrant to rule the free or the honorable unless their freedom is marred by tyranny and their pride is mixed with shame?”
“If tyranny is a concern that you would like to get rid of, then you are the one who chose it for yourself, and no one imposed it on you… And if it is a fear that you would like to dispel, then it resides in your heart, and its reins are not in the hands of the one you fear.”
I say: Freedom does not come to us, but rather we must aspire to it and be liberated within ourselves from slavery to an unjust ruler or to ideas that take possession of our souls and are dictated to us by others.
Gibran said: “I learned silence from the chatterbox, leniency from the fanatic, kindness from the harsh person, and what is strangest of all is that I do not acknowledge the kindness of these teachers.”
And I realized that I was repeating the meaning when I said to my students: I learned from the most skilled doctors, but I learned a lot from the most ignorant and least skilled of them. When I was a young doctor, I used to tell myself to remember to never do the same as them. A person always learns from everyone around him.
Perhaps you, reader, if you have known me, read me, or watched me, have realized the extent of Gibran’s influence on my emotions, my sentences, and my words, from his unity of existence and religions, his vision of beauty, his definition of love and friendship, his wisdom in human relationships, and his expression of his philosophy in word and drawing…. .
May God have mercy on those who inspired me with their art and illuminated my mind with their wisdom.
