Juan Cole's Informed Comment Blog

  • Omar Khayyam 18
    If you are looking for love, try to attract every heart. On the path of the Presence, try to entice every seeker. A hundred holy shrines made of water and clay are not worth a single heart. Why make pilgrimage to a shrine when you can attract a heart? Trans....
  • The Generals try to stop an Iran War
    It has leaked that US chairman of the joint chiefs of staff Gen. Martin Dempsey warned the Israelis that if they launched a strike on Iran that spiralled into a war, they would be on their own. Gareth Porter’s report, based on conversations with former officers in the administration of...
  • KAYAOĞLU: Turkey’s Crackdown on the Press recalls Military’s Tactics
    Barin Kayaoğlu writes in a guest column for Informed Comment: AKP and “Back to the Future” Turkish-Style BARIN KAYAOĞLU [For the Turkish version of this post, click here.] The NGO Reporters Without Borders has demoted Turkey by 10 places in its World Press Freedom Index rankings for 2011-2012. The report’s...
  • Romney: “I’m not concerned about the very poor.”
    Quarter-billionaire Mitt Romney to Soledad O’Brien on CNN: “Romney says, “I’m not concerned about the very poor. We have a safety net there. If it needs a repair , I’ll fix it. I’m not concerned about the very rich…. I’m concerned about the very heart of America, the 90-95 percent...
  • Chart: Euro-American boycott of Iranian Petroleum would Fail
    Courtesy Courtesy crudeoilpeak.info Europe doesn’t loom that large already. And, Asia and other global South areas would take up the slack.

Juan R.I. Cole

juanCole1Translator Juan R.I. Cole is Director of the Center for Middle Eastern and North African Studies at the University of Michigan and Associate Professor of Middle Eastern History. He has authored, edited, or translated seven books about the Middle East, an area he has been studying for twenty years. He spent six years in the Arab world, and has also lived in Ethiopia, India, and Pakistan.

About the Author
Gibran_72dpiPoet, philosopher, and artist, Kahlil Gibran was born near Mount Lebanon. The millions of Arabic-speaking peoples familiar with his writings in that language consider him the genius of his age, but his fame and influence spread far beyond the Near East. His poetry has been translated into more than twenty languages and his drawings and paintings have been exhibited all over the world. His many books include The Prophet, his masterpiece of religious inspiration. White Cloud Press' acclaimed translations of Gibran's Arabic writings include The Storm: Stories and Prose Poems, The Vision: Reflections on the Way of the Soul; Broken Wings; Spirit Brides, and The Beloved: Reflections on the Path of the Heart.
Juan R. I Cole, who translated several works by Kahlil Gibran for White Cloud Press, recently published Engaging the Muslim World.



"My soul gave me good counsel, teaching me that the lamp that I carry does not belong to me, and the song that I sing was not generated from within me. Even if I walk with light, I am not the light, and even if I am a taut-stringed lute, I am not the lute-player."
~ Kahlil Gibran - Translation by Juan R. I Cole
The  Vision - Reflections on the Way of The Soul