The Prophet has been translated into more than 100 languages, making it one of the most translated books in history. By 2012, it had sold more than nine million copies in its American edition alone since its original publication in 1923.

Of an ambitious first printing of 2,000 in 1923, Knopf sold 1,159 copies. The demand for The Prophet doubled the following year—and doubled again the year after that. It was translated into French by Madeline Mason-Manheim in 1926. By the time of Gibran's death in 1931, it had also been translated into German. Annual sales reached 12,000 in 1935, 111,000 in 1961 and 240,000 in 1965. The book sold its one millionth copy in 1957. At one point, The Prophet sold more than 5,000 copies a week worldwide.
Born a Maronite, Gibran was influenced not only by his own religion but also by the Bahá’í Faith, Islam, and the mysticism of the Sufis. His knowledge of Lebanon's bloody history, with its destructive factional struggles, strengthened his belief in the fundamental unity of religions, something which his parents exemplified by welcoming people of various religions in their home. Connections and parallels have also been made to William Blake's work, as well as the theological ideas of Walt Whitman and Ralph Waldo Emerson such as reincarnation and the Over-soul. Themes of influence in his work were Arabic art, European Classicism (particularly Leonardo da Vinci) and Romanticism (Blake and Auguste Rodin), the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, and more modern symbolism and surrealism.

Gibran’s strong connections to the Baháʼí faith started around 1912. One of Gibran's acquaintances, Juliet Thompson, recalled that he met 'Abdu'l-Bahá when that Bahai leader journeyed to the West. Gibran, who had arranged to draw his portrait, was unable to sleep the night before meeting him. Gibran later told Thompson that in 'Abdu'l-Bahá he had "seen the Unseen, and been filled." Gibran began work on The Prophet in 1912, when "he got the first motif, for his Island God," whose "Promethean exile shall be an Island one" rather than a mountain one. In 1928, at the screening of a film about `Abdu'l-Bahá, Gibran proclaimed in tears the exalted station the leader held, and left the event weeping still.

The book entered the public domain in the United States on January 1, 2019. Shorter copyright terms had already made it public domain in the European Union, Canada, Russia, South Africa, and Australia.

Gibran instructed that, on his death, the royalties and copyrights to his materials be owned by his hometown, Bsharri, Lebanon. The Gibran National Committee (GNC) in Bsharri manages the Gibran Museum. Founded in 1935, the GNC is a non-profit corporation with exclusive rights to manage Gibran's copyright in his literary and artistic works.

Gibran followed The Prophet with The Garden of the Prophet, which was published posthumously in 1933. The Garden of the Prophet narrates Al Mustafa's discussions with nine disciples following Al Mustafa's return after an intervening absence. It also included the noted poem "Pity the Nation", written some 20 years earlier.