The Obituary of Kahlil Gibran (we call him Jubran Khalil Jubran in Arabic). I looked up last night the obituary of Kahlil Gibran in the New York Times from April 1931. The headline went like this: "Khalil Gibran dead; Noted Syrian poet." The subtitle said: "Wrote in Arabic and English--Native of Palestine, He had lived there for 20 years." The text later said that "He was born in Mount Lebanon, Palestine."