10 h 16 minAudiobook14 minSummaryRead it, hear it, the 15-minute summary, and print and large print at cost
Audiobook edition · 10 h 16 minPaperback · 6 × 9 in · printing soonHardcover · 6 × 9 in · printing soonAbout this book
What if crossing an ocean brings you no closer to knowing how to live?
Khalid leaves the mountains of Syria for America, carrying a restless hunger for a freer life. In New York, he enters an immigrant world shaped by trade and meets the pressure of speed, money and machines. His loyal friend Shakib tells his story with affection and worry.
In The Book of Khalid, Ameen Fares Rihani brings faith, poetry and old customs into argument with the promises of a new world. An editor pieces together Khalid's manuscript and his friend's account. Through this wandering, questioning novel, Khalid asks what East and West can teach each other—and what freedom demands.
What you’ll discover
- A restless immigrant mind Follow Khalid as he searches for a truer life beyond the customs he inherits.
- New York through newcomers' eyes Enter an immigrant community whose struggles carry both comedy and tenderness.
- Friendship amid the arguments Meet Shakib, whose loyalty gives Khalid's searching story an affectionate, worried witness.
- Two worlds in conversation Explore the tensions between poetry and trade, inherited faith and the hunger for freedom.
- Questions that resist easy answers Sit with arguments about religion, politics and money that keep the soul at their center.
Who will love it
Readers who enjoy wandering heroes, comic narrators and big questions will feel at home here. It suits lovers of immigrant stories, journeys through the Middle East and rhapsodic prose.
What’s inside
The key ideas, in the 15-minute summary
- Even the guide deserves suspicion
- Khalid leaves home on his own terms
- Honesty begins with his own trade
- Success cannot give him honest work
- Authority puts a price on conscience
- Solitude leads him back toward people
- Political change needs an inward change
- East and West need each other
- Freedom means refusing a borrowed conscience
Who’s who
- KhalidA donkey boy from Baalbek who burns his books, doubts every guide, and dreams of joining East and West.
- ShakibKhalid's loyal friend, a vain poet who keeps the long diary of his master's life and pays his bills.
- NajmaKhalid's gentle cousin and first love, who asks for a wedding gown with flounces and ruffles.
- Im-HannaAn old peddler woman who cooks lentils for the two friends in their cellar and mothers them both.
- Mrs. GotfryAn American follower of the Bab, lame and dark-eyed, who travels with Khalid and wants him as her apostle.
- Father Abd'ul-MessiahA hermit in sackcloth who tends a vineyard, keeps accounts of masses, and urges Khalid to obey a higher will.
- Sheikh TalebA learned Damascus Sheikh who lives on oranges and warns Khalid not to speak at the great mosque.
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The Book of Khalid
by Ameen Fares Rihani · 1911
A Syrian muleteer sails for New York, burns his books and his peddler's box, and sets out to join East and West.
Medium level5–10 hours to readEnglish
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In short
Imagine you carry a box of trinkets sold as holy relics, and one morning you pour kerosene over it and strike a match. That is what Khalid does, a young Syrian from the ruined city of Baalbek, and it is only one of his fires.
The Book of Khalid at a glance
- Reading time
- About 6 h4 h 45 min fast, 7 h 5 min slow
- Length
- 85,400 words
- Library level
- Medium longer sentences, everyday words
- First published
- 1911by Ameen Fares Rihani
Reading time at 238 words a minute (fast 300, slow 200). How long the classics take to read · Updated
From the 15-minute summary · Key idea 1
A found manuscript opens the quest
The book opens in Cairo, where an editor finds an Arabic manuscript in the Khedivial Library. Its author is Khalid, who says his work is neither memoir nor confession. He calls it a travel book through an enchanted country, the soul.
In his opening word Khalid mocks the guides of his age, from Tolstoy and Nietzsche to Marx and the Pope. Take a staff and walk, he says, and stop wherever your heart stops. He would sooner have a chunk of beef than canned protoplasmic logic.
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- 15-minute summary
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Details
- First published
- 1911
- Language
- English
- Level
- Medium level
Cite this edition
Rihani, Ameen Fares. The Book of Khalid. Library of Alexandria, 2026, libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-khalid.
Rihani, A. F. (2026). The book of Khalid. Library of Alexandria. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-khalid (Original work published 1911)
Rihani, Ameen Fares. The Book of Khalid. Library of Alexandria, 2026. https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-khalid.
@book{rihani2026book,
author = {Rihani, Ameen Fares},
title = {The Book of Khalid},
publisher = {Library of Alexandria},
year = {2026},
url = {https://libraryofalexandria.com/products/the-book-of-khalid},
note = {First published 1911}
}
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What is The Book of Khalid about?
It follows Khalid, a young Syrian from Baalbek, who emigrates to New York, works as a peddler and pushcart seller, returns to Lebanon, and tries to join the spirit of the East with the energy of the West.
Who is Shakib in The Book of Khalid?
Shakib is Khalid's friend and fellow emigrant, a vain, loyal poet. His long diary, the Histoire Intime, is the editor's main source for the events of Khalid's life, and he often scolds and rescues his friend.
Is The Book of Khalid a true story?
It is a novel. It is presented as a found manuscript and diary edited in Cairo, but the characters are invented. The author drew on his own life between Syria and America.
The author
Ameen Fares Rihani
1876–1940 · Lebanese-American writer and philosopher
Ameen Fares Rihani (1876–1940) was a Lebanese-American author who wrote in Arabic and English. Born in Freike, Lebanon, he moved to New York in 1888. He wrote novels, essays, poetry and travel books. His novel The Book of Khalid appeared in 1911. He died in Freike.
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