Despite his tremendous commercial potential, Bob Marley’s most enduring legacy is his prophetic one. For many Rastafarians, Marley’s songs are parables and his discography is canonical. For millions of others, Marley is more than just a musical icon. He is revered for his social conscience, spiritual mysticism, and political courage, and his message continues to inspire disenfranchised communities by offering them a promise of worldly salvation and divine redemption.

Bob Marley never called himself a prophet, he but did envision himself as a mystic and a messenger. The music of the mystics is profound in its devotional reach and the emotional intensity of mystical music sometimes leaves its followers in hypnotic trances and intoxicated states. In his renowned work, The Mysticism of Sound and Music, the Indian Sufi master Hazrat Inayat Khan emphasizes the symbiotic relationship between music and mysticism and he affirms the prophetic power of music:

In fact, music excels religion, for music raises the soul of man even higher than the so-called external form of religion... That is why in ancient times, the greatest prophets were great musicians.


haggadah Section: Introduction