living islam _ Islamic tradition

> We know that the famous traditionalist writers became Muslim.So,what
is
> the relation between Islam and traditionalism.Is Islam transcendent
from
> other traditions or Islam is only a tradition like others.

Martin Lings (Shaykh Abu Bakr Siraj ad-Din) was a close associate of
Guenon and Schuon. A few years ago, when he was in his 80's, he gave a
lecture to the Temenos Academy in London on the subject of Frithjof
Schuon and Rene Guenon. I have typed out a portion of this lecture,
verbatim, from a recording of his talk. I hope this helps to answer your
question. (I have added some comments in square brackets).

-Nasser G
-------

In "The Transcendent Unity of Religions" [by Frithjof Schuon], there
arises the question of missionaries. In particular, Christian
missionaries, since the book is written primarily for the modern West.
And one can see that the title of the book, "The Transcendent Unity of
Religions", rather precludes the idea of missionaries, but nonetheless,
Schuon does justice to the missionaries. First of all he points out that
the life of a missionary is a life of great sacrifice, and he admits
that in some cases that subjectively it can be of mystic value, because
it is a hard life. And he allows that there are relatively rare cases
where an individual is more suited to a religion other than the one in
which he was born and brought up. But he reminds us also, I quote his
words, "It is possible to pass from one religious form to another
without being converted, which may happen for reasons of esoteric, and
therefore spiritual, expediency". He is referring there to something
which is of course, nothing to do with missionaries. He says, "Without
being converted", and he gives no examples, and he passes on to his main
thesis. But we will not pass on immediately, because the first examples
which spring to mind are precisely those two men who are our theme
[i.e., Guenon and Schuon].

Guenon was brought up as a Roman Catholic and he ended up as a Muslim.
Guenon was quite irregular [in this respect]. He says himself, "I am not
a model to be followed in any way", because he had many different
initiations - he had a Hindu initiation, he had a Taoist initiation, and
he finally had an Islamic Sufi initiation. But it took him some time
because he was groping for his way.

In the case of Schuon, Schuon was brought up as a Protestant in Germany,
but his family had been Catholic and his father who died when he was
only thirteen years old - he [Schuon] was extremely devoted to his
father - on his deathbed expressed a wish that his two sons should
become Roman Catholics. Then they went to live in France. And after the
First World War, the country where they were born which was in Germany
became part of France. So, Schuon practised first of all Protestantism,
and then he practised Roman Catholicism.

The reason for the change in both cases was the presence of a great
spiritual master in the religion to which the change was made, and the
absence of this counterpart in the religion that was left. That was the
only reason. In the case of Guenon, it must have been - and one doesn't
know this quite was well as what one knows about Schuon - but it must
have been the man to whom he dedicated his book, "The Symbolism of the
Cross", who was a great Egyptian Shaykh of the Shadhili tariqa, and a
spiritual authority even in exoteric Islam [Al-Shaykh Abder Rahman Elish
El-Kabir]. His book "The Symbolism of the Cross" is dedicated to this
Shaykh. But Frithjof Schuon became the disciple of the Shaykh al-Alawi,
the great Algerian Shaykh who died, I think, it was in 1934. And in both
cases, there was no counterpart in the religion that was left. But there
was also "no conversion". What Schuon means is that the religion that
was left still continued to be loved and believed in.

o counterpart in the religion that was left. But there
was also "no conversion". What Schuon means is that the religion that
was left still continued to be loved and believed in.