On Tradition
Ed. OmarKN
bit.ly/_trad
We understand here the concept of tradition from its etymological root: tradere (deliver, transmit): it refers to an essential element which has been transmitted to mankind from a heavenly source. Tradition has nothing to do with peoples' usages or customs from old, but is understood as *revealed* tradition, that is truths and principles of divine order revealed or unveiled to mankind from times immemorial.
"Tradition is essentially of "super-human" origin, which is quite exactly also its correct definition and nothing traditional can be qualified as such without the presence of this vital, axial[1] and foundational element, which defines its own authentic character.” DRG
Therefore in the case of Islam, what renders Islam ”traditional” or an authentic ”Tradition”, in contrast to - for example - invented syncretic New-Age movements and the like, is neither peoples' customs and conventions, nor their culture or civilisation, but only these two essential conditions:
(1) the fact that the truth of Islam was revealed
from a non-human, Divine origin!
(2) the fact that this truth was formed in the way it was by Prophet Muhammad's ( sallAllahu `aleihi wa sallam ) message and pattern (sunnah) and the whole religion of Islam, with its schools of law, its spirituality and sanctity.
"Nothing which is purely human can be considered traditional, that is why it is wrong - as René Guénon rightly says - to talk about a "philosophic tradition" or a "scientific tradition"... because only the hereditary forms of an uninterrupted chain of transmission (silsilah) deserve the qualification "traditional" for they will guarantee the reality and permanence of the "vital element", ie. that of non-human origin, inside a particular tradition.” DRG
[1] belonging to a vertical axis hinged on the heavenly spheres.
See also: On Non-Being, modernity, creation,
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