Ed. OmarKN
bit.ly/_isl-trad
The word 'tradition' is derived from Latin 'tradere', i.e. to hand over, deliver, entrust - in its general sense - something from God, Allah through His prophets (upon them be peace).
Islam is fundamentally and originally tradition - its timeless, divine message, and this is why the Islamic tradition defines the Islamic religion, not the other way round. They constitute one of the ongoing wonders of Islam.2
In its general meaning, tradition has to be understood in the sense of transmission of an element of the supra-human level, as explained by Sh. `Abd al-Wahīd Yahia.
In its more specific sense the term tradition also signifies the words and sayings reported from the Prophet Muhammad ﷺ may Allah bless him and grant him peace, which have been recorded in the hadith collections.
What is handed over is the Quranic revelation, the āyah (Quranic verses) and - through those - the baraka, divine blessings, which are heavenly powers, all of these leading to sacred knowledge and disinterested action1.
→ So when speaking of the Islamic Tradition we do not only mean the sayings and words of wisdom by the Prophet of Islam (may Allah’s blessings and peace be upon him - ﷺ, but also the entire Islamic religion (Qur’an, Sunnah, schools of law, spirituality, sanctity, politics, etc.)
Concerning the Arabic expression "al-Dīn al-Qayyim", it is of quranic origin (Sura 10-105; 30-30; 98-5) and signifies the unchanging Religion in its continuing and universal character. Imam Ahmed Vālsan - Presentation (rh)
”To be traditional means to be part of a tradition, and traditions - by their nature - are moving through time and space.” Sh. Abdul Hakim Murad
It is like a tree that grows, constantly changing and evolving, but still connected to the roots and never abandoning those eternal principles. [3]
Tradition in the sense used here always ”contains an element of a superhuman order.” René Guénon - Shaykh Abd Al Wahid Yahya
“Nothing which is purely human can be considered traditional, ... 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", i.e. that of non-human origin, inside a particular tradition.”
René Guénon - Shaykh Abd Al Wahid Yahya, DRG
First of all it is Islam that reigns (see Sura 5:3). Traditional Islam does not accept the notion that the world-religions (and even less so any man-made belief system) would be equally valid paths to God, these are perennialistic interpretations. Even so, they (their laws) still reflect some sacred truth, so they did not turn into falsehood by being abrogated. These 2 (two) different points are to be kept in mind.
In the words of Muhyiddīn Ibn `Arabi:
”The religious laws are all lights, and the law of Muhammad ﷺ among these lights is as the sun's light among the light of the stars…”
”So all paths return to look to the Prophet's path: if the prophetic messengers had been alive in his time, they would have followed him just as their religious laws have followed his law.…”[more]
"When man is imprisoned like this in life and in the conceptions directly connected with it, he can know nothing about what escapes from change, about the transcendent and immutable order, which is that of the universal principles.” RG, East And West, p.90
"In any case, what Westerners call civilization, the others would call barbarity, because it is precisely lacking in the essential, that is to say, a principle of a higher order."
René Guénon, East And West, 1924
More about Shaykh Abd Al Wahid Yahya - René Guénon
Antitradition is the negation of Tradition. In other words, the characteristic symptoms of (post-)modernism, such as materialism, individualism, and secular humanism are a denial of Tradition, in the sense of failing to recognize it; they are a deviation without actually becoming openly hostile. TRT
”When anti-tradition had succeeded in throwing the world into an atmosphere of wide-spread, general materialism, the more inferior forces were able to rise (to the surface). They did this under the the disguise of 'Counter-tradition.'” DRG
”While antitradition is fully in force in the West, and has begun to spread to other parts of the world, we can already see counter-traditional movements rising to the highest echelons of global political, economic, and religious power. The existence of these movements would never be possible without the denial of tradition (i.e. antitradition).” TRT
Anti-tradition and counter-tradition are two important concepts coined by René Guénon [more].
The falsification of language, taking the form of the misuse of certain words that have been diverted from their true meaning, is one of the most obvious symptoms of the intellectual confusion which reigns everywhere in the present world; but it must not be forgotten that this very confusion is willed by that which lies hidden behind the whole modern deviation; this thought obtrudes itself particularly in view of the simultaneous appearance in many different quarters of attempts to make illegitimate use of the very idea of 'tradition' by people who want improperly to assimilate its significance to their own conceptions in one domain or another.[4] René Guénon
Source: Tradition And Traditionalism - Excerpt from The Reign of Quantity
- On The Islamic Tradition And The Unchanging Religion, A. Vālsan
- Tradition And Traditionalism - Excerpt from The Reign of Quantity
- Crisis of The Modern World - Q & A, (René Guénon)
The line of decadence in religion is described by the following steps:
1. doctrinal dissolution
2. disappearance of the intellectual elements of religion
3. decline into sentimentalism
4. no longer religion, but 'religiosity'
= vague sentimental aspirations, unsanctioned by any real knowledge. RG
There are at present more people in the West than one might suppose who are beginning to see what is wanting in their civilization; if they fall back on vague aspirations and embark on research that is too often barren, and if they sometimes even lose their way altogether, it is because they lack real knowledge, which nothing can replace, and because there is no organisation that can give them the doctrinal guidance they need. RG
- East & West -- some quotes, René GuénonTHE civilization of the modern West appears in history a veritable anomaly: among all those which are known to us more or less completely, this civilization is the only one which has developed along purely material lines and this monstrous development, whose beginning coincindes with the so-called Renaissance, has been accompanied, as indeed it was fated to be, with a corresponding intellectual regress …
This regress has reached such a point that the Westerners of today no longer know what pure intellect is; in fact they do not even suspect that anything of the kind can exist. RG
- Oriental Metaphysics; Explanations, And Traditional Definitions
- On the Supreme Principle - Metaphysics
- Role of The Spiritual Master, René Guénon
There are those, then, who go so far as to claim that no one can attain Deliverance without the help of a spiritual leader, by which they naturally mean a human spiritual master, to which we immediately respond that these people would assuredly do much better to concern themselves with matters less remote from them than the ultimate goal of spiritual realization, and to rest content with considering the question in reference to the first steps toward this realization, for which in fact the presence of a spiritual master is especially necessary.
As we have said before, it must not be forgotten that the human spiritual master is in reality only an outer representative and a 'substitute', as it were, of the true inner spiritual leader … RG
We have often emphasized the distinction that should be made between initiation properly speaking, which is the pure and simple affiliation with an initiatic organization, implying essentially the transmission of a spiritual influence, and the means that can thereafter be used to make effective what at first was only virtual, means the efficacy of which is naturally subordinate in all cases to the indispensable condition of a prior affiliation. Insofar as they constitute an aid brought from without to the interior work from which the spiritual development of the being should result (and of course they can never take the place of this work itself), these means can in their totality be designated by the term initiatic teaching, taking this latter in its widest sense and not limiting it to the communication of certain ideas of a doctrinal order, but including in it everything that in one way or another is of a nature to guide the initiate in the work he is accomplishing to achieve spiritual realization of whatever degree. RG
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[i.e. forming, or relating to an axis] and foundational element, which defines its own authentic character.[5] RG
Since Modernity is opposed to Tradition, there are two concepts that can be invoked in the description of modern life: antitradition and countertradition. These may be perceived as the causes and effects of modernity.
Antitradition is the negation of Tradition. Antitradition weakens and dissolves traditional spiritualities, after which countertradition sets up a counterfeit in their place.
From Anti-Tradition to Counter-Tradition, Verbatim from:
"The Reign of Quantity and the Signs of the Times"
- On The Islamic Tradition And The Unchanging Religion Imam A H Vālsan
- Tradition And Islamic Tradition
- Tradition And 'Traditionalism' -- an excerpt (The Reign of Quantity)
- Antitradition René Guénon
- From Antitradition to Countertradition René Guénon
- The Illusion of the ’Ordinary Life’ René Guénon
- Words and Symbols René Guénon
- On René Guénons Critique of Modernity - Quotes
- Foreword to Crisis Of The Modern World; René Guénon
- Crisis Of The Modern World; René Guénon / 'Abd al-Wāhid Yahya
- Crisis Of The Modern World - more quotes René Guénon
- Quoting René Guénon / 'Abd al-Wāhid Yahya
- What Is Normal And What Normality? Hasan Le Gai Eaton
- Story Of Early Life Of H. Gai Eaton (b. 1921)
- René Guénon's Legacy Today; From An Interview With M Sedgwick
- On The Significance Of The Teachings Of René Guénon; OmarKN
- Crisis of Modern Consciousness Sh Abdul Hakim Murad
- On The Islamic Tradition And The Unchanging Religion Imam A H Vālsan
- Tradition And Islamic Tradition synopsis of texts on tradition
- Defending the Transgressed:
- Fatwa Against The Targeting Of Civilians Sh Muhammad Afifi al-Akiti
- Islam - Questions & Answers
- Notions That Must Be Corrected Sh M b. Alawi al-Maliki al-Hasani
- Commendation (Against the Divisions) Prof. Abdullah Guenon Al-Hasani
- On the Unfolding of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition W. C. Chittick
- What Is Traditional Islam? from S. H. Nasr
- Islam Is The “Middle Way” Hassan Gai Eaton
- Texts by or related to Shaykh Hasan Gai Eaton
- The Nature Of Sacred Knowledge Q / A, S H Nasr
- Knowledge of the Sacred Q / A, S H Nasr
- The Living Character of Islamic Tradition, by A Shafaat
- The Islamic Conception Of Man, S H Nasr
↔ Tradition
Metaphysics is the knowledge of the universal principles…
Metaphysics is what is beyond and above nature, therefore it is the one rightly to be called "the Supernatural".
The domain of principles extend much further than some Occidentals have thought, who - nevertheless - have turned metaphysics but into a partial and incomplete mode.
For the metaphysics of the Orient, pure Being is neither the first, nor the most universal of principles, because it is already a determination; it is therefore necessary to go beyond Being - this is after all what is most important.
Quoted from ’La Métaphysique Orientale’, Éditions Traditionelles, Paris 1993
by Shaykh Abd al Wahid Yahya, René Guénon.
-last modf 1447 AH, 2025-10-22 16:43 +0200
Metaphysics - mainpage
01_Mahiyya - Asking What It Is S H Nasr
On the Unfolding of the Islamic Intellectual Tradition W. C. Chittick
Statement of tawhīd - No True Reality but the Reality of the Real
Being and Existence Muhyiddīn Ibn al-ʿArabī
Insights Into The Nature of Existence Muhyiddin Ibn 'Arabi, W.C. Chittick
On The Oneness of God OmarKN
The Oneness of Being Rosabel Ansari
On The Supreme Principle - Metaphysics René Guénon
On the Supreme Principle and Metaphysics May Not Be Limited R. Guénon
On The Supreme Identity René Guénon
On The Doctrine Of Non-Duality René Guénon
The Multiple States of Being, pt1 René Guénon
The Metaphysical Doctrine of Shaykh A.H. Mahmud
Islamic Metaphysics S H Nasr
Metaphysical Foundations Charles Upton
Oriental Metaphysics René Guénon
What Is Metaphysics? Ekrem Demirli
Metaphysics - Why Is It Necessary Today? OmarKN
On The Supreme Principle - The Source, Sustaining Force, Final Goal OmarKN
Under the Hegemony of This Civilisation Hasan Spiker
The Five Bifurcations of Western Thought and Religion Hasan Spiker
Metaphysics of Islam (Prolegomena) Syed Muhammad Naquib Al Attas
Prolegomena to the Metaphysics of Islam Syed Muhammad Naquib Al-Attas
Intellect, Reason and Unity Of Being S H Nasr
A critique of M. Sedgwick, who uses the term "Traditionalism", but it's not a system, an -ism, which would amount to a misunderstanding of the divinely revealed age-old Tradition.
"This Traditionalism is a point of view
inspired by Guénon taking various different forms. What
they all have in common, is a conviction that
the modern world is not the result of progress out of darkness but of
descent into darkness, that this — the time we live in — is a last age,
a pretty low point of a last age at that. What has been lost — and what
needs to be recovered, reinstated even — is "tradition". And tradition
can be fairly precisely defined, as the truths that have been
handed down from time immemorial." Mark Sedgwick
Source: The Eternal Spiritual Tradition: René Guénon's Legacy Today
Excerpts From An Interview with Mark Sedgwick
TRT: Former webpage with quotes from RG, now unretrievable.
RG: Shaykh Abd al Wahid Yahya, René Guénon
DRG: Dictionnaire de René Guénon; Jean-Marc Vivenza
One Of The Miracles Of Islam | Hamza Yusuf - YouTube"Disinterested action":
What is done not following the ego - nafs, but the divine Law, the commandment of Allah (may His Majesty be exalted) and the example of Prophet Muhammad (the blessings and peace of Allah upon him)
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That despite all the wars, persecutions,
the fitna in the world, not only today, but since Islam's inception, and despite the slackening of part of the community and the deviating to extremism by another part of the community; that despite all these problems has the Islamic Tradition kept intact its authenticity, its blessings and its way.
↩
What Makes Art Islamic? - YouTube Oludamini Ogunnaike
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An important aspect of anti-tradition
is the ongoing process of the falsification of language,
where certain words ”have been diverted from their true, original meaning.” RG
For those who cannot comprehend the meaning of the concept of ’truth’ there is a problem. Postmodernism can posit anything as true, alternatively nothing as really true, or both true at the same time! Or ’true’ is supposedly what has the desired impact!
Does it then surprise that this process has led to today’s mental confusion with many of our contemporaries? But ’human life is characterized by the search for personal or meta meaning.’ NN
Language changes, but not always - not only - at random. Agents of the postmodern deviation are consciously and unconsciously participating in the effort. Words reflect certain meanings and meanings are derived from principles. When principles are lost, which is often the case today, language becomes diluted, even adulterated - and when original meanings are forgotten, concepts will attract new meanings, even meanings in reverse.
One consequence of this is either the arrogance vis-à-vis and unwillingness to understand the classical civilizational texts - ’meta-narratives’, when words appear like skeletons of ancient times, seemingly unknowable meanings from the time they were pinned down.
Another consequence is that one projects one’s own associative thinking upon concepts of Tradition, thereby falsifying the original message of truth.
Also it would be valuable to remind one-self that not everything can be explained exclusively human terms, not everything can be reduced to the human level, and consequently Tradition itself - as we understand it - must not be confused with anything which it is not.
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