The Primordial Tradition according to Suhrawardi and René Guénon

Abstract

Suhrawardi in some of his treatises has written about the perennial tradition or a sacred tradition which without knowing it, one can’t be enumerated among the true sages. In his Mutârahât, he speaks of a primordial lost Word that is nothing but the primordial Tradition. This Word was divided into two branches, i.e. western tradition and eastern tradition; these two ultimately will be converged into one point. Suhrawardi regards himself as an inheritor of this precious tradition. The French metaphysician, René Guénon (1887-1951) in a similar way speaks of “la Tradition primordiale”, which has been manifested in Hindu and Islamic traditions. In this paper, the views of these two metaphysicians have been compared with each other.