Jean-Louis Michon

Jean-Louis Michon (13 April 1924 – 22 February 2013) was a French traditionalist and translator who specialized in Islamic art and Sufism. He worked extensively with the United Nations to preserve the cultural heritage of Morocco.

Biography Born in Nancy, France, in 1924, Michon was in college at the advent of WWII. There he began studying religion with a group of fellow students.

Already having two diplomas, (one in law, one in English literature), he moved to Paris and enrolled in a program for political science.

This something appeared in the guise of the works of French Traditionalist René Guénon. Greatly moved by Guénon's writings, Michon felt the need to enter an initiatic tradition. Michon had a great personal affinity with Hinduism and Buddhism; particularly Zen Buddhism after reading the essays of D.T. Suzuki. In 2010 his edition of two treatises of Ibn Ajiba was published by Archetype, Cambridge, in a bi-lingual volume in English (translated by David Streight) and Arabic.

Traditionalism In July 1946 Michon traveled to Lausanne to be initiated by the disciple of Sheikh al-Alawi, Frithjof Schuon. In attendance was Martin Lings (with whom he became particularly close).

During Michon's first trip to Switzerland he traveled to Basel where he met two of Schuon's closest disciples (and prominent members of the Traditionalist School); Titus Burckhardt and Leo Schaya.

Over Easter in 1947 he visited Guénon at his home, meeting his wife Fatima and children.

When asked what message he would give the next generation, he replied: "To my contemporaries, those of all the generations, I will say – prepare yourself to the encounter with God. It is He who has granted us an invaluable gift – intelligence – which man alone possesses among all created beings. Intelligence is the link with Him; it runs all our physic and bodily faculties. And if turned towards the Supreme Lord, lit by its light, it gives to any one of us the possibility to know himself better and to direct himself towards what is good for him."

Works Ibn Ajiba: Two Treatises on the Oneness of Existence (Archetype, 2010) Introduction to Traditional Islam (World Wisdom, 2008) Sufism: Love and Wisdom (World Wisdom, 2006) Every Branch in Me: Essays on the Meaning of Man. (World Wisdom, 2002) Lights of Islam: Institutions, cultures, arts and spirituality in the Islamic city, (Lok Virsa, 2000) The Moroccan Sufi Ibn 'Ajiba and His Mi'raj (Fons Vitae, 1998)

He was also a contributor to the quarterly journal, Studies in Comparative Religion, which dealt with religious symbolism and the Traditionalist perspective.