Perspectives on initiation

René Jean-Marie-Joseph Guénon (15 November 1886 – 7 January 1951), also known as Abdalwahid Yahia (Arabic: عبد الـواحد يحيی; ʿAbd al-Wāḥid Yaḥiā), was a French-Egyptian intellectual who wrote on topics ranging from esotericism, "sacred science" and "traditional studies" to symbolism and initiation. In his writings, Guénon proposes to hand down eastern metaphysics and traditions, these doctrines being defined by him as of "universal character", and adapt them to western readers "while keeping strictly faithful to their spirit". Initiated into Islamic esotericism from as early as 1910 when he was 24, Guénon mainly wrote and published in French, and his works have been translated into more than twenty languages; he also wrote in Arabic an article for the journal Al Marifah.