Jean-Louis Michon (13 April 1924 – 22 February 2013) was a French traditionalist and translator who specialized in Islamic art and Sufism.
The article, entitled Mystic Modernist, mentioned that the late Sheikh had initiated several European disciples into the Sufi tradition.
The next day Michon began attending prayers at the mosques, and, with the help of Michel Valsan, he converted to Islam (with the name Ali Abd al-Khaliq).
His thesis was on the life and works of a scholar and spiritual guide of great renown from the north of Morocco, Shaykh Ahmad Ibn 'Ajībah al-Hasanī (1747–1809), whose Autobiography (Fahrasa) and Glossary of Technical Terms of Sufism (Mi‘raj al-tashawwuf ilā haqā’iq al-tasawwuf) Michon translated from Arabic into French (1982; 1974 and 1990).
[5][verification needed] 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.
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.
"[4]From 1972 to 1980 Michon was the Chief Technical Advisor to the Moroccan government on UNESCO projects for the preservation of the cultural heritage.
He was also greatly involved in the preservation and restoration of the casbahs of Morocco as part of a project designed to protect the city of Fez.