Christian Bonaud


Yahya Christian Bonaud, also known as Yaḥyā ʿAlawī was a French Islamologist, philosopher, writer, translator, commentator of the Qur'an in French, and a professor at the Jāmī Theological Center at Al-Mustafa International University in Iran.

Early life

Christian Bonaud was born in 1957 into a Catholic family in Freiburg im Breisgau, Germany. They lived in and Algeria until he was ten-years old, then moved to Strasbourg.
Influenced by the works of René Guénon, a French Sufi metaphysician, Bonaud converted to Islam in 1979. He began to study Arabic. Studying Islamology eventually led him to the writings of Henry Corbin about Shia Islam.
Under the guidance of Amadou Hampâté Bâ, an African gnostic and spiritual leader of the Tijaniyyah, he re-converted to Shia Islam and adopted the name Yahya Alawi. Bonaud did his doctoral dissertation in French on Ruhollah Khomeini, which was reprinted and published as the book L'Imam Khomeyni, un gnostique méconnu du XXe siècle. While writing his thesis, he spent seven years in Iran studying under the guidance of Sayyed Jalal-ed-Din Ashtiani.

Death

He died at sea in Abidjan, Ivory Coast in a marine accident on Monday, 26 August 2019. He was making a visit to the African continent to address Muslims about the month of Muharram and the guiding principles of Husayn ibn Ali. His body was transferred to Mashhad, Iran for his funeral rites and burial. He was 62–years old.

Works