Pre-Modern Islam: The Practice of Tasawwuf and its Influence in the Spiritual and Literary Cultures

The modern narrative of Islam is one which differs from the pre-colonial narrative. The practice of Tasawwuf is a sacred one and not many people are aware of the actual core and values of it. However, its concepts of Tawheed, Ihsan, and Tahqiq have been present since pre-colonial South Asian Islam. This paper focuses on pre-modern South Asian Islamic traditions along with the influence of Tasawwuf during the Mughal era and their evolution with time by comparing them to global Islamic traditions while outlining some similarities as well by exploring the literary culture. This paper argues how Islam now is a rigid system but that had not always been the case and also rebuttals the claims of western historians.