Notable Quote: The Ecstatic Red Fairy

...The wild and ecstatic night-long celebrations marking the anniversary of the saint's death were almost a compendium of everything of which Islamic puritans most disapprove: loud Sufi music and love poetry was being sung in every courtyard, men were dancing with women,  hashish was being smoked, huge numbers were venerating the tomb of a dead man, and all were routing their petitions through the saint, rather than directly to God in the mosque.

"These mullahs are just hypocrites," said one old fakir I talked to in the shrine. "Without love, they distort the true meaning of the teaching of the Prophet. They are just interested in themselves. They should all be jailed for life."

The old fakir ... was adamant that there were two things I should not miss when I visited Sehwan Sharif. The first was the daily dhammal, or devotional dance to the saint, which took place each evening at sunset, after the end of Magrib prayers. The other, he said, was a famous lady fakir who lived in the shrine, and was said to be the most passionate of all the saint's devotees. Her name, he said, was Lal Peri Mastani, or the Ecstatic Red Fairy. I asked how I would find her amid the crowds.

"Don't worry," replied the fakir. "Everyone knows Lal Peri. And anyway she is unmistakable."

"In what way?" I asked.

"She is dressed in bright red, is very fat, and she carries a huge wooden club."
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William Dalrymple, Nine Lives: In Search of the Sacred in Modern India