Divine Madness and Cultural Otherness: Diwānas and Faqīrs in Northern Pakistan

Abstract

This article portrays several little-known examples of unusual and eccentric individuals embodying different forms of divine ‘madness’ and representing cultural otherness among local people in the high mountain areas of Northern Pakistan. The precise position of these men as more or less ‘holy’ ( diwāna and faqīr) or simply ‘crazy’ ( pāgal) remains evidently contested. The article argues that ultimately, through their marginal state, the various forms of divine madmen can be seen to embody the potency of disorder in a local Islamic environment as a necessary element and completion of an all-encompassing divine order.