Pacer Irfan Pathan's father offered a special namaz the night before India played its first Test against Bangladesh. And on Monday, his prayers were answered when his son got the Man of the Match award in Dhaka.
"I stay in the mosque on Thursday nights, and I woke up at night to offer the Tahajjud namaaz for Irfan," Mehboob Khan Pathan, a muezzin in Baroda's Jama Masjid, told IANS over the phone.
The Tahajjud prayer, offered in the second half of the night, is not one of the five namaz's that are compulsory for a Muslim but are said to carry a lot of weight.
"I prayed to Allah that he take five wickets in the innings and it happened -- after all, prayers are our only weapon," said Mehboob, who gives the call for prayers five times a day and is responsible for the mosque's maintenance.
Twenty-year-old Pathan took five for 45 in the first innings -- his first five-wicket haul -- and six for 51 in the second for his career-best match figures of 11 for 96 to bowl India to an innings and 140 runs victory on the fourth day.
Mehboob, who tries to offer Tahajjud prayers before every match that Irfan plays, normally spends Thursday nights at the mosque.
"On this Thursday, I was very keen to offer Tahajjud and Allah listened to me as a mosquito bit me and I woke up in time for the prayers," said the ardent cricket fan who also went to Pakistan to watch his son play during the March-April tour.
"I prayed that Irfan get lots of wickets in the match. I also prayed that he win the Man of the Match and Man of the Series," he revealed.
"I am 101 percent sure that Irfan will, Insha-Allah, win the Man of the Series award also," he said.
Khan senior said Irfan had called up after the first innings and would call up again.
Both Mehboob and his wife Shamim Bano profusely thanked god for bringing honour to their talented son, who has come to be the main strike bowler for India in Tests as well as one-day internationals.
"Everything is due to Allah and we are very grateful to him," the normally reticent Shamim Bano told IANS.
"People are coming over and, yes, we are distributing sweets also," she said.
Asked how he was feeling, Mehboob just said: "I'm so happy, just don't ask me to say anything."
Mehboob has one more dream.
"Now, my wish is to see both my sons play for India together in the same team," he said, referring to his elder son Yusuf, who plays for Baroda with Irfan in domestic tournaments.
That would be the prayer to Allah when he goes for the Haj pilgrimage in the next few days with his wife and youngest daughter.
--Indo-Asian News Service