Pakistan fast bowler Shoaib Akhtar commented in a recent TV tete-a-tete, “He (Irfan Pathan) would be there before all of us, doing his namaz; it was really odd.” Akhtar’s comment revealed what he was perhaps too embarrassed to spell out: here was an Indian, almost a kafir, showing Pakistani cricketers how to follow their religion.

Pathan, the moulvi’s son, has never needed to wear his faith on his sleeve. But, despite that, he has found his faith playing a larger-than-life role in his life. His surviving the 2002 Gujarat pogrom has been the cause of wondrous relief. But it was sheer good luck that he did; and the fact that he went on to become one of India’s icons made no difference to those who ruled his home state. To them he was just another of them. That’s the reason why, when every member of the victorious Twenty20 team received cash awards from his home state, Irfan and his brother Yusuf received nothing from their chief minister, until TV channels went on and on about their exclusion. Days later, when the local MLA came over with a personal cheque of Rs 1,11,111 — the Pathans must have felt like showing him the door, but etiquette demanded that they accept it. So you had the photograph of their father bowing to accept the belated and grudging recognition of his sons’ achievements.

Ironically, it was during those very days that the Pathans had to proclaim from the rooftops that they were Indians first and Muslims, second.

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