New Delhi: "It`s Allah`s blessing." This was how Peer Zada Rais Mian Chisthi, the head of world famous Fatehpur Sikri dargah, reacted to reports that
French President Nicholas Sarkozy and his wife Carla Bruni are
expecting their first child.
Over five and half months back, Bruni, a former top model-turned-singer, along with Sarkozy had walked barefoot to the dargah, near Agra, with their heads covered and prayed for a son just like Mughal Emperor Akbar did centuries ago. The
couple got married in February 2008.
"I have been praying ever since the visit for their
wish to be fulfilled. I am happy to hear the reports. It`s all
Allah`s blessings," Rais Mian, the dargah`s Sajjadanashin,
told PTI over telephone.
The German Bild newspaper, Europe`s most widely-read
daily, quoted the President`s father Paul Sarkozy as saying
that the French First Couple was expecting a child.
Way back on December 5, 2010, Rais Mian had said that
the couple, who were on a visit to Agra and Fatehpur Sikri,
had prayed for a son.
At that time, no one including the media was allowed
inside the dargah. Only Rais Mian and handful of others were
present with the couple.
"I told them this dargah grants wishes to jobless, non
married and even childless. He (Sarkozy) asked me to pray for
him and wish him success. While they were tying the thread,
Carla said she wants a son and I prayed for them," Rais Mian
had said earlier.
Paul Sarkozy(82) was quoted as saying by the German
daily that neither the president nor his wife "want to know
the sex (of) the child, but I`m sure it`s a girl who`ll be as
beautiful as Carla."
Rais Mian had also said that Sarkozy and Carla even
tied the thread, known as `Kalava`, the symbol of their wish,
after asking him to blow his breath on it.
The couple do not have children. But, Sarkozy has
three sons and Carla one through their previous marriages.
The dargah became famous after its peer Sheikh Salim
Chisthi had blessed Akbar with a child.
Akbar, who was childless, had prayed at several
dargahs and temples before coming to Sikri where Chisthi,
sitting on a rock, blessed him and said he will have three
children, said Arshad Faridi, son of Rais Mian.
Akbar, then, named his eldest son Salim after the
saint. Salim later became Emperor Jehangir.
"Dargah is for everyone. I pray that they come here
again but this time with their child," Rais Mian said.
According to him, prayers will be held for Sarkozys`
child to be born healthy.
Hundreds visit the Dargah every day and pray for
their wishes to be fulfilled. The most common is the wish for
a child.
PTI
