One night, I had to study at midnight, so I went to the main room. I saw that Mahmood Reza was already there. But he was not studying. Infact he was doing his prayers.

He was not more than 12-13 years at that time. I had no option but to study inside my room.

The next time I saw the same thing and hence could not study in the main room.
This happened continously for some nights. He would wake up at midnight and do his prayers in the main room.

Every night, his prayers used to become longer than the previous night. One night he was doing his prayers for about 2 hours.

One day I said to him, “doing midnight prayers is not obligatory on you. You are losing your sleep and then next day you feel sleepy in the school. Above all this you have still not reached the age for the obligatory acts. The daily prayers are not obligatory on you, midnight prayers comes after that.”

While I spoke to him, I came to know that he had been having conversation with an Islamic student who spoke to him about the benefits of midnight prayers. And his words had so much impact on Mahmood Reza that he prayed the midnight prayers regularly for a week.

Because of his school, I had to convince him and tell him that it is not compulsory for him to recite the midnight prayers. But he recited his prayers with humility and docility. I still remember his face while he used to recite the prayers.