The Economic Crisis: How God Saved Me

Nasser Mahmood Abdullah, UK

During the financial crisis of 2008, I was working with a mortgage broker company that belonged to one of my cousins. Unfortunately, due to the ongoing financial collapse, my cousin had to close his company, and I had no choice but to start searching for a new job.

Although I lived in the UK, I was originally from Yemen, where I had completed my bachelor’s degree to qualify for work in education. My foreign qualifications were an obstacle to finding work as an educator here in the UK, as most jobs required for me to have taken other specific courses. 

During this time, I would offer tahajjud (pre-dawn supererogatory prayers) daily. I applied to many jobs and underwent many interviews but to no avail. In my prayers, I supplicated, ‘Oh Allah, You know my situation, and I don’t know where to look and what to look for, so guide me to a job which is good for my religion and morals.’ As a Muslim, this was the guiding priority that underpinned my prayers: to have a job that would propel me in faith and morals. 

In this period, I started having recurring dreams where I saw myself at a school, in a classroom with students. I took these dreams as a sign, and continued my search for a job in the education sector. However, as expected, I kept facing the same hurdles, where I would be told I need additional qualifications for each job. Yet, at the same time, as my prayers continued, so did these dreams, always on the theme of me being in a classroom, surrounded by students and teaching them. I truly didn’t know what to make of these dreams as I had absolutely no success in getting a job over this period. 

At the time, my wife Nadia (an engineer) worked at Haywards Heath as a water modeling consultant. She used to go to work by train and, one day, a woman stood before her, talking on the phone. When the woman hung up, my wife asked her if she was from Yemen. Surprised, the woman asked, ‘How did you know?’ My wife explained that she could tell by her accent — ‘You talk the same as my husband; he is from Yemen.’

The two quickly became acquainted, and at the end of their conversation, the woman suddenly told my wife, ‘If you happen to be looking for a job, I can help you.’ My wife explained that, while she already had a job, her husband was actively looking for one. The woman gave my wife her phone number so they could exchange more information later on. My wife then immediately called me and told me the story.

My wife arranged for me to speak to the lady on the phone the next day, who told me to come to her office the next day for an interview. Alhamdulillah (all praise belongs to Allah), the interview went well, they immediately hired me, and instructed me to start work the very next day. There had been several people who were interviewed for the job, and I happened to be one of the hired candidates. I knew with complete certainty that I wasn’t just hired by chance.

Looking back on how things transpired, I remember supplicating, ‘Oh Allah, I don’t know where to look and what to look for. I ask that You guide me.’ I had seen dreams where I had seen myself in classes with students. I could now clearly see how my prayers had been accepted and how God had fully manifested my dreams. 

Before my interview, I didn’t even know that this workplace existed, never mind that they were hiring. It was purely God Almighty who brought this job right to my door without any effort on my part! It was solely by Allah’s grace and mercy in response to my supererogatory prayers! Not only this, but the job was in the education sector — the Saudi culture office in London, which deals with all Saudi students who have Saudi government scholarships to study in UK universities for higher education. I never knew that such workplaces existed or were hiring; otherwise, I would’ve looked there from the beginning. However, Allah the All-Knowing — with His mercy — guided me to my provision, leading me to find a job and work with students, as I had repeatedly dreamed of. Alhamdulillah!