💬 My friend Arsalan lost his Dubai job overnight, and what happened over the next months

I want to tell the story of my friend Arsalan, because it taught me something about hope. He and his wife Ayesha were settled in Dubai with a comfortable home, a one year old son named Ibrahim and a salary that ran the house without worry. Then one morning his boss called him into the cabin and terminated him on the spot, citing restructuring. His hands were shaking on the drive home. Ayesha opened the door with Ibrahim in her arms, and Arsalan's eyes filled with tears. Neither of them slept that night. Rent of AED 3,500, the DEWA bill, formula milk, diapers, groceries, everything weighed on them. The first month went on savings. By the second, Ayesha had sold some of her gold. By the third, the landlord's message came: rent is late. Ibrahim's formula tin was running low, and Ayesha started crying in the kitchen where nobody could see. Arsalan applied on LinkedIn every day and got no replies. Groceries shrank to daal, rice and the occasional egg. Two old friends, Bilal and Zaid, recommended him at their offices. Interviews followed, but every one ended with we will get back to you. Bilal handed Ayesha AED 2,000 and said, this is for Ibrahim, do not think about paying it back. Then Ibrahim got a high fever and had to be rushed to hospital, and the bill came to AED 1,800. The same week their car insurance expired. Arsalan told me that one night he went to the masjid, prayed two rakats, and said, Ya Allah, You are the only support I have left. The next morning a call came from an unknown number. Through Zaid's reference, a company in Abu Dhabi wanted to interview him. Two days later an offer letter arrived, with a higher salary and family medical insurance included. Alhamdulillah. He says never lose hope, no matter how dark it looks.

The reminder at the end about Allah delaying but never abandoning is easy to say in hindsight once the offer letter finally arrived, but I imagine it felt very different during those months of daal, rice, and unanswered job applications. Really glad things turned around for them, that kind of financial fear is hard to fully explain unless you have lived through it.

The timing of Ibrahim's fever right on top of the car insurance expiring felt like exactly the kind of moment where everything difficult seems to arrive at once instead of spreading out. Reading about Arsalan going to the masjid that night and just asking for help openly, without pretending things were fine, was probably the most human part of the whole story.

Bilal handing over that money without expecting it back, and telling Ayesha not to think about repaying it, is the kind of quiet real friendship that rarely gets highlighted enough in these situations. Arsalan reaching out to old friends despite the difficult circumstances clearly paid off, even though it took several more difficult weeks to show any results.

Reading about Ayesha crying alone in the kitchen while Arsalan kept applying with no replies coming back really stayed with me, that kind of quiet struggle rarely gets talked about. Bilal handing over two thousand dirhams without expecting it back says a lot about real friendship too. Glad the Abu Dhabi offer came through when it did, Allah's help arriving right when things looked their worst is exactly the kind of story worth remembering.