The year was 1985. I was about 28 years old at the time. If you ask me, I was just like any other Indian guy. I was skinny, had jet black hair, a thick manly mustache and was of an average height of 5’8 or so. I had recently started working at a Power generation plant, in Saudi Arabia as the Electrical Distribution site manager. My job mainly consisted of paper work. However, one day my boss Omar Hamza sent me along with a building crew on a trip to check out the new office storage site. Hamza wanted the crew and I to start marking out what would go where, based on the blueprint design. He wanted us to make sure that everything worked out, before they started construction. Everyone hopped into my car except my driver, Allah- Baksh who went with his. Once we arrived we noticed that the site was located in a very remote and secluded area in the desert. This location was so isolated, that not even one person could be spotted for miles. We were just about to start the marking, when I suddenly realised that I forgot the blueprint behind. So, I asked Allah-Baksh if he could go back and bring it to us, as my car was almost out of gas. Being as loyal as he was, he replied with a submissive, “Of course, Mr. Siddiqui”.

My crew and I waited in the desert, entertaining ourselves by telling jokes, making conversation, and eating the food we had. We assumed that he was having trouble finding the blueprint, so we continued to wait. The sun disappeared, but there was still no sign of Allah-Baksh. Right when we were about to give up and go home, Allah-Baksh came running towards us. We were all very confused, but sadly before we could ask him any questions he fainted due to dehydration. I mean we were in a desert after all. After forcefully shoving water down his throat he finally regained consciousness. Unfortunately, that was the last of our water. After Allah-Baksh opened his eyes he told us that his car got stuck in some quick sand, but fortunately he was able to escape. It was very dark by this time and the desert was sound asleep. We all started to freak out! We had no food, water or light. I seriously thought that we were all going to die. However, because I was the leader of the crew I had to pull myself together and gathered everyone back into my car. I decided to turn back and go home, but it was so dark that there was no telling where I was headed. Suddenly, in the middle of nowhere we saw a mysterious light ahead of us. We figured that it was a large truck with extremely strong tail lights. So, we followed the light in hope of finding our way back onto the road.

The truck’s light led us towards a small village. Suddenly the light completely disappeared. Our guess was that the truck probably made a sharp turn for gas, when we blinked. The village we arrived at was called Al-Hassa. All of us were starving, so we stopped at a local restaurant and began to dig in. Some men at the restaurant told us that this village was located just outside of town, meaning that we were actually really close to the office. It turns out that the Mayor of the village named, Fanes Al-Qahtani was also at the restaurant. He was very welcoming and told us to stay for the night, as it wasn’t safe to go home so late.

The next morning, we filled our empty bottles with water and were prepared to head back. However, right before leaving we remembered the wonderful truck that brought us to the village in the first place. We couldn’t have left without thanking the truck driver, even if he didn’t know who the heck we were. We asked the mayor if he had any clue about the truck that had lead us to the village. The Mayor responded with a confused face. He told us that the village was under surveillance every night in case of rebel attacks. He also said that the road we came from was the most supervised, as it is the main entrance to the village. He told us that no other vehicle had passed by the village that night. We freaked out! I kept on re-asking the mayor, but he assured me that this was the case.

After we got back home, I analysed the situation and tried to determine what the light that we saw could've been. Maybe it was a mirage or a plane? Then I remembered my mother always telling me about an Islamic prophet. This prophet shines a helpful light for those trapped in the darkness, or in other words helps those that are lost. At first I nodded my head in disbelief, but later had second thoughts. I mean anything is possible, so why not this?