‘To escape the tight darkness into light..’
‘To be reborn again.. and the past is forgiven..’
‘The moment of feeling with Allah..’
‘putting guidance inside your heart..’
‘This can’t be perceived by any description.. by any feeling..’
‘O Allah,’
‘I called upon you.. and I strived..’
‘I asked for your guidance.. and you have guided me..’
‘With Qur’an I was able to step up..’
‘O Allah..’
‘O Allah..’
My name is Rodrigo Rodrigues
I’m from Brazil..
I was born at Brazil..
And also my parents are Brazilians..
They were Catholics..
I was raised like them..
I lived.. but I didn’t know why I came?
what are my aims..? to where am I going?
I just eat..drink.. sleep..
Then I die.. and they cry on me..
finished.. the story of my life!
Sheikh. at that time.. what were the questions that you had on mind?
and what was the answers given to you by the priests?
When I was at the church.. reading the Bible.. and the Torah..
I used to ask the priests..
How can Esa be the son of Allah?
do you say that Allah, Almighty has a son?
and He has a mother?
and He formed Himself in a human body, Almighty..
and then He was killed and crucified?
This story didn’t convince me at all..
My family were not very religious..
But they respected some Christian rituals..
So, we celebrated Holidays at the churches..
I used to see the statues at the churches.. I was surprised..
This is the son of Allah.. this is unfair ..he is crucified!
What was his mistake?
Then I ask the priest..
Why was he crucified.. why had they killed the son of Allah?
He said.. his answer was..
shocked me.. really..
Why was the son of Allah killed?
so as to eliminate our sins!
After I read the Bible.. I had many questions..
and the answers given to me by the priests were not enough..
Then I started to read Torah..
The old testament.. the holy Book of the Jews..
then I read about Judaism..
and I went to them personally..
I told them I want to be a Jew.. I want to be like you..
They told me one thing..
Are your father or your mother Jews?
I said: no.. So you can’t be a Jew.
This means that being a Jew is only by inheritance..
So, I left Judaism..
I looked upon the east religions as Buddhism.. Krishna..
I went to see them.. they worship..
everything except Allah..
I entered their temple.. they were prostrating to a statue
then I left immediately..
I didn’t like it..
Do you know.. what is strange here.. Subhan Allah..?
That all of these questions.. all of that thinking. and all of these discussions..
And you were only 15 years old!!
Yes!
Alhamdulillah.. this is the natural instinct..
The first time to know about Islam..
was after the first Gulf war..
The thing that I learned that time said that Islam
is the religion of the people who fights one another..
I always noticed that..
they describe..
the Arabs and the problems.. as the Islamic!
the war.. the Islamic!
the terrorism.. the Islamic!
the aggression.. the Islamic!
This descriptive word.. (Islamic)
became to me connected with violence..
or terrorism..
So, I decided to buy a translated copy of the meaning of Qur’an
I wanted to know..
What is behind this religion?
and as I know it.. it is..
as I has learned from the media..
it is the reason of..
wars..
violence .. terrorism..
as the media claims..
So, I opened..
I stared by reading Surat Al-Baqara..
I finished it.. but I didn’t understand it..what it is about!
Then I moved from one Surah to another.. till I reached Surat Ar-Ra’d
the verse..
number 11..
“Indeed, Allah will not change the condition of a people until they change what is in themselves. ”
I said:
This is nice..
I will start..
to read the Qur’an again.. from the start..
then when I reached Surat Al-An’am
especially at..
the verses of Surat Al-An’am
on a page.. they say..
“And thus did We show Abraham the realm of the heavens and the earth “..
until the end of next page..
“so from their guidance take an example.”
Subhan Allah Yusuf..
the discussions we have about this show..
and the verses we have in mind..
were the verses that caused guidance.. but not the verses about guidance..
And as we noticed that Rodrigo..
when he was reading Surat Al-An’am..
he stopped at a verse..
it is about guidance..
“Those are the ones whom Allah has guided, ”
“so from their guidance take an example.”
What was the message that you have received from this great verse?
This was the verse that made me..
decide to..
become Muslim
The person who reads the Qur’an.. all of it..
he will believe that..
the message of the Qur’an..
is the message of Isa..
is the message of Moses..
is the message of all the prophets..
I wish that my people know!
that our religion.. the religion of Islam..
is not for us alone..
it is for them all..
This verse has made me accept Islam..
I was far from it.. but when I came close
‘I was guided.. on the first moment..’
‘and you have known about it since you were a child’
‘Why the hearts of some people are dead?’
‘Why the hearts of some people are dead?’
‘My criticism Ummah of Qur’an is because I love you’
‘because it is a sin to abandon Qur’an’
‘Tomorrow the messenger will complain about us.. are we going to be pleased?’
‘I called upon you.. and I strived..’
‘I asked for your guidance.. and you have guided me..’
‘With Qur’an I was able to step up..’
‘O Allah..’
I entered Islam.. I changed some of my beliefs.. some of my principles.. but my name remained the same..
this is my Dawah..
People here in Brazil say.. you are Muslim.. sure.. you are from Arabic countries..
Your name is Muhammad..
No, it is Rodrigo!
So, they get astonished..
How Rodrigo?.. you are Muslim?.. Yes!
Islam is not for Arabs only..
Muslims are more than a Billion..
let’s go Sheikh..
Me and Sheikh Rodrigo are going to visit the first person who gave him his first Mus’haf in Arabic..
and by mail..
He is Sheikh Khalid Taqi Al-Din..
I’m certain that he did send it to me.. I will remind him..
Now, we go to him and ask him.. sure.. to Sheikh Khalid..
I knew Sheikh Khalid Taqi Al-Din..
after I entered Islam..
I met him at Foz do Iguaçu city, at the border of the Paraguay, there are Muslims in that city..
I sent him a letter.. I’m Muslim.. I entered Islam..
I want to have some books about Islam..
He sent a letter.. a brothe called Muhammad Jebarah..
was working at Paraguay..
he told me that there a brother..
he entered Islam..
and he wants a copy for the Qur’an..
I said: OK, I will send it to him, In’sha Allah..
And I still keep that Mus’haf with me..
This is the Mus’haf.. the first one in Arabic given to Sheikh Rodrigo
I sent it to him and forgot about that..
a long time has passed..
Then we met after two or three years..
He said to me: Sheikh, you might not know me!
you are Sheikh Khalid Taqi Al-Din?.. I said: Yes.
He said: you have sent me my first copy of the Noble Qur’an in Arabic.
After he became Muslim.. Rodrigo went to Lebanon then to Qatar..
to learn Shari knowledge and Arabic language..
Then he resided at Saudi Arabia..
as a student at King Saud University..
Alhamdulillah.. I perused the Share knowledge..
from Sheikh Abdullah Bin Jibrin may Allah put mercy upon him and forgive him..
from Sheikh Abdulrahman Al-Barrak..
from Sheikh Abdullah Seraj.. and many others..
Scholars and Da’ias..
Sheikh.. when you lived at Saudi Arabia..
you were studying..
I want to know about you there.. your life.. your friends..to where do you go?
About four years..
Yes, almost five years..
Tell me about that time..
First I went to the students hostel
I came with my family..
So, some colleague, may Allah reward them
they arranged a house for me
in the neighborhood area
Not with the students of the university..
So, I introduced my self to the community around me..
we go together to the Masjid to pray..
People were surprised.. What is this Brazilian doing here..?
does he play football..? his name is Rodrigo!
I’m not a football player..
I came to study and to know you..
and then the young men took me out with them at night..
And they set the fire to have coffee.. as the poem says..
Yeah.. I learned some of their traditions..
First time for me to visit one of them..
After Maghrib, they gather and have some chats..
coffee.. dates.. water for washing hands..
I was very thirsty..
I thought that the water is for drinking..
I took the pot and drank the water..
They said: O Sheikh.. you are amazing..
I had dates.. then I understood their ways..
Although he was young.. after he entered Islam..
he was very much interested to get educated..
and he worked hard to do that..
This picture..
is of the Sheikh..
he was about 15 years old..
and the second picture is for us when we met at the world cup games, we were doing Dawah..
He used to go to the Masjids..
This picture is for him with me at the masjid of Umar Ibn Al-Khattab..
on the borders..
He has..
great motivations..
The reason that I returned to Brazil was..
I went to Saudi Arabia just to learn the language of Qur’an..
So, I learned Arabic.. and some of the Shara Knowledge
and I met scholars.. Alhamdulillah..
but my goal.. my mission is not there..
it is here in Brazil..
The Jinn cannot be more interested than me on the Dawah to Allah..
“And when it was concluded, they went back to their people as warners.”
Da’ia, is a Joint-Stock Company..
The Sheikh who taught me at the Masjid at Al-Riyadh.. he has his share..
when I do my Dawah here at Brazil
The teacher.. who was patient with me..
while teaching me Arabic.. he has his share..
from my work here in Brazil..
Even the grocery-man who was encouraging me.. he also has his share..
the young men at Saudi Arabia..who didn’t make me feel loneliness away from home..
Like my friend Said Al-Rakan.. Hello..
Sheikh Doctor Muhammad Al-Matrud, my heart..
My brother Wail Al-Dahash..
Sheikh Basil Fuzan..
all of them..
Now I work as a teacher of Islamic education..
at the Brazilian Islamic School..
I work on morning shift..
and after school I go to the Masjid directly..
I stay there till Salat Al-Isha..
this Masjid is beautiful..
This is a central Masjid..
It is one of the biggest Masjids in Brazil..
It consists of Salahuddin Mosque.. and the Muslim youth association..
The work that I do here in this Masjid are..
the prayers as Imam and I give the khutbas..
the Dawah, I meet people here.. and I go outside the Masjid to meet people too
How do you explain the Book of Allah, Almighty to the Brazilians..
I explain to the Brazilians..
Allah, Almighty said:
“And We did not send any messenger except [speaking] in the language of his people ”
“to state clearly for them”
To explain to the people what is Islam?
I try to..
convey to people..
the morals of the Qur’an .. and the principles of Qur’an..
So, I explain the Qur’an to them..
with a simple way that they can understand..
And if they agree with me..
‘Qur’an is beautiful.. I agree with it’
‘ You are Muslim and you don’t know’
Do they enter Islam after that..?
Many..
By Allah, Sheikh..
People read the translation of the Qur’an..
the translation of the meanings of the Qur’an..
and they accept Islam!
How if they knew ten percent of the Arabic language!!
It is only a translation.. for the meanings of the Qur’an!!
This is a light.. this is the speech of the Lord of the worlds..
“This [Qur’an] is a clear statement to [all] the people”
It is only a translation.. even if the translator has made a mistake in the translation..
the light from Allah reaches them!!
This is amazing..
“And We have certainly made the Qur’an easy for remembrance, so is there any who will remember?”
For all the humanity..
Yesterday, I was reading on Tafseer Al-Qurtubi..
Alfara said: And not to be touched except by the pure people….
i.e.
No one will taste Iman, except those who purified their hearts from filthiness and from impurities and so..
from heedless..
nice expressions..
From the Suras that it stops me.. to reflect upon it..
Surat Al-Masad..
“May the hands of Abu Lahab be ruined, and ruined is he.”
“His wealth will not avail him or that which he gained.”
Subhan Allah..
I exhausted my self.. suffered.. went.. came back.. traveled.. studied.. back to Brazil..
what for?
to learn Arabic.. the language of Qur’an..
Subhan Allah..
Abu Lahab was an Arab who was born in Makkah..
heard the Qur’an recited by the prophet of Allah himself..
He recites the Qur’an and Abu Lahab hears it from him directly..
But, even though..
Allah has sealed his heart!
So, we are in a great favor, Alhamdulillah..
We didn’t see the prophet, SAW.. but still we believed on him..
we didn’t witness the revelation of the Qur’an.. But still we believed on it..
Some people fought the prophet SAW.. Yes others accepted Islam..
but we have those who rejected.. repelled.. fought Islam and Muslims..
Allahu Akbar.. we are in an enormous grace.. Alhamdulillah..
From our first day here in Brazil, to meet Sheikh Rodrigo..
We were wondering what is the secret behind.. the love people have for him..?
we think that the secret is because he is from the people of Qur’an, and Allah knows..
The prophet SAW, said:’ Indeed Allah raises by this Book some people and lowers down others’
His talk in the Masjid is about Qur’an..
His lectures are about Qur’an..
I entered his office while he was there..
he was talking about the Book of Allah, Almighty and he admires the books about Qur’an..
The secret of his happiness is his fondness for Qur’an..
and if you want to be happy too..
Be closely attached to the Book of Allah, Almighty..