Bismillah: Assalamo Alikum.
here is a short version of brother Ricalde's story.
His name is: <b>Leonardo Ricalde.</b>
He was a Christian missionary and a pastor who was sent by his Church to Saudi Arabia to spread Christianity and call Muslims to ‘<i>Christ</i>’. But subhan a Allah, we always plan, but Allah is the best planner. Upon his arrival to Jeddah airport, the person who was suppose to pick him up came very late, and so Ricalde walked around to waste time, then he found in one of the shops there, a small sticker hanged on the wall saying “<b>Read the Qur’an, the last testament</b>”, he was shocked, he knew very well of the Old and the New testament, but he never heard of anything called ‘<b>the last testament’</b>.
Anyway, his friend arrived and took him to the house for rest.
In his first night in Jeddah, at dawn he was awaked by the beautiful call to prayer, he went to the window to see what’s going on, and he found that so many men are running towards some place. He thought it was a war or something since this incident happened in 1991. he then waited for his friend who informed him that he was praying.
Ricalde then requested to have the Qur’an in English, and he started to study it alone for 8 whole months, he didn’t want to show anyone around that he is reading the Qur’an and other Islamic books, he started to go to the mosque to pray, and he learned alone how to pray and recite some verses of the Qur’an in Arabic through some booklets, almost everyone in the mosque thought that he is a Muslim. and one day the Imam greeted him with <i>Assalamo Alikum</i>, he then replied <i>Wa Alikum Assalam</i>, the Imam asked about his name, so Ricalde said, my name is <b>Leonardo</b>, the Imam then realized that he is either a new Muslim or a Non Muslim, so when he was asked whether he is a Muslim or not, <b>he then declared that he is a Muslim and immediately he recited his shahadah </b> and chosen Ahmed to be his name instead of Leonardo.
Brother Ahmed Ricalde who went to Saudi Arabia to convert Muslims to his religion, became one of the most active propagators of Islam in Jeddah, then in Dammam for more than 10 years. More than 3000 new Muslims came to Islam through Allah’s guidance and his efforts. He is the authors of many books on Islam and comparative religion in Tagalog and English printed and distributed freely in the Philippines. He participated in more than 5000 lectures in many parts of Saudi Arabia and Philippines. May Allah reward him much.
Last year, Brother Ahmed Ricalde suffered from heart attack and was sent to one of the hospitals in Saudi Arabia for surgery, the operation was successful and he was sent home to the Philippines for some rest, and just today, I was informed that <b>brother Ahmed Ricalde passed away 2 months ago</b>.
<b>Please make Du’a that may Allah have mercy on his soul, grant him the highest heavens for his great efforts in serving Allah’s Deen, and forgive his sins. Ameen Ameen Ameen.</b>
I have his story recorded on my video camera, I wish I could be able to post it here soon insh a Allah as a reminder for all of us.
I just thought to pay some tributes to this great man whom I met and knew personally, and sorry if I bothered any of you.
<b>May Allah reward you all for your Du’a. </b> Ameen
Salam
Wael.
