WHO WAS RUFINO? A SHORT HISTORY OF THE NIGERIAN MUSLIM SCHOLAR IN 19TH CENTURY BRAZIL

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

Rufino was born in 1815 in the kingdom of Oyo, in present-day Nigeria. His father was an alufa (imam) and taught Rufino

the Qur’an. Due to political turmoil and civil war between the Yoruba and Hausa ethnic groups, Rufino was enslaved by Hausa Muslims and sold to Portuguese slave traders. He was then transported to Brazil.

In 1822, Rufino arrived in Bahia, northeastern Brazil, when he was seven years old. He spent eight years in the state before travelling to the province of Rio Grande do Sul where he was sold to a merchant and then to a high court judge called José Maria Peçanha. He adopted his name from his master.

Rufino was industrious like many of the Yoruba Muslims in Brazil, who were known as Nagôs / Malês. After fifteen years as a slave, he paid 600,000 reais for his freedom in 1835. Soon thereafter, he travelled to Rio de Janeiro and worked as a merchant and cook on a ship called the Ermelinda in the early 1840s.

Whilst working as a cook, Rufino made several trips to Sierra Leone, West Africa, to further his Islamic education. In Fourah Bay, Sierra Leone, Rufino continued to study Islam, the Qur’an, and the Arabic language. He returned to Brazil to teach people his religion.

Full article:  Who Was Rufino? A Short History of the Nigerian Muslim Scholar in 1...

[Bilal Mahmud المكافح المخلص]

Kofi Bilal Mahmud Eid AlFitr 1443 A.H.

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