{"id":18967,"date":"2017-09-06T12:46:15","date_gmt":"2017-09-06T17:46:15","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/?p=18967"},"modified":"2017-09-06T12:48:23","modified_gmt":"2017-09-06T17:48:23","slug":"did-mary-appear-at-fatima-for-the-conversion-of-muslims","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/?p=18967","title":{"rendered":"Did Mary Appear at Fatima for the Conversion of Muslims?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><a href=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-of-Fatima-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-18964\" src=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-of-Fatima-1-247x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"247\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-of-Fatima-1-247x300.png 247w, https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-of-Fatima-1.png 324w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 247px) 100vw, 247px\" \/><\/a><a href=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-1.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignnone size-medium wp-image-18970\" src=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-1-265x300.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"265\" height=\"300\" srcset=\"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-1-265x300.png 265w, https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Our-Lady-1.png 343w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 265px) 100vw, 265px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Did you know that Muslims also venerate Mary? That they, too, believe in the Immaculate Conception? That the iconic Muslim prayer posture is connected to Mary? And most amazing of all, that it was no coincidence that Mary appeared at Fatima in Portugal?<\/p>\n<p>What if the 100th Anniversary of the appearance of Our Lady of Fatima marked the beginning of a change in Christian-Muslim relations? What if it marked the turn of tide in conversions to Christianity? Find out how all this might be possible as we go through the following topics:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>How the iconic Muslim prayer posture is connected to Mary<\/li>\n<li>The difficulty in converting from Islam to Christianity<\/li>\n<li>The remarkable treatment of the Virgin Mary in the Quran and by Mohammed<\/li>\n<li>How Fatima, Portugal received its name<\/li>\n<li>The surprising top destinations of Muslim pilgrimages<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<h4><strong>The Heresy that Never Declined<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Hilaire Belloc, the Anglo-French writer and historian, described Islam as a heresy. If this is true, Venerable Fulton Sheen writes, Islam is \u201cthe only heresy that has never declined.\u201d(1) Sheen continues that:<\/p>\n<p>\u201c[Other heresies] have had a moment of vigor, then gone into doctrinal decay at the death of the leader, and finally evaporated in a vague social movement. Islam, on the contrary, has only had its first phase. There was never a time in which it declined, either in numbers, or in the devotion of its followers.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>We should definitely take note of this, especially given the decline of Christianity in Western Europe.\u00a0Christianity\u2019s attempts to convert Muslims \u2014 even Saints Francis of Assisi and Ignatius of Loyola were stymied in their attempts \u2014 must be largely considered failures. Why might this be?<\/p>\n<p>Here\u2019s part of the reason. A Muslim converting to Christianity, at least from the Muslim\u2019s point of view, would be much like a Christian converting to Judaism. Muslims believe that they have the final and definitive revelation of God to the world, that Jesus was only a prophet announcing Mohammed, the last of God\u2019s real prophets. Though becoming Christian might seem like a step backward for them, Mohammed is merely a prophet of Allah and not Allah, himself. Jesus, however, is both God and man. Therefore, Islam is, in effect, a step backward from Jesus to John the Baptist, the last of the prophets.<\/p>\n<p>Fulton Sheen firmly believes Islam will eventually be converted, but it will not be through the work of missionaries or the direct teaching of Christianity. It will be \u201cthrough a summoning of the [Muslims] to a veneration of the Mother of God.\u201d<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The Quran and the Virgin Mary<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>Mary holds an exalted place in Islam as the only woman named in the entire Quran.(2)\u00a0It refers to Mary seventy times and even names her as the greatest of all women.<\/p>\n<p>Though rejected by many Protestants, especially those descended from John Calvin, Marian doctrines such as her Immaculate Conception, Perpetual Virginity, and Assumption(3) are wholeheartedly endorsed by the Quran. The nineteenth chapter of the Quran alone contains forty-one verses on Jesus and Mary. It makes such a robust defense of Mary\u2019s virginity here that in the fourth book of the Quran, the condemnation of the Jews is attributed to their calumny against the Virgin Mary.<\/p>\n<p>Specific passages and details included in the Quran hint that Mohammed\u2019s source text might have been the apocryphal Gospel of Mary\u2019s birth. Both texts described the old age and sterility of Saint Anne, while Saint Anne is not even mentioned in the Bible.\u00a0The Quran even quotes Saint Anne as saying, upon the Immaculate Conception: \u201cO Lord, I vow and I consecrate to you what is already within me. Accept it from me.\u201d\u00a0And further, upon the birth of Mary, Saint Anne exclaims, \u201cAnd I consecrate her with all of her posterity under thy protection, O Lord against Satan!\u201d This appears to be a reference to Genesis 3:15, in which God prophesies that a woman will come who will be, from her beginning, an enemy of Satan.<\/p>\n<p>When Saint Joseph asks Mary how Jesus was conceived without a father, this is how Mary answered:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cDo you not know that God, when He created the wheat had no need of seed, and that God by His Power made the trees grow without the help of rain? All that God had to do was to say. \u2018So be it, and it was done.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The Sayyida<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>The Quran also describes the Annunciation, the Visitation, and the Nativity. Angels are depicted as addressing the Blessed Mother and saying:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cO Mary, God has chosen you, and purified you; He has chosen you above all the women of creation.\u201d (Quran 3:42)(4)<\/p>\n<p>Above\u00a0<em>all<\/em>\u00a0the women of the earth! This is similar to Elizabeth\u2019s address of Mary, \u201cblessed are you among women and blessed is the fruit of your womb.\u201d It also reinforces (and in effect\u00a0<em>proves<\/em>) Mary\u2019s own statement: \u201cAll generations will call me blessed.\u201d When Mary said \u201call generations,\u201d isn\u2019t it amazing that her statement should extend beyond Christianity? To\u00a0<em>two<\/em>\u00a0world religions?<\/p>\n<p>To the Muslims, the Blessed Mother is the true\u00a0<em>Sayyida<\/em>, or Lady.\u00a0The only serious rivals to Mary would be Mohammed\u2019s daughter, Fatima, and his wife, both of whom are numbered along with Mary as the four greatest women in Islamic history \u2013 interestingly, Mohammed\u2019s mother is not on this list.<\/p>\n<p>Nevertheless, after the death of Fatima, Mohammed wrote, \u201cThou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise, after Mary.\u201d(5)\u00a0Fatima, herself, is even known to have said, \u201cI surpass all women, except Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p><em>Sayyida<\/em>\u00a0is not the Blessed Mother\u2019s only title in Islam. She also bears the titles\u00a0<em>Q\u0101nitah<\/em>(6)\u00a0and\u00a0<em>Siddiqah<\/em>. Twice in the Quran Mary is called\u00a0<em>Siddiqah<\/em>,\u00a0which means \u201cShe who confirms the truth\u201d or \u201cShe who has faith.\u201d(7)<\/p>\n<p>At least two more Marian titles derive from the beautiful gesture of prayer. These are\u00a0<em>R\u0101ki\u2019ah<\/em>,\u00a0which means \u201cShe who bows down to God in worship\u201d, and\u00a0<em>S\u0101jidah<\/em>, \u201cShe who prostrates to Allaah (God Almighty) in worship.\u201d\u00a0 The Quran states: \u201cO Mary, you shall submit to your Lord, and prostrate and bow down with those who bow down.\u201d(8)\u00a0According to some Islamic scholars, Ruku\u2019 (bowing down) in Salaah (Muslim prayer) during prayer has been derived from Mary\u2019s practice. In this motion, the hands, knees and the forehead of the worshipper touch the ground together. This is the humblest position one can be in before his Lord, the sincerest sign of humility and surrender to the Creator.<\/p>\n<p>Isn\u2019t that amazing? The very posture of prayer and supplication, which so defines our conception of Muslims, is actually derived from the Virgin Mary!<a href=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Prayer.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18961 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Prayer-300x174.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"174\" srcset=\"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Prayer-300x174.png 300w, https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Prayer.png 399w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Certain of Mary\u2019s titles emphasis the purity of Mary from sin including\u00a0T\u0101hirah\u00a0(\u201cShe who was purified\u201d),\u00a0Sa\u2019imah(\u201cShe who fasts\u201d), and\u00a0Mustafia\u00a0(\u201cShe who was chosen\u201d). Some Muslim traditions record that Mary\u00a0Sa\u2019imah\u00a0fasted for half a year. The journalist Samir Khalil Samir records the following concerning devotion to Mary\u00a0Sa\u2019imah (9):<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWhen I was in Morocco, I found that many women, during pregnancy and after childbirth, continued the so-called \u201cfast of Our Lady,\u201d inspired by the Koran, which speaks of this fast.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>With regard to the title\u00a0<em>Mustafia<\/em>, the Quran records the angels as singing: \u201cO Mary! Lo! Allah hath chosen thee and made thee pure, and hath preferred thee above (all) the women of creation.\u201d(10)\u00a0It makes you wonder why Allah preferred Mary above all other mothers, even Mohammed\u2019s.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Why Did Our Lady Come to \u201cFatima\u201d?<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>This brings us to a very important question: why the Blessed Mother should have revealed herself in 1917 in the insignificant little village of Fatima, so that to all future generations she would be known as \u201cOur Lady of Fatima\u201d? As discussed above, Fatima was the highly esteemed daughter of Mohammed, who said of herself, \u201cI surpass all women, except Mary.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Fulton Sheen answers the question this way:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cSince nothing ever happens out of heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the Blessed Virgin chose to be known as \u201cOur Lady of Fatima\u201d as a pledge and a sign of hope to the Moslem people, and as an assurance that they, who show her so much respect, will one day accept her Divine Son, too.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Sheen cites the auspicious history of the village of Fatima as evidence for Mary\u2019s \u201cpledge\u201d.<\/p>\n<p>Muslims, specifically the Moors, had occupied the Iberian peninsula of Portugal and Spain for centuries. The Umayyad Caliphate completed its conquest of Iberia in AD 711. Christians began the long slog of reconquering the peninsula with the Battle of Covadonga in 718 and would not retake their lands for another 700 years, when Ferdinand and Isabella completed the Reconquista in 1492, the year of Columbus.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Map.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"size-medium wp-image-18965 aligncenter\" src=\"http:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Map-300x224.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"300\" height=\"224\" srcset=\"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Map-300x224.png 300w, https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Map-402x300.png 402w, https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/wp-content\/uploads\/2017\/09\/Map.png 640w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 300px) 100vw, 300px\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>At the time when the Muslims were finally driven out of Portugal, the last Muslim chief had a beautiful daughter by the name of Fatima. The story of how the village of Fatima received its name is retold by Friar Bernardino de Brito in his <em>Chronicle of the Order of Cister<\/em>\u00a0(1602):<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn a surprise attack on Saint John\u2019s Day in 1158, a Christian knight, Gon\u00e7alo Hermigues and his companions kidnapped a Moorish princess with the famous Arab name of Fatima. The knight took Fatima to a small village of the recently created Kingdom of Portugal, in the Serra de Aire hills. The princess fell in love with the Christian knight and decided to become herself a Catholic, taking the name of Oureana.\u201d(11)<\/p>\n<p>The young husband was so much in love with his wife that he changed the name of the town where he lived to Fatima. Thus, the very place where Our Lady appeared in 1917 bears a historical connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>The Blessed Mother and Muslims Today<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>For further evidence of Mary\u2019s purpose in choosing Fatima, one need look no further than the faces of the pilgrims to Fatima, themselves.<\/p>\n<p>Samir Khalil Samir writes for the Asian News Agency PIME about the pilgrims visiting Our Lady of Fatima and other Marian holy sites: (12)<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor years now plane loads of Muslim women from Iran have been landing at Fatima, Portugal.\u00a0 They come to pray before Our Lady who appeared to three shepherd children. The reason is that the Madonna was named after the daughter of Muhammad and wife of Ali Ibn Abi Talib.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Samir also writes about Muslim families flocking to other Marian shrines, especially that of Our Lady of Lebanon:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIn Harissa, Lebanon, Iranian women constantly come to pray to Our Lady, to the point that the rector of the shrine has a chapel prepared especially for them, with icons, signs and prayers to the Virgin in Persian, to facilitate their devotion.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cLast year, during the month of May, as I waited for evening Mass to begin in Harissa, I saw hundreds of Muslim families \u2013 probably Shiite \u2013 who stopped to listen to the hymns before Mass and who only left at the end.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Popular devotion to these appearances of Our Lady, as well as to Saint Charbel Makhlouf of Lebanon, is growing among Muslims, much to the chagrin of radical Islamists. This is why ISIS and groups such as these destroy pilgrimage sites whenever possible.<\/p>\n<h4><strong>Pray for the conversion of Muslims!<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Our Lady of Fatima: Amazing Connections between the Virgin Mary and Islam\" width=\"584\" height=\"329\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/wk2peYr5TyE?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<h4><strong>End Notes<\/strong><\/h4>\n<p>(1) Sheen, Fulton,\u00a0The World\u2019s First Love, McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc., New York (1952): 205-6.<br \/>\n(2) The Quran (sometimes spelled Koran) is the bible of Islam.<br \/>\n(3) Lings, Martin,\u00a0Muhammad: His Life Based on the Earliest Sources, Inner Traditions (rev. ed. October 6, 2006, orig. 1983), p. 101; an example of an Islamic scholar which accepts the Assumption of Mary as an historical fact.<br \/>\n(4) cf. trans. Arberry and Pickthall; Stowasser, Barbara Freyer, \u201cMary\u201d, in\u00a0Encyclopaedia of the Qur\u02be\u0101n,\u00a0General Editor: Jane Dammen McAuliffe, Georgetown University, Washington DC.<br \/>\n(5) Sheen, 208.<br \/>\n(6) Mary is called this in sura 66:12. The Arabic term means constant submission to God and absorption in prayer. These meanings coincide with Mary spending her childhood in the temple of prayer. This is likely based on a reference to apocryphal texts, but it is amazing how it supports her being the New Ark in the Temple of God.<br \/>\n(7) Sura 5 (Al-Ma\u2019ida), ayat 73\u201375 and 66:12<br \/>\n(8)\u00a0Quran 3.43<br \/>\n(9) Samir, Samir Khalil, \u201cMillions of Muslims devoted to Our Lady and eager forexorcism,\u201d July 26, 2013<br \/>\n(10)\u00a0Quran 3.42<br \/>\n(11) Following her marriage, the princess received as prize the town which she called Our\u00e9m, after her name. Our\u00e9m remains the name of the municipality which contains the cities of both Our\u00e9m and Fatima.<br \/>\n(12) Samir, 2013.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/churchpop.com\/2017\/09\/04\/mary-appear-fatima-conversion-muslims\/\"><em>O<\/em><em>riginally posted on the Scott Smith Blog<\/em><\/a><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Did you know that Muslims also venerate Mary? That they, too, believe in the Immaculate Conception? That the iconic Muslim prayer posture is connected to Mary? And most amazing of all, that it was no coincidence that Mary appeared at &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/?p=18967\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7779,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-18967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-divine-will"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/7779"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=18967"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18971,"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18967\/revisions\/18971"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=18967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=18967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/luisapiccarreta.co\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=18967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}