|
|
|
MONDAY-SUNDAY
November 19-25, 2001
volume 12, no. 157
|
The Fatima Link for Moslems
"
Mary, then, is for the Moslems the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only
possible serious rival to her in their creed would be Fatima, the
daughter of Mohammed himself. But after the death of Fatima, Mohammed
wrote: Thou shalt be the most blessed of all the women in Paradise,
after Mary. In a variant of the text, Fatima is made to say, I surpass
all the women, except Mary.
This brings us to our second point: namely, why the Blessed Mother, in
the 20th century, should have revealed herself in the significant
little village of Fatima, so that to all future generations she would
be known as Our Lady of Fatima. Since nothing ever happens out of
Heaven except with a finesse of all details, I believe that the
Blessed Virgin chose to be known as Our Lady of Fatima 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.
Evidence to suport these views is found in the historical fact that
the Moslems occupied Portugal for centuries. At the time when they
were finally driven out, the last Moslem chief had a beautiful
daughter by the name of Fatima. A Catholic boy fell in love with her,
and for him she not only stayed behind when the Moslems left, but even
embraced the Faith. The young husband was so much in love with her
that he changed the name of the town where he live to Fatima. Thus,
the very place where our Lady apeared in 1917 bears a historical
connection to Fatima, the daughter of Mohammed.
The final evidence of the relationship of Fatima to the Moslems is the
enthusiastic reception which the Moslems in Africa and India and
elsewhere gave to the Pilgrim statue of Our Lady of Fatima, as
mentioned earlier. Moslems attended the church services in honor of
our Lady, they allowed religious processions and even prayers before
their mosques; and in Mozambique the Moslems who were unconverted,
began to be Christian as soon as the statue of Our Lady of Fatima was
erected."
|
|