At Lepanto, Christendom defeated Islam in 1570. Today,
Christianity has to master itself to gain real power.
“The ‘courage to forgive’ is an expression from Pope John
Paul II and he used it also in reference to Islamic extremism. But is this not
the senseless talk of those who seek consolation in words when they have been
hurt by deeds? No; it is much more than that. When the Pope uses the word ‘forgiveness’
in reference to Islam it is not just an empty word. The horrible even in the
spring of 1996 (not to speak of 9/11 /2001), a group of armed Muslims in
Algeria announced that they had ‘cut the throats’ of the seven Trappist monks
they had seized during the night between the 26th and 27th
of March. Then on Pentecost Sunday, May 26, the Pope [ John Paul II] referred
to the tragedy in his Sunday message:
“Despite our deep sorrow, we thank God for the witness of love given by those religious. Their fidelity and constancy honor the Church and they will certainly be a seed of reconciliation and peace for the Algerian people, with whom they were in solidarity. May our prayers also reach their families, the Cistercian Order and the small ecclesial community in Algeria: in this tragic trial may they never lack the courage of forgiveness and the strength of hope. With words from the Book of Genesis: ‘From man in regard to his fellow man I will demand an accounting for human life’ (Gn. 9, 5), I address an appeal to all men of good will, and even more to those who call themselves children of Abraham, so that similar actions are never repeated in Algeria or elsewhere (Sunday message, St. Peter’s, May 26, 1996).
“To speak of forgiveness in the face of such an extreme Islamic fundamentalism would sound foolish or downright provocative if the Gospel teaching on forgiveness were not so amply demonstrated in modern times by Christians who
live in Muslim lands. One extraordinary document on the spirituality of
forgiveness has come to light precisely at the time of the massacre of the
monks in Algeria. Their superior, foreseeing their final destiny, had sent this
message to friends and relatives in France. It is dated January 1, 1994:
“If they seize me someday (and it could
happen today) to become a victim of the terrorism which seems to threaten all
the foreigners who live in Algeria today, I would want my community, my Church
and my family to remember that I have given my life to God and to this country.
“I have lived long enough to
consider myself an accomplice in the evil which, alas! Seems to prevail in the
world and also in that which can unexpectedly happen sto me. If that moment
comes, I would like to have the spark of lucidity that would enable me to ask
pardon of God and of my brothers in humanity, and at the same time with all my
heart to pardon him who has struck me.
“I cannot hope for such a death.
It seems important to me to declare it. In fact, I don’t see how I could
rejoice in the fact that a people that I love should indiscriminately be
accused of my murder. It would be too high a price to pay for what is called ‘the
grace of martyrdom’…. I know well the contempt in which the Algerians are held throughout
the world. I also understand the caricature of Islam which is fostered by a
certain form of Islamism.
“It is all too easy to put one’s
conscience at rest by identifying this religion with the fundamentalism of the
extremists. For me, Algeria and Islam are something else; they are a body and a
soul….
“And you, too, friend of my last
moment, who will not have realized what you have done. Yes, to you also I want
to say thanks and farewell… And if it is granted to us good thieves to meet
again in Paradise, it will be the will of God, our common Father. Amen.”[1]
* * * * * * * *
Mary and the Muslims
Islam is
the only great post-Christian religion of the world. Because it had its origin
in the seventh century under Muhammed, it was possible to unite within it some
elements of Christianity and of Judaism, along with particular customs of Arabia . Islam takes the doctrine of the unity of God, his
Majesty and his Creative power, and uses it, in part, as a basis for the
repudiation of Christ, the son of God. Misunderstanding the notion of the
Trinity, Muhammed made Christ a prophet announcing him, just as, to Christians,
Isaias and John the Baptist are prophets announcing Christ.
The
Christian European West barely escaped destruction at the hands of the Muslims.
At one point they were stopped near Tours [in southern
France ], and at another
point, later on in time, outside the gates of Vienna Africa was practically wiped out by Muslim power, and in
recent times the Muslims are beginning to rise again.
If Islam is a heresy, as Hilaire Belloc believes it to be,
it is the only heresy that has never declined.
Others 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.
The
missionary effort of the Church toward this group has been, at least on the surface,
a failure, for the Muslims are so far almost unconvertible. The reason is that
for a follower of Muhammed to become a Christian is much like Christian
becoming a Jew. The Muslims believe that they have the final and definitive
revelation of God to the world and that Christ was only a prophet announcing
Muhammed, the last of God’s real prophets.
At the
present time, the hatred of the Muslim countries against the West is becoming a
hatred against Christianity itself. Although the statesmen have not yet taken
it into account, there is still grave danger that the temporal power of Islam
may return and, with it, the menace that it may shake off a West that has
ceased to be Christian and affirm itself as a great anti-Christian world power.
Muslim writers say, `When the locust swarms darken vast countries, they bear on
their wings these Arabic words: “We are God’s host, each of us has 99 eggs, and
if we had a hundred, we should lay waste the world with all that is in it.”’
The problem
is, How shall we prevent the hatching of the hundredth egg? It is our firm
belief that the fears some entertain concerning the Muslims are not to be
realized, but that Islam, instead, will eventually be converted to Christianity
and in a way that even some of our missionaries never suspect. It is our belief
that this will happen not through the direct teaching of Christianity but
through a summoning of the Muslims to a veneration of the Mother of God. This
is the line of argument:
Mary in the Koran:
The Koran,
which is the Bible of the Muslims, has many passages concerning the Blessed
Virgin. First o fall, the Koran believes in her Immaculate Conception and also
in her Virgin Birth. The third chapter of the Koran places the history of
Mary’s family in a genealogy that goes back through Abraham, Noah, and Adam.
When one compares the Koran’s description of the birth of Mary with the apocryphal
gospel of the birth of Mary, one is tempted to believe that Muhammed very much
depended upon the latter. Both books describe the old age and the definite
sterility of the mother of Mary. When, however, she conceives, the mother of
Mary is made to say in the Koran: `O Lord, I vow and I consecrate to you what
is already within me. Accept it from me.’ When Mary is born, her mother says:
`And I consecrate her with al of her posterity under they protection, O Lord,
against Satan!’
The Koran
passes over Joseph in the life of Mary, but the Muslim tradition knows his name
and has some familiarity with him. IN this tradition, Joseph is made to speak
to Mary, who is a virgin. As he inquired how she conceived Jesus without a
father, Mary answered: “Do 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, `So be it,’ and it was done.”
The Koran
has also verses on the Annunciation, Visitation, and Nativity. Angels are pictured
as accompanying the Blessed Mother and saying: `Oh, Mary, God has chosen you
and purified you, and elected you above all the women of the earth.’ In the
nineteenth chapter of the Koran there are forty-one verses on Jesus and Mary.
There is such a strong defense of the virginity of Mary here that the Koran, in
the fourth book, attributes the condemnation of the Jews to their monstrous
calumny against the Virgin Mary.
Our Lady of Fatima :
Mary, then,
is for the Muslims the true Sayyida, or Lady. The only possible serious rival
to her in their creed would be Fatima, the daughter of Muhammed himself. But
after the death of Fatima, Muhammed 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 insignificant little village of Fatima
Evidence to
support these views is found in the historical fact that the Muslims occupied Portugal Fatima . A
Catholic boy fell in love with her, and for him she not only stayed behind when
the Muslims 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 lived to Fatima . Thus, the very place where Our Lady appeared in
1917 bears a historical connection to Fatima the daughter of Muhammad.
The final
evidence of the relationship of the village
of Fatima to the Muslims is the enthusiastic
reception that the Muslims in Africa and India Mozambique
Missionaries
in the future will, more and more, see that their apostolate among the Muslims
will be successful in the measure that they preach Our Lady of Fatima. Mary is
the advent to Christ, bringing Christ to the people before Christ himself is
born. In any apologetic endeavor, it is always best to start with that which
people already accept. Because the Muslims have a devotion to Mary, our
missionaries should be satisfied merely to expand and to develop that devotion,
wit the full realization that Our Blessed Lady will carry the Muslims the rest
of the way to her Divine Son. She is forever a `traitor’ in the sense that she
will not accept any devotion for herself, but will always bring anyone who is
devoted to her to her Divine Son. As those who lose devotion to her lose belief
in the divinity of Christ, so those who intensify devotion to her gradually
acquire that belief.
Many of our
great missionaries in Africa have already
broken down the bitter hatred and prejudices of the Muslims against the
Christians through their acts of charity, their schools and hospitals. It now
remains to use another approach, namely that of taking the 41st
chapter of the Koran and showing them that it was taken out of the Gospel of
Luke, that Mary could not be, even in their own eyes, the most blessed of all
the women of heaven if she had not also borne One who was the Savior of the
world. If Judith and Esther of the Old Testament were prefigures of Mary, then
it may very well be that Fatima herself was a post figure of Mary! The Muslims
should be prepared to acknowledge that, if Fatima
must give way in honor to the Blessed Mother, it is because she is different
from all the other mothers of the world and that without Christ she would be
nothing.[2]
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