Mary & The Muslims

I think I've noted here before that Archbishop Fulton Sheen devoted a chapter of his 1952 book The World's First Love to the question of Mary & Islam. Sheen predicted then (following Belloc) that Islam would rise again, and he believed that the apparitions at Fatima would prove providential because they linked Mary to Mohammed's daughter. in engaging Muslims when it did. Scroll down to the section on Fatima here for Sheen's words. Now a prominent Italian Muslim is saying much the same, and urging his co-religionists to visit Marian shrines:

"Mary is a figure present in the Koran, which dedicates an entire sura [chapter ed.n.] to her and mentions her some thirty times. In Muslim countries there are Marian shrines that are the object of veneration and pilgrimage by Christian and Muslim faithful," he said. "Therefore, I believe that if this happens in Muslim countries, why can't it happen in a Christian country, especially in a historical phase in which we need to define symbols, values and figures that unite religions, spiritualities and cultures?" he asked. In Allam's opinion, "the Marian pilgrimage of Loreto -- Italy's National Shrine -- could represent a moment of meeting and spiritual gathering between Muslims and Catholics, around Mary, a religious figure that is venerated by both religions."

Zenit 's daily dispatch has the story.