Now we can sort of understand the Catholic fascination with these apparitions of Mary, but why is she appearing in the Muslim world?

Islamic scholars attest that Mary is esteemed above even the most revered women of the Muslim faith, including Muhammad's two favorite wives Khadija and Aisha, and his daughter Fatima.

At a Coptic Orthodox church in Zeitoun, Egypt, a suburb of Cairo, a remarkable series of events occurred. An apparition that onlookers believed was Mary, appeared in the form of a woman, performing signs, wonders, and healings. This same woman appeared several nights each week for years. The vast majority of spectators were Muslim. Here is a description of the events surrounding the Zeitoun apparitions:

The Zeitoun apparitions… were seen by everyone present… the persons present at apparitional events there varied from several thousand to over two hundred thousand per night. Total witnesses perhaps numbered into the millions.

Several nights each week, thousands of Moslems (who constituted most of the crowds) fell to their knees on prayer rugs spread wherever space permitted, and wept before the magnificent, wondrous, glorious form of Our Lady from Heaven. All witnesses agree that the Lady seemed to be composed of light that usually was intense, yet lessened occasionally.

The apparitions of "Mary, the Mother of Jesus" were serenely animate, moving from one side of the church roof to another, as if to provide a direct view to all the surrounding throng, from which many called to her to come their way. She often responded to the singing or chanting of the crowd, appearing to bow in acknowledgment, greeting and blessing. Sometimes she made gestures of prayer, or held out and waved what appeared to be an olive branch. At other times, thousands watched her radiant form, which was often aglow with bluish white light, as she held in her left arm what certainly appeared to be the baby Jesus. The Zeitoun apparitions seemed to affect all witnesses, including hundreds who were spontaneously healed. Many such cases have been documented by Dr. Shafik Abd El Malik, M.B., B.Ch., M.D., Faculty of Medicine, Ain Shams University, who headed a commission of seven doctors to study the miraculous cures. [ Ray Stanford, "Fatima Prophecy," (Ballantine Books, New York 1988), pp. 44-49.]