This incident happened in 1968 during Saint Mary’s Apparition, where she appeared publicly to all Egyptians, both Christians and Muslims. She used to appear daily on the dome of Saint Mary’s Church, Zeitoun – a suburb in Cairo.
A blind, 18 year old Muslim heard of the apparition and the miracles that happened and went to see St. Mary in Zeitoun. The Muslim man raised his blind eyes and said to St. Mary: “if you are really here and you can heal my eyes, I will become a Christian and will follow Jesus all my life.” A few minutes later, he was healed of his blindness. On the spot, he started crying: “I am a Christian, St. Mary healed me! I can see.”
He went through so much trouble after he confessed his Christianity. The authorities took him in their custody and tortured him in the worst possible ways. Yet, he stayed firm in his belief.
His family disowned him and tried to kill him. He went and tattooed a cross on his wrist, which is typical of Christians in Egypt. The police took acid and literally scraped his skin off to get rid of the tattoo. He did not relent; he stayed firm in his faith. In fact, he went and put more tattoos of Saint Mary and other saints on his entire body and said they can scrape my whole skin off my body, if they want to get rid of them.
When the authorities and his family gave up on him, they finally poisoned him and left him half dead at one of the public hospitals in Egypt. A few Christians found him there and saved him.
He is still living in Egypt today as a devout and confessing Christian. Sometimes we believe God saves a select few on earth because of the power of their testimony to the masses.
The Art of Orthodoxy 