It is known that individual symbols are universal and irreplaceable in the history of human spirituality and one of them is the hand that represents true power of creation and spiritual strength. Certain anthropologists believe that the origin of this amulet dates back to the oldest known cultures and should be sought in the raised hand of the Phoenician god of fertility Baal or in the depictions of certain Egyptian deities, where such a position demonstrates supernatural and royal affiliation. Divine motive of a raised hand was present among Assyrian where there was a common prayer “nish kati” – “raising of the hand”, while for example in the Egyptian text “Book of doors” on the alabaster sarcophagus of Seti I in the museum of Sir John Soane it is written “Large hand” it signifies supreme authority over the sky and earth.
I probably won’t exaggerate if I state that the amulet known as Fatima’s hand is the most popular one in southern Africa where it is used as a universal symbol of protection against evil eyes, which is after all a part of the folklore according to which the motif of an opened palm has an absolute domination over such forms of evil. Almost all present magical ornament across Morocco, Algeria and Tunis is a symbol of a hand painted with henna on the entrance to a house or a wall of the house. When constructed for women then Fatima’s hand must be made out of silver, while in other opportunities it can be created on wood, metal, shells or added as an addition to the amulet created out of chapters of the Qur’an. In Algeria and Iran it is believed that Fatima’s hand has the power to protect from crocks and generally negative people. It is usually made out of the following seven metals, which in astrology are connected to the seven planets: gold, silver, copper, iron, zinc, lead and tin.
In Egypt amulets made out of turquoise in the form of an eye or hand have, according to belief, prophylactic characteristics to protect a human against evil eyes, and how deeply rooted this belief is in everyday life can perhaps be best witnessed by scenes across Cairo, or across Egypt where we can see these amulets on the entrance door to a house or rear-view mirrors inside cars. Fatima’s hand is often called Khamsa, which signifies number 5, otherwise a holly number in Shiite tradition, where the five fingers represent five members of the holly family: Muhammad, Fatima, Ali, Hasan and Husein. Namely, while the focus among the Sunnis is only on Muhammad, among the Shiite, Alawites and other Islamic directions, respect is given to all of the above. (1)
It is very interesting to note that individual lands of the Maghreb have in their national features (a flag or crest) magical symbols which signify power and protection such as the pentagram sign on the flag of Morocco. Crest of Algeria adopted in 1976 has in its middle, underneath the rising sun the hand of Hazrat Fatima (2). In both lands Fatima’s hand is connected to prophylactic statements such as: “Five in your eyes!”, “Five on you!”, “Five in the face of my enemies!”, etc.
Hazrat Fatima as a cult symbol
It is necessary to emphasize that the popularity of Fatima in the Islamic world is actually a phenomena if we remember how dominant the historical marginalization of women among the Arabs, Persians and Jews has been. (3) Probably the first and most important reason is hidden in the fact that prophet Muhammad had seven children out of which only Fatima lived longer than him, and in accordance he showed her the most affection. (4) About Muhammad’s love for Fatima, Hazrat Aisha says: “Prophet rose in front of Fatima, he would welcome her, kiss her and offered her his sear. When he would enter her room she would rise to meet him, she would take his hand, welcome him and kissed him and she would offer her seat to him. She entered his room when he was on his death bed, he still welcomed her and kissed her.” (Buhari & Muslim).
Although Fatima is a cult symbol and the manifestation of female spiritual energy in shamanism with her indispensably appears Ali Ibn Talib, her husband, through whom the tradition of transmission of Islam to people was preserved. He also represents a cult character and is given mystical powers. Bosnian tradition claims that Hazrat Ali was born on second august and that day in BiH is called Aliđun (Aligun : from the Turkish word gun which means day). Fatima and Ali are often the main protagonists in numerous magical formulas such as this: “Hazrat Fatima plants flowers, Hazrat Ali encloses the garden…” In another formula which is uttered when planting vegetables it is said: “Hazrat Ali plants the garden, what did he plant – may it all sprout! Veledalin amin”. In both examples this holly couple is directly tied to vegetation and nature itself which undoubtedly alludes to the cult of fertility which has undergone reforms with the advent of Christianity and Islam, obviously a substitute for the divine couple Vidasus and goddess Thana was obtained in Fatima and her husband Ali.
Names Hazrat Fatima and Ali as marital partners, are present in love magic, despite the evident condemnation of magic work in Islam, numerous people are liberal about spells which are meant to preserve a marriage and a family. In Bosnia for example they’re not considered negative, instead they’re seen as necessary so that, usually the wife, can avert her husband from his mistress and save the family (children) in the process. It appears that other Islamic states have similar views. A wife in Malaysia which wants to prevent her husband from cheating with other women, she would make love to him on a Thursday night and after coitus she would use her middle finger of her right hand to rub her vagina and collect some sperm and vaginal fluid, which she will place inside a drink which she will then offer to her husband or lover. As soon as she dips her forefinger in the drink she utters: “E, mani, jangan kau menyukai yang lain kecuali diriku sendiri seperti selama ini, saya sajalah yang dipujinya sama seperti Ali di hadapan Fatima, berkah kun fayakun.”
In Iran and Turkey there are numerous legends about Ali, successor to Muhammad, and the most famous one was where he was familiar with and proficient in occult knowledge. To his son’s Hasan and Husein, when they were children, he created an amulet which they carried around their neck with the goal of protecting them against evil eyes. Fatima and Ali are attributed with a prophetic gift, she allegedly could interpret bean beads and he knew how to interpret figures in coffee grounds. This is probably the reason why we find their names in fal-basma i.e. formulas which are uttered before divination.
Note
(1) It is a horrifying fact that in Saudi Arabia, where Wahhabism rules, or more accurately a twisted version of Islam, out of which the forces of ISIS and Al Qaida sprung up; in such a society carrying amulets was pronounced as blasphemous and superstitious, and such an act is usually punished by traditional public execution where the accused people get their heads cut off by sabres.
(2) In Sudan, Fatima’s hand is a ubiquitous graphical symbol which can be seen on official forms of the government and police.
(3) Primitivism and barbarism that is present in Saudi Arabia is a product of a grotesque monarchy, which besides an artificial creation of Israel, represents the source of all evil in the Middle east. An interesting data is that both bloodthirsty and inhumane dictatorships have been put into place by the colonial superpower the UK with the goal of twisting and degrading the entire Islam as a religion and to destabilise the Middle East for a long period of time. Do not forget that the root of terrorism, besides in Saudi Arabia and Israel, has been created by Mossad and Israeli nationalists with the goal of endangering the Arabian and Persian peoples which are a majority. Of course, with the selfless help from the US, which donates annually millions of dollars to Israel all the while the US now has 50 million people who are registered as living on the boarder of poverty. It is absurd that to the American government 4.5 million lives of the Jews in Israel can be more important than their own citizens which pay tax regularly. In the end a question can be posed as to how the American people can allow that the money, which should improve their living standards, can go to the militaristic government of Israel and towards the realisation of the plan of killing the Palestinian people. How bloodthirsty people the Jews really are, their primary purpose is a genocide doctrine which has been murdering the Palestinian people for centuries, can be best seen by the fact that whenever a fire breaks out in Israel, it turns out that they don’t have Canadair planes for extinguishing the flames, and they plead for help to other countries. Of course, despite this fact they gladly display the possession of the newest fighter planes and tanks which they use gladly to kill and massacre the Palestinian people, destroying their homes in the process. I believe that it is not necessary to further elaborate on what type of people they are and what they enjoy. They’re not for peace and they’ll never be. Jewish dogma is that only they have the privileged status of a victim and that the suffering of other people is not important in comparison to them, and in accordance to this no one should criticise them even if they killed half of the world’s population. However, we should all be aware that the Jews are far from victims, they’re executioners and killers. And they should be called as such.
(4) It is a historical fact that Islam gradually managed to ban the inhumane practice of the Arabs of killing female children, which spurred poverty and the inability of offering dowries, but because of the traditional antagonism towards women, Islam didn’t succeed in bringing equality between men and women. Today’s Muslims across Middle East don’t see anything wrong in dressing like the westerners and in using all the benefits of the western civilization, but regardless of that fact, according to their hypocritical stance, Muslim women should dress as if they were in the middle ages.
