Friday 13 July 2012

Hamsa The Hand

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Hamsa or Hand of Fatima

Old Talisman for Magical Protection against the Evil Eye.
Most popular Amulets for Good Luck and Prosperity.

Hamsa Hand - The Hand of Fatima in Islamic Religiıon and Culture


FATIMA’S HAND

Hamsa is the hand of Prophet Muhammad's daughter Fatima. It is the symbol of patience, loyalty, faith and resistance against difficulties. According to common belief, it tells of the Fatima's struggle for dignity and her tough life. Thereby, purity, goodness and truth are blessed.#

For centuries, Fatima’s Hand has been a powerful talisman for good luck and one of the most popular amulets in the world of Islam for protection. It is hung on the walls of the house as engraving in silver or gold or it is painted in red. It is believed that a house protected by the Hand of Fatima will not catch fire.

In Egypt, Morocco and Tunisia, ornaments of Fatima’s hand have the same meaning as evil eyes. In these countries, the miracle of the hand is given a great deal of importance.

FATIMA GRASS

Is the root of a plant in the form of hand. The grass is soaked in water during the childbirth, which allows the grass to swell and open, which it is believed, will open the birth canal and make the birth easy.

PENÇE-İ AL-I ABA

Prophet Muhammad takes under his aba (strong coarse wool cloth) the Hazrat Fatima, Hazrat Ali and their sons Hasan and Hussein and then said ‘’my God, they are my family (ahl al-bayt), protect them from evil and keep them away from bad thoughts.’’
Therefore, the other name of Hamsa is Pençe-i Al-i Aba.

According to traditional Islamic culture, the five fingers of Hamsa represent the five requirements of Islam, which are-

1.To profess your faith,
2.Pray,
3.Give Alms,
4.To Fast,
5.To undertake a Pilgrimage to Mecca

The five fingers of Hamsa also represent the prophet's family (ahl al-bayt). Prophet Muhammad represented by the thumb, Ali by forefinger, Fatima by middle finger, Hasan by ring finger and Hussein by the little finger.

FATIMA IS THE PROPHET’S DAUGHTER

She was not an ordinary woman. She was Prophet Muhammad's daughter and Hazrat Ali's wife. It is a strong woman that continued the generation of the Prophet Muhammad in patriarchal Arab society.

She was the master of the healers and treated the Prophet Muhammad when he was wounded in war. It is still believed that it is possible to cure incurable diseases with the help of Fatima’s hand and the prayer from the heart.

Muhammad called his daughter Fatima his heart, soul and conscience as it was her who continued the generation for him.

Fatima's life became very difficult with the death of the Prophet Muhammad. She died three months after him and was secretly buried by her husband Hazrat Ali. The death of Fatima marked the beginning of the bad days for Muhammad’s family. Fatima’s husband Ali was killed in an ambush and their sons Hasan and Hussein were killed with their families.

The death of Prophet Muhammad's family caused a huge indignation in the world of Islam and launched many conflicts and separations of the faith. It laid the foundation of different sects.

Fatima is very important for both Sunnis and Shiites, the two major sects of Islam. Sufis usually had the form of Hamsa (Fatima’s Hand) on the head of their wands with the names of twelve imams and the Prophet Ali engraved onto it. Shiism and Alawism in Anatolia are heterodox beliefs that arose following the death of the Prophet Muhammad's family and Fatima's hand has a great value for Schism and Alawism, because it symbolizes the ahl al bayt.

Therefore, Fatima has a very important place in the Islamic faith, which is a surprising symbol of sublimation to women, and her value in a patriarchal society. The authority of goddess, which has been attributed to the Virgin Mary in Christianity, has been given to Fatima in Islam. The hand of Fatima is the goddess's hand and she is still affectionately considered as a myth within a wide geographical area.

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The Evil Eye

The fear of the evil eye has been ongoing since prehistoric times. It represents the fear of those destructive energies that arises from negative emotions, like jealousy hatred and envy. Desire for protection against these negative emotions is a universal impulse and for thousands of years the peoples of many ancient cultures and religions resorted to unimaginable procedures and sacred symbols to protect them and stop them becoming a target for these evil forces.

Many early cultures adopted the eye as an icon for their protection, others used Hamsa and so over time the most popular universal symbol became an eye placed in the palm of a hand. The power of the eye inserted into Hamsa combined their power and introduced the idea of obtaining a more powerful talisman by combining the power of two. Today the Hamsa with Evil Eye icon and symbol has reached its final form and found an ideal place in the world of symbols. Aesthetically it is uses as a stylish and beautiful figure for the decorative arts and intellectually, it is used for religious beliefs and is accepted as an icon / mascot or charm, which attracts goodness, luck and abundance, whilst propelling the forces of evil.

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ICON, TALISMAN, AMULET, CHARM, IDOL, FIGURE, TOTEM

The sacred art of symbols reflects the opinion of spiritual religions by associating them with icons, talismans, amulets, charms, idols, figures etc. Divine grace is imparted to them and blessed, so showing respect or reverence to the image or icon is the same as addressing it directly to their God.

Today, even in the modern world, we are surrounded by symbols whose beliefs and traditions go back thousands of years. They have succeeded in their most important function of guarding and protecting their secrets and confidential information. These ancient teachings and beliefs have reached us today thanks to these symbols. They have survived in opposition to time, space and cultural differences and now these symbols open the door to a very different world. They express the unseen, by using icons of the contemporary world to illuminate the spiritual forces that surround human life and with it the parallelism between the visible with the unseen worlds, as natural events and physical things are inevitably symbolized in the unseen world.
To understand these symbols we must intuitively synthesize the information and open our minds to very different knowledge’s and perceptions.

Hamsa And Number FIVE

Arabs call this icon Hamse Hand. Hamse means five in Arabic and in many other religions, the number five symbolizes the five sacred rules of their beliefs

In some culture’s the hand faces down, in others it faces up. In many groups, the five-fingers of Hamsa represent the most sacred principles of that culture. It is not an earthly hand but the symbol of the divine hand. Each community fills the inside of the hand with the icons that are important for its own culture.

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Symbols and Hamsa

Symbols usually represent objects and give clues to abstract or supernatural events and the opinions or concepts of historical cultures. They are products of collective thinking and are the shortest way to describe something.

In the opinion of Carl Gustav Jung, symbols are not a sign of the ordinary; they are images of an invisible spirit and have a meaning far beyond themselves. When words are inadequate symbols provide there own language of communication. Although symbols are perceivable, sometimes there true meaning is not visible.

WHY SYMBOLIC EXPRESSIONS AND ICONS ARE APPLIED.

The best way to express the intangible, invisible, fantastic, imaginative and emotional elements is by using symbols. For thousands of years it was believed, that symbols were sacred and pointed to specific situations and specific energies.

By developing symbolic languages, information was protected and not disclosed, thus preventing the misuse or degeneration of the information. For example, Archaic schools saw secrets and mysteries in symbols and used them, as a language of communication and these symbols remain unchanged today.

Religious and esoteric concepts were expressed by symbols and not words as words were not always the best way to store the ideas, as they could be corrupted and lose their meaning over time.

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Hamsa Meaning - Where Does Hamsa Originate ?

Whilst today we do not exactly know the true origins of Hamsa Hand symbol. We do know however, that throughout registered history, humankind has adopted the hand symbol in every culture without exception.

Ever since ancient times we have always been aware of the energies spreading from within the palm. All human movements under the command of the brain are linked with hand-eye coordination and so civilizations and ancient cultures created a mystery around it, which was the beginning of Hamsa icon.

Hamsa Meaning or Hand of Fatima

A Universal Symbol of Protection - Studies have shown that this image and belief started to solidify in the Middle East, before the time of the main Egyptian civilizations in two basic forms.

The Hamsa icon not only has a special place in Judaism, it has also evolved to become regarded as sacred and respected symbol in Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, Buddhism, Shamanism, Jain beliefs and in Anatolia.
In its simplest form the symbol for Hamsa is the hand.

It is talismanic symbol that they believed would protect them from harm against the evil forces and bring them goodness, abundance, fertility, luck and good health.

Hamsa is an icon used by man as a defence, in his struggle against the forces of evil.

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There is a formula of belief in Anatolia, which states:-

Cybele = Artemis = Virgin Mary = Hazard Fatima

Indeed the Virgin Mary's house in Ephesus, which is the place of pilgrimage for Christians, was established on a hill overlooking to the temple of Artemis, which was not a coincidence.

The Virgin Mary's house is also a sacred place for the Muslims of Anatolia. Muslims visit the house, to worship, make votive offerings, make wishes and ask for healing.

Fatima is a model for women. Therefore, Anatolian women appreciate Hamsa. Hamsa is hand of all the women of Anatolia. There is a belief that if women's hand touches something, it will be beautiful and good. At the same time, Hamsa is a symbol of feminine of this belief. 

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This old tradition continued as the Turkmens and Yuruks adopted Islam by converting the concept and doctrines of Mother Umay into Mother Fatima for compatibility with Islam.

FATIMA IN ANTOLIA

Therefore, in Anatolia, Hazrat Fatima has wandered away from Arab tradition and Arab understanding, as she has become the Mother Fatima. The reason for this is the mother goddess culture and the Virgin Mary which underlying the accumulated Anatolian civilizations.

When Islamic culture reached Anatolia, Islamic mythology was integrated into Anatolian Mythology. Which cause many religious figures to be combined, celebrated and interpreted in a new way.

Healers when healing the People in Anatolia say that it is not my hand; it is the hand of Mother Fatima and subsequently transfers this ability from generation to generation by giving “The Hand” to the people that they deem to be appropriate. [Source: hamsameaning.com]

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