Hamsa
A hand-shaped charm of North Africa and the Middle East, called the hand of Fatima or of Miriam.
Also: khamsa, hand of Fatima, hand of Miriam, hamesh
The hamsa is a stylised hand, often with an eye in the palm, used as a protective charm against the evil eye. The Arabic word khamsa means five, for the five fingers. Muslims often link it to Fatima, the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad, and Jews to Miriam, the sister of Moses, where it is also called hamesh. Both names are later associations, since the hand is much older, and hands were used as protective signs in Carthage and the ancient Near East. It is hung on doors, painted on walls and worn as jewellery from Morocco to Israel and Iran. It is a shared object, and in recent years it has been sold worldwide as a design.