Although Fatima’s hand is not very known in Jordan and I don’t believe it could protect whoever wears it I liked the story and thought I would share it with you all since it’s popular in Morocco.
I found it in a Turkish website
Throughout northern Africa, Turkey, and in other parts of the Middle East, Muslims wear the necklace and , “Hand of Fatima” , as a jewelry and also for superstitious protection. Fatima was the daughter of the Prophet Muhammad who married Ali, the nephew of the Prophet. From their descendants Shi’a Muslims claim a direct line of authority over Muslims. Miracles were attributed to Fatima, such as when she prayed in the desert, it started raining. She is described as a faithful, holy woman.
“Its romantic story is as follows: One day Lady Fatima (daughter of the Holy Prophet Mohammed) was cooking helva ( halvah ) (the texture is like a dry oath meal , with sugar and butter in it . They use semolina as the main ingredient . ) in a pan in the garden when suddenly the door opened and her husband the caliph Ali entered along with the new bride. ( Islam allowed four times marriage to man ) concubine (slave-girl), she was deeply grieved and u the wooden stirring spoon in confusion dropped from her hand and unaware , she continued stirring the halvah with her hand. Because of the grief in her heart she never even felt the pain of her hand mixing the hot halvah. However, when her husband hurried to her side and exclaimed in surprise “What are you doing there, Fatima?” she felt her hand burning and the pain. Thus it is from that day on the hand of the Lady Fatima has been used in the Islamic world as a symbol of patience, abundance, and faithfulness, and thus it is that girls and women wearing this necklace from whose end the hands hang believe the hands of Lady Fatima will bring them good luck, abundance and patience.”
The story continues; the bride and Ali as the groom go into their wedding room . The house is wooden, and Fatima can not stop herself from looking through a tiny little hole of a room from the second floor. And when Ali leans over the bride, from that tiny hole, Fatima’s tear drops to his shoulder, which stops him.
So, the necklace of Fatima, rather popular in Islamic countries is formed of peaces shaped after a tear drop. The Ethnographical Museums of Turkey have fine examples. Fatima was the daughter of the prophet Mohammed, but in fact this hand has been around before Islam, and there is still much right hand-left hand magic in Morocco. The left hand is for doing bad things; it also protects against the evil eye if you put it palm up in front of you (so naturally that’s an insulting thing to do to someone, implying they have the evil eye)."
