The Hand of Fatima

Reviewed by: Abdullah Drury – University of Waikato, New Zealand

Published by: Leiden: Brill, 2023, xxix+219 pp. ISBN: 978-9004526228.

The title under review here is a first-rate piece of scholarship and a timely exposition of the phenomenon of the khamsah.

This curious emblem – a good luck charm in the shape of an open palm – is commonplace around the Mediterranean, central Asia and the Arab world, exciting disapproval from conservative Muslims as a phenomenon of obscure – probably un-Islamic – provenance. Historically it was a slightly superstitious symbol of safeguarding and was traditionally employed to ward off ‘the evil eye’ or malevolent gaze. Most mainstream Sunni theologians have pointed to its pre- Islamic provenance and use across Christian and Jewish societies, and yet it remains a popular expression of ‘native’ culture against colonial narratives and the global commercialism of artistic expression. The khamsah – also referred to as ‘the hand of Fāṭimah’ in reference to the daughter of the Prophet – endures as a cherished item of popular jewellery.

The text here is extremely comprehensive, covering every imaginable angle on the subject in nine well organised chapters. The book starts with a preface by editor Amina Inloes, explaining the predicament and challenge of completing the project when the author died suddenly in 2017, leaving behind a well-researched but unfinished manuscript. Eva-Marie von Kemnitz was a renowned academic of Polish-German heritage who built a life for herself in Portugal over many decades. This volume contains an overview of the life and corpus of von Kemnitz, plus excellent footnotes and a comprehensive bibliography for students searching for more data.