Found a very nice antique wooden hamsa today.
Size of a real hand. But I don't read arabic. Can someone help me translating the inscriptions on the hand, please ?

"stop it or you'll go blind"

LOL - Not helpful but very, very funny!

Thanks for the laugh!

Let me take a whack at it

It seems to be saying something about a girl named Rosie and something about her sisters. Rosie had 5 sisters and they were all less than ladies.

There you go Curator.

That's why there are so many eyes on the palm...

It Reads: "Praise be Allah and Madame Palm."

...or "speak to the hand"...

The Hamsa hand is a prominent Jewish motif that can be found almost everywhere: charms, door entrances, Jewish jewelry, blessings for home and much more. According to the tradition, the Hamsa hand protects the ones who display it in their homes or wear it around their necks. Many believers place the Hamsa hand in their homes and at their work place to ward off the "evil eye". Hamsa hand is also believed to bless the ones who own it with good fortune and success. Shaped as a hand with five fingers, the Hamsa hand is also known as the hand of Miriam, the sister of Moses and Aaron.The hamsa's path into Jewish culture, and its popularity particularly among the Sephardic Jewish community, can be traced through its use in Islam. An Islamic alternative name for this charm is The hand of Fatima, relating it to Fatima Zahra, Prophet Muhammad’s daughter.

Miracles were attributed to Fatima, such as when she prayed in the desert, it started raining. She is described as a faithful, holy woman.

This article from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Turkey tells of the importance of jewelry named for her:

"Almost all Anatolian (Turkish) jewelry has a special meaning of its own and its own story, and the 'Hand of Fatima Necklace' is one of these, a lovely piece of silver and gold from which silver hands are hung and in whose good luck the women of Anatolia (Turkey) believe. Its romantic story is as follows: One day Lady Fatima (daughter of the Holy Prophet Mohammed) was roasting halvah (a sesame honey cookie) in a pan in the garden when suddenly the door opened and her husband the prophet Ali entered along with a new and beautiful female slave. When the Lady Fatima saw her husband's beautiful young concubine (slave-girl), she was deeply grieved and in confusion began 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."

Archaeological evidence indicates that a downward pointing hamsa used as a protective amulet in the region predates its use by members of the monotheistic faiths. It is thought to have been associated with Tanit, the supreme deity of Carthage (Phoenicia) whose hand (or is some cases vulva) was used to ward off the evil eye. In this it is similar to the Irish Sheila-na-gig.

The hamsa is popular as a charm most often worn as a necklace, but can be found as a decorative element in houses, on key chains, on other jewelry items. Many artists use the image of the hamsa hand in jewelry, paintings, sculptures, wall decorations, and amulets. Some people connect the five fingers of the hand to the Five Pillars of Islam. The writing is probable from a passage of the Koran.

Some hamsas have an eye on them, indicating their use against the "evil eye." Those are sometimes called an "Eye of Fatima" even though it's in a hand shape.

Since yours has Arabic writing on it, it might be more accurately called the Hand of Fatima. That may help in getting a translation.

The hand is probably from Persia (XVIIIth/XIXth century)
The hand is very broad and was made to stand up.

From what I know of Arabic, it seems to read something along the lines of: "This belongs to Abu"



Now that explains a lot Curator! Beware of its original owner reclaiming it - you don't have a panic button / safe room in your home now that your little secret's out?

:)

Who gave you that hook? I bet the Curator did when he took your wooden hand!

Don't worry, I booked Peter Pan as a body guard...