What is the significance of the Islamic Crescent?
- Thread starter Salah
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Joined Sep 2010
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Bahrain
Hijra calendar is lunar. Hijra calendar is a major thing in Islamic times (some still follow the old months, most follow both it and the gregorian one).
I would assume that is the source, but not sure.
I would assume that is the source, but not sure.
Joined May 2011
2,740 Posts | 277+
Sweden
It predates Islam. Thats for sure. Some say it was a Byzantine symbol adopted by the Ottomans after 1453. Others say it was an ancient Turkic symbol. Either way it was its adoption by the Ottoman Empire that popularized it throughout the Islamic world. Former Ottoman territories like Tunisia, Algeria use it along with other Islamic countries like Uzbekistan, Pakistan etc.
Joined Sep 2010
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Bahrain
Joined May 2011
2,740 Posts | 277+
Sweden
We can safely assume the crescent signifies the moon... Right?
Oh yeah, no doubt there. Maybe thats why it was so easily accepted by the Muslims. Due to its links with the lunar calender.
Joined Nov 2010
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3rd rock from Sol
'Hijra' calender? Why is it named that way? It has a funny meaning in India
Joined Jan 2010
1,012 Posts | 0+
Cali
hijra is migration in arabic
that is when the few muslims decided to leave their homes in Mecca and go to Madeina and start practicing their relegion freely, so to muslim it was the step that allowed islam to be launched publicly and be practiced without being prosecuted or punished for it
i am sure you can find a more clear explinatioin of it on wiki
Joined Jul 2010
6,851 Posts | 10+
Not sure what it is
Worship of the Moon Godess in the Middle East goes all the way back to Sumer. It was very prominent IICR until the Persian Zoroastrians. Banylonians hold great worship festivals to their moon godess Sin. Anahita "Immaculate One" : Her name means "Immaculate One." In the Zoroastrian religion, She is a Goddess of the Moon, Fertility and War. She is the Ruler of Water. The ancient Romans and Greeks considered Her the same as Diana/Artemis and Venus/Aphrodite. Her Sister-Goddess was Armaiti.
Joined Nov 2010
4,253 Posts | 4+
3rd rock from Sol
Joined Sep 2010
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Bahrain
Joined May 2011
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Sweden
Well as explained in my first post, some say it was an ancient Turkic symbol that the Ottomans decided to put on their flag. However as has been shown in one of the above posts, it was also a Byzantine symbol and some say that the symbol was adopted after 1453 to signify that the Ottomans were the new "Romans". It was also an ancient Persian/Arabic symbol, so how exactly it ended up in the Ottoman flag, i am not sure of. But either way it was probably easily accepted due to its links with the Hijra calender.
With the decline of the Ottoman Empire and the subsequent rise of Western colonialism many Muslims looked towards the Ottomans as their rallying point (e.g. the Muslim League in British India which later formed Pakistan avidly started a "Caliphate Movement" after WW1 to try and prevent the Europeans from dividing up Turkey amongst themselves, the Congress joined in). Hence you see members of the Muslim league adopting the Fez Hat and subsequently putting the star and crescent on a green flag, the basis of Pakistans flag. Similarly Tunisia directly adopted the Ottoman flag altering it a bit. Others like Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan and Algeria joined in.
Joined Jul 2011
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Western NY
Turned a certain way, it can also resemble the horns of a bull, and bulls were worshipped all along that region since the stone age.
Joined Jul 2009
12,444 Posts | 21+
Anatolia
It was first used by Turks who are lare converts. Before Turks it wasnt used as symbol in Islam.
It might be shaman symbol. or symbol of Constantinople.
It might even be native anatolian symbol inherited from Galatian heritage.
It isnt dedicated as symbol of Islam. It was later adhered to Islam because of Its wide usage in muslim world dominated by Turkish rooted ruler hauses.
While I have often heard it claimed that the crescent symbol was used by the Byzantine Empire, I haven't seen any examples brought forward, and given the numerous Byzantine coins and other remains we have, someone should have been able to display some example.
However, the crescent and star was a common symbol on the Persian (Sassanid) Empire coins just before the Arab conquest. You can see the crescent and stars quite clearly on sevral of the Khurso II coins, minted a few years before the Arab takeout of the Sassanid empire, which you can see on the following website Sasanian Empire/Khusro II, page 1
The Persians would have had a lot of interaction with the Turkish tribes of Central Asia, more than the Byzantines, and the Turks could have acquired the crescent symbol from the Persians. As for where the Persian got the symbol, they could have gotten it from older sources, even ones from central asia.
However, the crescent and star was a common symbol on the Persian (Sassanid) Empire coins just before the Arab conquest. You can see the crescent and stars quite clearly on sevral of the Khurso II coins, minted a few years before the Arab takeout of the Sassanid empire, which you can see on the following website Sasanian Empire/Khusro II, page 1
The Persians would have had a lot of interaction with the Turkish tribes of Central Asia, more than the Byzantines, and the Turks could have acquired the crescent symbol from the Persians. As for where the Persian got the symbol, they could have gotten it from older sources, even ones from central asia.
Joined May 2011
2,740 Posts | 277+
Sweden
^ You know it does makes sense if the Ottomans adopted this symbol from the Persians rather than from the Byzantines. As you mentioned i also havent seen evidence of it being used by Byzantines either. However the Ottomans and other Turkic peoples who had entered Middle East or lived on the peripheries of "Persia" were very Persianized. Hence adopting such symbols from Persians would be more likely as compared to Byzantines.
The Cresent desends from the moon god that Mohammad worshipped at the same time he supposedly wrote the Koran ( he was illiterate )
That is why there is a moon ABOVE every mosque on Earth.
That is why there is a moon ABOVE every mosque on Earth.
And of His signs are the night and day and the sun and moon. Do not prostrate to the sun or to the moon, but prostate to Allah , who created them, if it should be Him that you worship.41:37
Who ever believes in Allah on the Last day, will die a fool.
Islam is not even its own religion, Mohammad was a practicing Jew, the Koran a rabbinical text.
Allah is the Arabic term for Jehova. Its an Abrahamic religion.
Hilarious in the grand scheme of things.
Islam is not even its own religion, Mohammad was a practicing Jew, the Koran a rabbinical text.
Allah is the Arabic term for Jehova. Its an Abrahamic religion.
Hilarious in the grand scheme of things.
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