The Crescent Moon

 



 

A crescent (‘the Crescent’?) is the political, military and religious emblem of the Byzantine and Turkish empires.  It later because a more generally used emblem of Islam and used by Islamic countries and depicted on numerous flags.    

The Crescent, known in Arabic as Hilaal, denotes the first quarter of the waning moon.  There are several theories as to why it was adopted – one that the sudden appearance of the moon saved the people of the city of Constantinople (now Byzantium) from a surprise attack, in which the Romans defeated the goths on the first day of the lunar month; another hypothesis suggests that the crescent was chosen to honour the Goddess Diana.    Diana is better known as the hunting Goddess but her reach expanded over time to include the moon. 

However, a third theory notes the use of the moon because the Islamic faith emerged in Arabia – where desert travel was often at night, by the light of the moon, and navigation depended on the position of the moon and the stars.

For hundreds of years the Ottoman Empire ruled over the Muslim world.  After centuries of battle with Christian Europe, the symbol of the empire became linked in people’s mind as a representation of Islamic faith.  However, many Muslims reject the crescent as an emblem of Islam – which many see as an ancient pagan icon – while iconography is rejected by the same religion it now represents.

The crescent had appeared on Turkish military standards around 1324bc – but that representation was actually believed to be two horns or claws, rather than the moon.  Today the crescent is included in the national flags of many countries in which Islam is predominant.  It is also the emblem of the Red Crescent – which is the Muslim equivalent of the Red Cross organisation.

Interestingly flags are prohibited in Islamic credence – as they may use an identifiable image as idolatrous, which influenced the flag design.  The ottoman Turks, on adopting the crescent around 1250, were in fact reverting to an Assyrian sacred symbol.

Islam is the second largest world religion – currently there are about 1.8 billion Muslims globally.  It is deemed to have started as a religion during the life of the prophet Muhammad in the 7th century. 

Christianity is the largest world religion – and the cross is universally accepted as the emblem of that religion.  The bible tells the story of the crucifixion of Jesus and the cross represents both Christ and the faith of Christianity.  Everyone knows what it is and why it is the emblem of Christianity.

It’s a bit of a conundrum – firstly there is no single basis for the crescent representing Islam.  And one of the hypotheses is based on a military emblem.  Secondly the crescent is a representation of the faith, and Muslims don’t believe that their faith should be represented by symbols or emblems.   It seems strange to have the widely accepted emblem of a religion based on a military emblem.   So the basis for the crescent representing Islam is spurious to say the least. 

The nature of an emblem is to be a visible thing – a thing that stands for something that cannot be pictured.  And yet it is in itself a picture.  Another conundrum.... 

 

 

 

Comments

  1. JeanieSeptember 27, 2021 at 3:24 PM

    Didnt know any of this before - just knew it was a thing, not why it was a thing!

    ReplyDelete
  2. CarolSeptember 29, 2021 at 7:05 AM

    Love a wee conundrum!

    ReplyDelete

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