Star and crescent
A crescent moon with a star, widely taken as an emblem of Islam and of Muslim countries, though many Muslims do not accept it as a symbol of their faith.
Meaning
The crescent and star is on the flags of several Muslim countries, and the Red Crescent is the Muslim world’s counterpart of the Red Cross. Annemarie Schimmel, in the Encyclopedia of Religion, writes that the crescent (hilal) is now generally seen as the Islamic equivalent of the Christian cross. Many Muslims reject it. Radio Islam, a Muslim broadcaster, writes that Islam has historically had no symbol, that many Muslims see the crescent as an ancient pagan emblem, and that some prefer the Kaaba, Arabic calligraphy or a mosque to stand for their faith. Readings of the star’s five points as the five pillars of Islam or the five daily prayers are, in Radio Islam’s words, “pure conjecture”: the number of points was not fixed on Ottoman flags and is not fixed on flags today.
Origin and history
The early Muslim community had no acknowledged symbol, and its leaders flew plain black, white or green flags. The crescent had no religious meaning when it first appeared on early Islamic coins, metalwork and ceramics, Schimmel writes. In the 11th century, when some churches, such as those at Ani in Armenia, were turned into mosques, crescent finials replaced their crosses, and a pilgrimage certificate from 1432 shows the holy buildings of Mecca topped with crescents. The Ottoman sultan Selim I (reigned 1512–1520) put the crescent on his flag, but it became the official Turkish emblem only in the early 19th century, appearing on postage stamps in 1863, and other Muslim countries followed.
The legend of Osman’s dream
A legend told of the Ottoman dynasty has its founder, Osman, dream of a crescent moon stretching from one end of the earth to the other. He took it as a good omen and made the crescent the symbol of his house.
Where Muslims disagree
IslamQA, after consulting scholars and muftis, found no known basis in Islam for putting a crescent on top of a minaret, and some scholars forbid it as an innovation. The Federal Territories Mufti’s Office in Malaysia agrees that Islam has no official symbol, and quotes the scholar al-Kattani calling the crescent on minarets an innovation that the Ottomans used as their official sign. Yet it concludes that the crescent and star have become a significant symbol for Islam, used to identify the faith as the cross identifies Christianity, and it accepts them on Malaysia’s flag, where the government gazetted them as the symbol of Islam as the official religion.
An older theory
Thomas Patrick Hughes, whose Dictionary of Islam appeared in 1885, held that the crescent had been a symbol of sovereignty in Byzantium before the Muslim conquest, and that Muslims first took it up after Mehmed II overthrew the Byzantine Empire. He added that Europeans regarded it as the special emblem of Islam, though it was unknown to the Muslims of the East. Schimmel’s later account finds the crescent on early Islamic coins and metalwork long before that.
Where you’ll see it today
whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of TurkeyTurkey’s flag is red with a white crescent and a white five-pointed star, which the Turkish Flag Law calls the white crescent-and-star red flag (“ay yıldızlı al bayrak”). The law gives the crescent, star and red no meaning; the popular story that they are the moon and a star reflected on a field covered with fallen soldiers’ blood is a legend, which the Kure encyclopedia says has no standing as a historical record. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of AlgeriaAlgeria’s flag is green by the pole and white, with a red crescent and a red five-pointed star in the centre. Algeria’s Foreign Ministry explains the green as hope for progress and a better tomorrow, the white as peace, love and goodness, the red as the importance of work in achieving prosperity, and the crescent and star as a sign that Islam is the main religion in Algeria. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of TunisiaTunisia’s flag is red with a white disc in the centre holding a red crescent and a red five-pointed star. The preamble of Tunisia’s constitution speaks of martyrs whose blood painted the land in the colours of the national flag; the Tunisian press describes the crescent and star as symbols of unity, faith and freedom. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of the ComorosThe Comoros flag is four horizontal stripes, yellow, white, red and blue from the top, with a green triangle along the pole holding a white crescent and four white stars in a line between its tips. Norway’s Store norske leksikon explains the crescent as the symbol of Islam and the four stars as the four islands of the Comoros; Lex says the four stripes are said to stand for the islands too. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of AzerbaijanAzerbaijan’s flag has three horizontal stripes of equal width, blue, red and green from the top, with a white crescent and a white eight-pointed star in the middle of the red. The President’s office gives the meanings: blue for the Turkic origin of the Azerbaijani people, red for the wish to build a modern society and develop democracy, and green for belonging to Islamic civilisation. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of TurkmenistanTurkmenistan’s flag is green with a dark red band near the pole carrying five carpet guls above two crossed olive branches, and a white crescent and five white stars in the upper corner. Turkmenistan’s state news agency says the guls stand for the friendship and unity of the Turkmen people, and the olive branches, added in 1997, for the country’s neutrality. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of PakistanPakistan’s flag is dark green with a white vertical band at the pole and a white crescent and five-pointed star on the green. Pakistan’s Consulate General in Jeddah gives the meanings: green for Islam and the Muslim majority, white for the religious minorities, the crescent for progress and the star for enlightenment. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of the MaldivesThe flag of the Maldives is red with a green rectangle in the centre holding a white crescent. The constitution gives no meanings; Store norske leksikon gives them as the blood of the nation’s heroes for the red, peace and progress for the green, and the people’s and the state’s faith in Islam for the crescent. whatdoesthissymbolmean.comFlag of MalaysiaMalaysia’s flag, the Jalur Gemilang (“glorious stripes”), has fourteen red and white stripes and a dark blue canton with a yellow crescent and a yellow fourteen-pointed star. Universiti Teknologi Malaysia’s library gives the meanings: the stripes and the star’s points for the thirteen states and the federal government, blue for the unity of Malaysians, yellow for the royal colour of the Malay rulers, and the crescent for Islam, the official religion.Read next
- Next in Islamic symbolsRub el HizbAn eight-pointed star of two overlapping squares that marks the start of each quarter-section of the Qur’an in most printed copies.
- In Symbols across culturesCrescent moonThe moon as a thin curve of light, just after the new moon or just before it. It was the emblem of the moon god in ancient Mesopotamia, lies under the Virgin Mary’s feet in Christian art, is worn in Shiva’s hair, and is widely taken as a sign of Islam, though Islam has no official symbol.
See also
Osram ne Nsoromma (moon and star), Khamsa, Mihrab, Misbaha.
Sources
- Iconography: Islamic Iconography, Encyclopedia of Religion (Annemarie Schimmel), Gale, via Encyclopedia.com, section “The Shape of Spirituality”
- History of the Crescent Moon as a Symbol of Islam, Radio Islam, article
- A Dictionary of Islam, Thomas Patrick Hughes, 1885, W. H. Allen & Co., London (Internet Archive), “Crescent”
- Putting a crescent on top of the minaret of a mosque, Question 575, Islam Question & Answer
- Al-Afkar #36: Are crescent and star the symbols of Islam?, Mohammad Izzhar Faizzy Osman, 11 January 2019, Federal Territories Mufti’s Office (Pejabat Mufti Wilayah Persekutuan), Malaysia (archived copy, Internet Archive)
The same shape elsewhere
Browse symbols formed from curves and waves or stars.
Researched, edited and approved by Rory Hansen before publishing. Last reviewed September 24, 2026. How we research
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