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This has always crossed my mind and yet each time even knowing the historical truth and attribution of the current flag after reading though different historical expositions I.E crescent and moon in its current state I've never given the serious consideration it deserved until I came across more detailed historical studies across the internet mainly quora of a brilliant summarising post of a Indian Muslim and took the time today to open a thread on such a magnanimous and shameful twist of history in its entirety.
The objective of this thread is to identify and reach consensus make awareness of the more detailed historical truth and reach qualitative responses.
PRE-ISLAMIC SYMBOL
The use of the crescent moon and star as symbols actually pre-dates Islam by several thousand years. Information on the origins of the symbol are difficult to confirm ,but most sources agree that these ancient celestial symbols were in use by the peoples of Central Asia and Siberia in their worship of the sun, moon and sky gods. There are also reports that the crescent moon and star were used to represent the Carthaginian goddess Tanit or the Greek goddess Diana.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
It wasn't until the Ottoman Empire that the crescent moon and star became affiliated with the Muslim world. When the Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 CE, they adopted the city's existing flag and symbol. Legend holds that the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman, had a dream in which the crescent moon stretched from one end of the earth to the other. Taking this as a good omen, he chose to keep the crescent and make it the symbol of his dynasty. There is speculation that the five points on the star represent the five pillars of Islam, but this is pure conjecture. The five points were not standard on the Ottoman flags, and are still not standard on flags used in the Muslim world today.
For hundreds of years, the Ottoman Empire ruled over the Muslim world. After centuries of battle with Christian Europe, it is understandable how the symbols of this empire became linked in people's minds with the faith of Islam as a whole. The heritage of the symbols, however, really is based on links to the Ottoman empire, not the faith of Islam itself.
ACCEPTED SYMBOL OF ISLAM?
Based on this history, many Muslims reject the use of the crescent moon as a symbol of Islam. The faith of Islam has historically had no symbol, and many Muslims refuse to accept what they see as essentially an ancient pagan icon.
It is certainly not in uniform use among Muslims. Others prefer to use the Ka'aba , Arabic calligraphy writing, or a simple mosque icon as symbols of the faith.
What remains a flag to represent the county ?
My favourite flag would be the current flag of GOP , it would represent Pakistan in its entirety (ModernIslamic liberal one party socialist state) from its current state of capitalism , feudalism and artificial democracy harbouring thousand of corrupt political parties in the broken political system of today.
It would represent what our hard working bureaucrats who in my opinion is the most educated class of Pakistanis (CSS officers) stand for , besides many of them including my father having retired to equivalent ranks of major generals or lieutenant generals (BPS-21/22) continue to lead happy lives and never say we have less even when they don't have the riches as same as our generals.
Our country is run in entirety by bureaucrats (national institutes)not foot soldiers and Armchair Generals and many of them majority of whom I met are the most honest straight forward people I know who alongside their families sacrifice enormously just like the army families but the best part is never complain for the sake of not causing social disorder and don't even talk about it.
Reason why I wrote above paragraph is because the below flag usually represents the Pakistani Government and its institutions mainly the bureaucracy,
Few modifications to this by removing the cresant symbol and adding a white stripe to symbolise our minorities would look beautiful, removing the symbols in the shield and adding white alongside greenish gold colour would symbolise modernity ,Islamic liberalism and wreath representing a welfare state thus completing the ideological foundations of the state and nation.
If anyone wishes to dig the more historically accurate trail may read another thread from 2009 which is brilliantly detailed.
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/crescent-moon-symbol-of-islam.21755/
The objective of this thread is to identify and reach consensus make awareness of the more detailed historical truth and reach qualitative responses.
PRE-ISLAMIC SYMBOL
The use of the crescent moon and star as symbols actually pre-dates Islam by several thousand years. Information on the origins of the symbol are difficult to confirm ,but most sources agree that these ancient celestial symbols were in use by the peoples of Central Asia and Siberia in their worship of the sun, moon and sky gods. There are also reports that the crescent moon and star were used to represent the Carthaginian goddess Tanit or the Greek goddess Diana.
OTTOMAN EMPIRE
It wasn't until the Ottoman Empire that the crescent moon and star became affiliated with the Muslim world. When the Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 CE, they adopted the city's existing flag and symbol. Legend holds that the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman, had a dream in which the crescent moon stretched from one end of the earth to the other. Taking this as a good omen, he chose to keep the crescent and make it the symbol of his dynasty. There is speculation that the five points on the star represent the five pillars of Islam, but this is pure conjecture. The five points were not standard on the Ottoman flags, and are still not standard on flags used in the Muslim world today.
For hundreds of years, the Ottoman Empire ruled over the Muslim world. After centuries of battle with Christian Europe, it is understandable how the symbols of this empire became linked in people's minds with the faith of Islam as a whole. The heritage of the symbols, however, really is based on links to the Ottoman empire, not the faith of Islam itself.
ACCEPTED SYMBOL OF ISLAM?
Based on this history, many Muslims reject the use of the crescent moon as a symbol of Islam. The faith of Islam has historically had no symbol, and many Muslims refuse to accept what they see as essentially an ancient pagan icon.
It is certainly not in uniform use among Muslims. Others prefer to use the Ka'aba , Arabic calligraphy writing, or a simple mosque icon as symbols of the faith.
What remains a flag to represent the county ?
My favourite flag would be the current flag of GOP , it would represent Pakistan in its entirety (ModernIslamic liberal one party socialist state) from its current state of capitalism , feudalism and artificial democracy harbouring thousand of corrupt political parties in the broken political system of today.
It would represent what our hard working bureaucrats who in my opinion is the most educated class of Pakistanis (CSS officers) stand for , besides many of them including my father having retired to equivalent ranks of major generals or lieutenant generals (BPS-21/22) continue to lead happy lives and never say we have less even when they don't have the riches as same as our generals.
Our country is run in entirety by bureaucrats (national institutes)not foot soldiers and Armchair Generals and many of them majority of whom I met are the most honest straight forward people I know who alongside their families sacrifice enormously just like the army families but the best part is never complain for the sake of not causing social disorder and don't even talk about it.
Reason why I wrote above paragraph is because the below flag usually represents the Pakistani Government and its institutions mainly the bureaucracy,
Few modifications to this by removing the cresant symbol and adding a white stripe to symbolise our minorities would look beautiful, removing the symbols in the shield and adding white alongside greenish gold colour would symbolise modernity ,Islamic liberalism and wreath representing a welfare state thus completing the ideological foundations of the state and nation.
If anyone wishes to dig the more historically accurate trail may read another thread from 2009 which is brilliantly detailed.
https://defence.pk/pdf/threads/crescent-moon-symbol-of-islam.21755/
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