The Sept-Oct issue of the Spanish-language version of Military Review has a useful article on Islamic symblos, Los símbolos del Islam, by António Rodrigues of the Portugese Army.
He deals with symbols like the moon and the stars, water, waves, trees, angels, various colors, numerology, even dragons. As one example, he mentions that in 1299 CE, Sultan Osman had a vision of a crescent moon covering the whole world as he was in the process of conquering Turkey. It became a sign of the Ottoman dynasty. The Byzantia had adopted the crescent moon as a symbol of the goddess Diana in gratitude for military victory over Philip II of Macedonia. Later, the Byzantine Empire retained it as a symbol of the Virgin Mary.
After the Byzantine Empire fell to the Ottomans in 1453, the Ottoman Empire adopted the crescent moon as its symbol. Sultan Selim III added the star in 1793.
The crescent moon is now a well-known symbol of Islam.
Tags: islam
No comments:
Post a Comment