هلال
Hilāl
Topic
The crescent is a late symbol, not found in the Quran or the first centuries of Islam; Ramadan is begun by sighting the new moon.
What it means
The Quran says that the new moons are “markers of time for people and for the pilgrimage” (2:189). The early Muslims had plain flags, and the crescent was adopted widely only under the Ottomans, who took it from the city of Constantinople, where it was an emblem of the Byzantines. It appears today on flags and in the name of the Red Crescent.
Often misunderstood as
That the crescent shows Islam worships a moon god.
What the sources say
Muslim worship is directed to God alone, as the Quran says: “do not prostrate to the sun or the moon, but prostrate to God who created them” (41:37). A symbol on a flag adds no doctrine, and the crescent was as much a Christian-Byzantine emblem as a Muslim one.