Quote:
Originally Posted by Strange Famous
"Today it is most widely recognized as a symbol of Islam, and is often used alongside the Christian cross and the Star of David to designate Muslim nations, territory or populations"
Which is kind of the reason I used that as an example....
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you obviously only read the first paragraph. it has no religious significance in islam in the same way that the star of david or the cross bear a direct representation to their faiths.
if one day i decided that the cardboard toilet paper roll in my bathroom was so important that it would ward me from evil spirits, thats just in my own mind. there is no way it would ward me from evil, but whats to stop me from believing it has supernatural powers to ward against evil? nothing really.
the mind can do amazing things to logic and reality
Quote:
The view that the Muslim crescent and star motif have their origins in a Zoroastrian or Iranian symbol is not limited to Iranian scholars. For example, John Denham Parsons argued that the star and crescent in combination was first associated with Islam after the Battle of Nahāvand, which marked a turning point in the capture of Persian territory and the subsequent fall of the Sassanid monarchy, "it was as the symbol of this Zoroastrian dynasty and of the fair land of Iran, that the Moslems adopted it as their own."[4]
This symbol or association of distinct symbols, however, predates Zoroastrianism, and the Sassanids. It was used by the Parthians and earlier in Mesopotamia. "The Parthian king Mithradates I conquered Mesopotamia around 147 B.C., and Susa in about 140 B.C. A later Parthian king, Orodes II (58-38 B.C.), issued coins at Susa and elsewhere which display a star and crescent on the obverse. The succeeding ruler, Phraates IV (38-3/2 B.C.), minted coins showing either a star alone or a star with crescent moon. In representing the star and crescent on their coins the Parthians thus adopted traditional symbols used in Mesopotamia and Elam more than two millennia before their own arrival in those parts."[5]
Others have noted the antiquity of this symbol.
Nowadays, the star and crescent symbol is associated with the Muslim nation; however, the symbol was used on ancient coinage almost a thousand years before the time of Muhammad. Many scholars maintain that the Western interpretation of the symbol arose from Babylonian mythology in which the juxtaposition of Sin (moon god, father of time) and Shamash (supreme ruling sun god, judge of heaven and earth) was a metaphor for the cosmic powers given to the Babylonian king to rule.[6]
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