The six pointed star and the crescent

Contemporary Crescent and six pointed Star in the old City of Jerusalem.in Arabic this crescent emblem is called hilal.

Photo: Ze'ev Barkan

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It is interesting to notice that the origin of the famous Islamic symbolof the five pointed star and the crescent was not Islamic but Sassanian, and atfirst it had six points.  The fivepointed star and the crescent actually became a symbol of Islam only during the19th century, sporting on the Ottoman flag from 1793. It entered the TurkishFlag in 1923 and then it had been adopted by other Muslim countries.  Actually the Crescent and six pointed Star appearalready on a roman Denarius minted by Augustus (27 BC-CE 14)

  

Photo from Wikipedia entry: File:Augustus_denarius_coin_star_crescent

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Coin of King Juba II of Numidia 
52/50 BC – CE 23

King Juba II was a close friend of Augustus 

And on byzantine Drachma from  52-42BCE

Michael G. Morony‏in his book Iraq after the Muslim conquest p. 40 writes that the star and thecrescent were combined for the first time on the coins of Khosrau I the twentieth Sassanid Emperor (alsocalled Chosroes I, and Anushirvan  (r. 531–579.Hurmizd IV replaced the six pointed star in some of his coins with a fivepointed star. This tradition continued on coins of the seventh century.  After the conquest of Iraq the MuslimGovernment accepted  these coins as well.This tradition lasted until 695 or 696, when coins were minted without anyimages.

Picture from Wikipedia entry: Khosrau I

Yoel Natan in his book Moon-o-theism: religion of a war and moon godprophet Vol. 2 p. 434 wrote that  "Inottoman times the crescent and the star became emblems on Muslim battle flagsand royal standards.

Chief Hizir Hayreddin (Barbarossa) was the Great Admiral of the navy ofSuleiman the Magnificent from 1534 until his death on 1546. Now the flag is atthe Naval Museum of Istanbul.

Picture is copied from Wikipedia

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Christian Star surrounding Muslin Crescent in a Mosaic Pavement at the 8th century Monastery of St. Euthymius in Mishor Adumin. The Monastery  was built by members of an Arab Tribe whichlived nearby.

Photo by Sakra (c) 2011

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Provisional - 1915 overprint on 1892 Turkish stamp

Picture from Wikipedia entry Postage stamps and postal history of Turkey

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1923 Riffan Banknote
The Republic of the Rif  (North Morocco) was created in 1921
Image from Wikipedia entry Rif Republic 

Photo and text From: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Star_and_crescent

"Before the 14th century, the crescent and star does not seem to havebeen associated with Islam at all, and appears in Christian iconography. Miniature illustrating the victory of the Mongols (left) over theMamluks (right) at the Battle of Homs (14th-century illustration from amanuscript of the History of the Tatars). The flag of the Mamluks is shown as ablack star and crescent on a red field. The crescent is facing the hoist, andthe star is shown as a six-pointed mullet".

See Also an article in French
http://www.ouarzazate-1928-1956.com/pour-memoire/petite-histoire-dune-etoile-a-six-branches.html