Further reading: Said Amir Arjomand,
The Turban for
the Crown: The Islamic Revolution in Iran (New York:
Oxford University Press, 1988); Ryszard Kapuscin-
ski, Shah of Shahs (New York: Harcourt Brace, 1985);
Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, The Shah’s Story. Translated
by Teresa Waugh (London: Michael Joseph, 1980).
monotheism
See
tawhid
.
moon
The moon (Arabic qamar) has assumed a distinc-
tive importance in Islamic tradition. The appear-
ance of the new or crescent moon (hilal) defines
the beginning of each of the 12 lunar months in
the Islamic
calendar
. According to the
sharia
the
hilal has to be seen with the naked eye in order for
the first day of the month to be declared, although
there are differences among the Muslim jurists
about this matter. This practice, which is pre-
Islamic in origin, is particularly important in iden-
tifying the beginning of the new year on the first
day of Muharram, the beginning of the month of
required fasting on the first day of r
amadan
, and
the beginning of i
d
al
-F
itr
(the Feast of Fast-
Breaking) after Ramadan on the first day of the
10th month of the Islamic calendar (Shawwal).
Observation of the phases of the moon became
an important topic in Islamic astronomy. There
were also special prayers performed in the event
of either a lunar or a solar eclipse.
The q
Uran
mentions the moon 26 times. One
of its chapters, named “The Moon,” describes the
splitting of the moon as an event that precedes
J
Udgment
d
ay
(Q 54), but this event was later
claimed to be a miracle performed by m
Uham
-
mad
(d. 632) in proving his prophethood to the
unbelievers of Mecca. In other instances the moon
is discussed as an aspect of God’s
creation
, along
with the sun and the stars, that submits to its cre-
ator (Q 22:18) and signifies one of God’s blessings
for humankind (Q 14:32–34). The moon is to be
used as the basis of the calendar (Q 10:5). It also
appears in the story of Abraham’s conversion to
the worship of only one God, where he mistakes
the moon for his lord (rabb), but then rejects this
belief when he sees that it waxes and wanes in its
rising and setting (Q 6:77). The Quran, moreover,
explicitly prohibits worshipping both the sun and
the moon (Q 41:37). In later Islamic poetry the full
moon was often used as a metaphor for the beauty
of the lover’s face, as well as for Muhammad.
The crescent moon combined with a five- or
six-pointed star has become an emblem for the
Islamic religion, but only in recent times. They
appeared together on early Islamic coinage, per-
haps reflecting ancient Iranian, Roman, and Byz-
antine influences. They also occurred separately
in a variety of secular and religious contexts on
buildings and artifacts in Muslim lands during the
medieval period. They did not have great icono-
graphic importance until more recent centuries.
The crescent and star symbol began to be used on
military, imperial, and, later, national flags, first
by the Ottomans in the 15th and 16th centuries,
and subsequently by newly independent states in
the Middle East, North Africa, South Asia, and
Southeast Asia. These countries include Algeria,
Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Mauritania, Pakistan, Tuni-
sia, Turkey, and Uzbekistan. Since the 19th cen-
tury the crescent-moon emblem has been used to
decorate mosques and other religious buildings.
Also, the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs has
accepted it as a symbol on gravestones of Muslim
soldiers, making it comparable to the cross for
Christians, the Star of David for Jews, the Wheel
of Dharma for Buddhists, and the Sanskrit word
Om for Hindus.
Some Christian evangelical organizations
have claimed recently that Muslims are idolaters
who actually worship a moon god. This is an
unfounded assertion based on a mistaken inter-
pretation of Muslim use of the lunar calendar
instead of the solar calendar and of the crescent-
star emblem. Muslims do not worship the moon
or the crescent-star image in any way, as affirmed
by the Quran itself.
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