The Muslim community lead by Prophet Muhammad did not have a symbol. Caravans and armies used flags for identification purposes but it was a solid colour usually black or green. Muslims do not have a symbol representing Islam the way the cross represents Christianity or the Star of David represents Judaism.
The Crescent moon symbol has historically been associated with the Turks and before Islam it was a feature on their coins. The crescent moon and star became affiliated with the Muslim world when the Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453 CE. They chose to take the city's existing flag and symbol and make it the symbol of the Ottoman Empire. Since that time the crescent has been adopted by many predominantly Muslim countries and wrongly become known as symbol of the Islamic faith.
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The Top Ten Myths about Islam
Non-FictionBy Aisha Stacey (© 2014 IslamReligion.com) Published on 04 Aug 2014 - Last modified on 07 Feb 2016 Ever since the Muslims swept out of Arabian Peninsula to establish the Islamic Empire there have been myths and misconceptions surrounding the Isl...