i got the following from wikipedia

The crescent is also often used to symbolize the Islamic faith. However, it should be noted that the crescent was not a symbol used for Islam by Muhammad or any other early Muslim rulers, in fact the Islam is against appointing "Holy Symbols". Despite that the 5-branch star is quite often used as the symbol of the Islam.

The crescent originated with the Turks and their Shamanistic past in which they used to worship celestial symbols and was first seen on the flag of the Ottoman Empire. Since then it has gone on to be used on the flags of Algeria, Comoros, Mauritania, Pakistan, Malaysia, Tunisia, Turkey and other Turkic/Islamic nations.

A Red Crescent substitutes the Red Cross in Islamic countries (but for pre-revolution Iran). But it is interesting to notice that very few Arab nations use the symbol. Morocco, which has never known the Turkish occupation, has only a 5-branch star on its flag. The new, American-designed, post-Saddam Iraqi flag uses that symbol as well.

This is of importance, since many Christian fundamentalists such as Jack Chick use this symbolism to make a claim that Allah was in fact a moon-god worshipped by the pre-Islamic Turks. This argument is sometimes used to argue that the god of Islam is different from that of the Jews or Christians.

To the right you see the flag of Turkiye. There are many imitators, but they are just that... Due to the 1,000 year fight of Muslim Turk and Christian Europe, the symbols have come to be mistakingly representative of Islam by Europeans and now the world. The Crescent Moon and Star (Sun during the Ottoman Empire) are ancient Turkish celestial symbols of power originating from the Turkish, ancestoral lands of Siberia and Central Asia.

Its origins are not Arabic or Persian and it can not be Islamic due to the strict, religious doctrines forbiding the usage of any symbols or the painting/drawing/sclupting of human faces... these very important religious facts are disregarded today by those trying to claim the Moon & Star as their own today.

Needless to say, the origins of the Crescent & Sun/star are in fact Turkish from ancient times, pre-Islamic. The Turks believed in Shamanisim and more importantly the one supreme Sky God (Tanri) along side others gods like that of the Moon & Sun, when they roamed nomadicaly on horseback in the steppes of Siberia & central Asia.

In the 10th century, the Turks accepted Islam on their own will and conquered the Middle East. Witin a few centuries, the Turks became extremely powerful and strected an empire from the gates of Vienna, Austria, Russia all the way to Spain in the west. They brought into Islam their own free spirit, dynamizm, Turkish culture, superstitions and serious beliefs as well. This is the origin of how the Crescent Moon & Star came into the Islamic world.

 The importance of the celestial bodies can be seen in many Turk epics, poems, songs, names etc... One quick example is that of the legendary leader of the Western Turks, Oguz Khan, named his first 3 born Sun, Moon, & Star emphasizing the importance of the celestial objects to Turks. The founder of the Ottoman Turkish empire, Osman, had a dream in which he invisioned a Crescent Moon stretching over the Earth, he took it as a good sign and made it the symbol of his dynasty. Where ever a Turkish army met with a Euro-Christian one, of course it would be seen that the Turks used a Moon and Europeans assumed that this was the symbol of Islam used by muslim people. [this was wrong of course, as I said no symbols are allowed, but Turks quite often incorporated their own beliefs and free spirit regarding the religion]

 So, over the 1,000 year fight of Muslim Turk and Christian Europe, the symbols have come to be mistakingly representative of Islam by Europeans and now the world. The Crescent Moon and Star are ancient Turkish celestial symbols of power originating from the Turkish, ancestoral lands of Siberia and Central Asia. You see for a 1000 years Turks were the warriors, the leaders of Islam so it is not unusual that our symbols have been adopted by many present-day countries that are by a majority muslim. But it doesn't mean that the symbols are Islamic or muslim. Unfortunately, this confusion will most likely never be cleared up. It is very deep in the minds of the world, even the Muslim world.

Interesting note: The representative color of all Turks in the world is Skyblue or Turquiose, but we have also ascribed color to the four cardinal directions (North=Black, East=SkyBlue, South=White, & West=Red). Therefore, the Red background is used to indicate that we are the most geographically western of our family. (Over time and among the folk, the color has also come to represent the Turkish blood shed over the centuries of warfare.)

But didn't the name of Allah, come from a southern arabian deity, who was the head of his pantheon? (Not trying to be like a fundie, as I recognize that Allah is now recognized as the God of Abraham.)

How fascinating.  The Chinese also ascribe colors to the four winds: Black North, Blue East, Red South, White West, plus Yellow Center.

i dont think Islam is against the Crescents  since we still have lots of mosques with Crescents on top of the Minarats

i got my first msg from Wikipedia ( it was the closest defenition i found )

for the definition of Allah please check http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allah

it is Closest defenition but not the best ( i dont agree on some )

it is more original than the word God since Jesuse himself pronounced alla as Ellah which is Allah but in Aramatic acent

Arabic and Aramatic are like Spanish and Italian.

Jack Chick is trying too hard to be serious....

No. You can understand it from current Turkish language. We call medeterinnean as "AKDENÝZ" which means white sea, we call Black Sea as "KARADENÝZ" which means black sea, and that name is given by Turks...

Also red sea's name and Caspian Sea's names are given by Turks. We call caspian sea "Hazar Denizi", which takes its name from the Turkish khanate of Hazar...

The name of the Caspian Sea in turkish comes from Khazar, but the name Caspian Sea in English come from the Kaspians, an ancient Iranic tribe.

 Sabaean was the kingdom in south arabia??

in Islamic stories kingdom of Saba was worshipping the Sun as per the news the brid brought to Prophet Sulyman (king solomon in christan stories).

and around Mecca before Mohammed (PBUH) their was three religions the Idol worshippers who belived in God but they belived that the Idols are like the connection between people and God.

the other two religions were christans and Jews

i think the persians religion was there too but may be they didnt come to arabia.

and by the way who are these three wise men??

the sad thing is people do take him seriously!

they were actually kings, named Casper, Melchior and Balthasar

thanks guys

No, Teñri was the God and the Sky.

Kök Teñri was the expression used for the "Blue Sky", not for the name of the Turkic deity (the useage of Kök Teñri for God started much later). People often confuse Teñri and Kök Teñri.

There are several theories of crescent and star. One of them are that symbol of Constantinople before the turkish conquest was a crescent and that Mehmed II just adopted the new symbol. The crescent does not seem to being used much before the conquest of Istanbul.

I think the closest thing you could call a "official flag" for the early Ottoman Empire was the "zulfikar", that three crescent flag with green background(i really like that one BTW) we have seen many times on paintings and movies does not seem to have been used IRL either. But like i say, there is different theories.

The red color on the flag of Republic of Turkey is the royal color of the Ottoman family.  Which is ironic if you think about the stance the republic had against the empire in the past....

This is the first flag of the Beylik of Osmanli (Ottoman) that was oficially gifted by Alaeddin Keykubad, the Anatolian Seljuk Khan to Ertugrul Bey, the father of Osman Bey. This flag was the symbol of the "uchbeylik" of Ertugrul Bey. Then, this flag was adopted by Osman Bey as the flag of his Beylik.

This is the later flag of the Ottoman Empire adopted before the conquest of Istanbul, and this was the first usage of crescent and sun symbols by an Islamic country in the word.

The red background symbolizes the west, and western Turks. Alaeddin Keykubad decided on this color because the "uchbeylik" was the western border of the Seljuks of Rum. the eight pointed star was in fact a "son" symbol, and had ancient Turkish origins.

And finally, the flag above is the official flag of modern Turkey. The shape of the crescent and the star symbol has partly changed from Ottoman flag. But it still symbolizes the western Turks with its red background, so the red color isnt something special for only Ottoman dynasty, but to all western Turks.