Star and crescent
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/09/Star_and_Crescent.svg/220px-Star_and_Crescent.svg.png)
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/b/b4/Flag_of_Turkey.svg/220px-Flag_of_Turkey.svg.png)
The Islamic Crescent is a symbol consisting of a crescent with a star at the concave side. In its modern form, the star is usually shown with five points (though in earlier centuries a higher number of points was often used). The two signs together, or the crescent only, was long a symbol of Byzantium and also appeared on coins of the Sassanid Empire. Now it is often a symbol of Islam. It is seen on a number of different country flags such as Turkey, Libya, Maldives, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Malaysia, Singapore, Turkmenistan, Uzbekistan, Tunisia, Western Sahara, Comoros, North Cyprus, Mauritania, Pakistan[n 1] respectively.
![](http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/0/01/Byzantium_star_and_crescent.svg/120px-Byzantium_star_and_crescent.svg.png)
Flag of Ottoman Empire was the first flag featuring a crescent with a star. Other states formerly part of the Ottoman Empire also used the symbol, so the symbol emerged into popular use.