This is only a small part of the article and photos, under
"T", i noticed that they have all the tanker flags listed.
My thought here is that we often see flags in the banners and backdrops of the jihad sites.
granny
http://fotw.fivestarflags.com/islam.html
Origin of the Crescent and Star: a Babylonian
symbol?
As far as I'm aware the crescent and star combination has a heritage
directly linked to the Babylonian cult of Inana (who if I'm not mistaken
was usually depicted as crowned with the crescent and star
combination) - and with the numerous other equivalent female fertility
cults of near eastern antiquity (e.g., the cult of Isis). Its subsequent
adoption as an Islamic symbol is similar to the Christian appropriation
of pagan symbolism elsewhere (e.g., the various European "Black
Madonnas"), and is testament to the persistence of ancient systems of
belief into late antiquity and early modern times.
George Cruickshank, 11 April 2001
The Astronomical Impossibility
The thing that always gets me about the crescent and star is that the
way it is usually depicted is astronomically impossible, in that the star
is in front of the disc of the moon.
James Dignan 23 July 1996
I believe that this is, sometimes oversimplified, an image of the planet
Venus coming from behind the dark side of the moon. Of course, the
star cannot be visible though the dark part of the moon's disc, at least
until we (or someone else :-) make some big towns up there.
?x017D;eljko Heimer 24 July 1996
Terminology for different orientations of crescents
This is an old thread on the different types of crescents. I found just
recently in Smith (1975) this explanation on the pages of Mauritania:
"Heraldry recognizes different kinds of crescents, depending
upon the direction in which the horns face. The decrescent or
moon on the wane has horns to the sinister; the increscent's
waxing moon faces to the dexter. 'Crescent' refers to one of
the Mauritanian type with its horns upwards; the opposite is
called a crescent reversed. These distinctions are never used
in vexillology and even in heraldry are largely theoretical."
So that is what Whitney Smith says. I quite agree that it would not be
much sense to use special terminology for different crescents - it is
much easier to say where the horns are pointing. The upper division
woudn't give the description of Pakistani (pointing up toward fly) or
Johor (Malaysia, pointing down toward fly), anyway. However this is
the confirmation of my 'decrescent' term, that I couldn't find in any
dictionary that I have.
?x017D;eljko Heimer 10 August 1996
Legends arising from geographic crescents
The crescent and star in Islam comes from the Arabs (although the
Turks also claim it) and their geography. The "Fertile Crescent"
includes modern day Iraq, Syria, Lebanon, Palestine and Egypt. If you
look at a map, these countries form a crescent shape the opposite of
the Turkish Flag's crescent. The star comes from Cyprus, the Island
near Syria and Lebanon. Some also say that pagan Turks brought the
symbol into the Ummayed Empire when they were conscripted as
soldiers.
Moustafa, 11 April 2001
Growing up in Lebanon the banner was regarded as a political symbol
of the Islamic geography under the Ottoman state. Starting at the top
in Europe and looping around the Mediterranean through North
Africa/Western Arabia, then crossing to Andalusia (Spain). The Star in
the middle is a representation of the islands that were under Ottoman
influence. I believe that the number of islands changed over the era of
the Ottoman state and so did the number of stars. The star and
crescent banner around the Muslim countries is a leftover and a
remake of the mother state, the Ottoman Empire. The Egyptian royal
government had a similar flag with three stars.
Mouhamad Naboulsi, 21 December 2002
I feel this story to be post facto and rather stretched. What are the
islands mentioned in the story anyway? Cyprus would be one,
certainly, but all others seem of minor importance. Possibly Crete
might be included, but after that all the islands in Eastern
Mediterranean are "just islets" in comparison. And once Ottomans
reached the Aegean Sea the stars would have to be very densely
semée on the flag for the theory to hold. Unless some other details
are forthcoming, I would discard this as a "serious" story, but and I
would include it as "flag legend".
?x017D;eljko Heimer, 22 December 2002
The Crescent and Star used by King Richard I
It seems that in the 12th century the arms of the crescent were open
to the top. King Richard I of England adopted the star and crescent as
a royal badge, from the Emperor's standard of Governor Isaac
Comnenus, after capturing Cyprus. Back in England, 'a crescent of
gold on a shield of azure, with a blazing star of eight points, or rays of
silver, between the horns', was granted to Portsmouth as the heraldic
crest of the newly incorporated Royal borough. The English Admiralty
took it as their emblem until the 16th century, when perhaps as a
result of the fall of Constantinople, it was replaced by another emblem
of Richard I, the Anchor of Hope. Rear-Admiral R.M. Blomfield writing
in about 1900 pointed out in 'Origin and History of Admiralty Badges',
that "Had the old badge been retained, the Admiralty and Ottoman
flags would now be identical." The star and crescent is still on the
arms of Portsmouth and between 1936 and 1939 appeared on the Blue
Ensign of the Portsmouth Yacht Club.
David Prothero, 22 December 2002
A Decorative Design
I've never understood this problem. It's a decorative design, not a
scientific depiction of an astronomical event. You never see the stars
aligning themselves in eleven straight, staggered horizontal lines,
either, but no one faults the arrangement of stars in the stars and
stripes on that account.
Joe McMillan, 7 July 2003
Texkats thread is excellent every day, but this one is a real winner, lots of up to the date terror info there.
From Kabul, there is this report:
Al-Qaeda Claims shooting down of U.S. Jet
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1416664/posts?page=43#43
That was interesting, thanks!
Spy search engines, portals and news
SNIP FROM SUBSCRIPTION SITE: Pair Accused Of Terror Ties May Have Planned Hospital Attacks 8 Jun 2005 21:53