Flags With a Crescent Moon

The star-and-crescent is one of the most recognisable flag symbols. It was the emblem of the Ottoman Empire, and as former Ottoman territories became independent states many kept it, so it is now widely associated with Islam and with Muslim-majority nations — though the crescent is not a required or universal Islamic symbol, and many majority-Muslim countries do not use it.

The star-and-crescent flags

• Turkey — a white crescent and star on red; the direct successor to the Ottoman flag.
• Tunisia — a red crescent and star inside a white disc, on red; very close to the Turkish design.
• Algeria — a red crescent and star straddling the boundary of a green and white field.
• Pakistan — a white crescent and star on dark green, with a vertical white stripe at the hoist for religious minorities.
• Malaysia — a yellow crescent and 14-point star in the canton, over 14 red and white stripes.
• Mauritania — a gold crescent and star centred on green, between two gold bands added in 2017.
• Azerbaijan — a white crescent and eight-pointed star on the central red band of a blue-red-green tricolour.
• Turkmenistan — a white crescent and five stars beside its carpet-pattern stripe, on green.
• Uzbekistan — a white crescent and twelve stars on the top blue band.
• Comoros — a white crescent and four stars on a green triangle, over four coloured stripes for the islands.
• Maldives — a white crescent (no star) on a green rectangle within a red field.
• Libya — a white crescent and star on the black central band of the restored Kingdom flag.

Where the crescent means something else

Singapore's flag has a white crescent and five stars, but here the crescent represents a young nation on the rise and the stars stand for democracy, peace, progress, justice and equality — not a religious meaning. Nepal's flag includes a stylised white moon (and a sun) representing the permanence of the nation and the royal house, rooted in Hindu and Buddhist symbolism rather than Islamic.