File talk:Religious syms.svg

Image origin

Why are they in this order? How were they even chosen?

I originated this image, which was then converted into a png and then an svg by others. So I guess I should answer these questions. My original statement on this can be found at the bottom of http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Talk:Religious_pluralism/Archive_2#What_do_these_symbols_mean.3F

The order that they are in was chosen totally for aesthetic reasons. Also, the image was based on a previous image which represented a couple of minorities and neglected some major religions. Most especially, Jainism and Shintoism were NOT originally present. I confess that the choice of a Shinto symbol was rather arbitrary as at the time, there was no symbol for Shinto - I created it based upon a photograph of a Shinto Torii. No-one seems to have complained...

Regarding a symbol for Islam, I used what was originally there. I have to say that for many people, the moon and star is instantly recognisable as a symbol of Islam, even if it is not.

The choice of symbols was based upon the idea that it seemed to make sense to use the top nine organized religions found on World religion - namely Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, Buddhism, Sikhism, Judaism, Bahá'í, Jainism, Shinto. Notable absences would be those excluded by the 'organized religion' requirement - Chinese traditional, Primal Indigenous, African traditional, and Secular/Atheists. (20040302 (talk) 10:17, 19 October 2011 (UTC))

Example of use

I saw a woman wearing a necklace with this image on a city bus today... -- AnonMoos (talk) 23:12, 8 July 2017 (UTC)

Islam, Shinto, etc.

“hi.. The symbol of the crescent and star has no sanctity in the religion of Islam. I hope you replace it with this symbol ‏ Allah.svg

.. my greetings to you.”

When I initially created this image, the wp:Islam article stated: "Muslims do not accept any icon, or color as sacred to Islam, as worshipping symbolic or material things is against the spirit of monotheism."

I was told that even the depiction of the word 'Allah', is not a symbol of Islam. The muslims who I discussed this with (sorry I cannot find the history) felt that the problem of depicting Islam with a symbol was that implied that Islam was 'another religion', but they recognised that the crescent moon and the morning star are symbols of Islam.

Cyril Glassé in his "The New Encyclopedia of Islam" (2001 edition, s.v. "Moon") states that "in the language of conventional symbols, the crescent and star have become the symbols of Islam as much as the cross is the symbol of Christianity."

Now that this picture is used globally, everywhere, mainly to represent 'multifaith', I am occasionally asked why I chose the crescent moon and morning star. I know it's a symbol of the Ottoman Empire - I knew it then - but it's also found on many Islamic nation's flags (often due to the Ottoman heritage), and it has a strong correlation with Islam, the Glassé book was persuasive - so, while it's history is not as lengthy as that of the christian cross representing Christianity, many people across the world (including many muslims) instantly recognise the crescent moon and the morning star as being symbolic of Islam.

Sanctity is a question - (see above). Considering this image is being used all over the world, would you want it to include a sanctified image? Are you content with the word of Allah (or any other of these symbols) being trodden underfoot, which is what happens when people print out thousands of leaflets and distribute them in muddy fields? Their purpose is kind - but sometimes the things that they do would not be acceptable if there were sanctity tied to each image.

At the time, Shinto had no symbol for Shinto at all, as I said in the original discussion - I made it up. Fortunately, the Shinto community seems to have been content with that.

@20040302: First of all, allow me to apologize for not seeing your reply for not having visited Wikimedia too much

Second, let me assure you that there is no sanctity of the symbol of the crescent and star in Islam

Perhaps there is an indirect relationship with these two symbols that we can return for two reasons. The first is the miraculous content of the Qur’an, which often refers to facts about space that science has only recently reached, and perhaps the second reason is because we Muslims believe that God is in the highest heavens, which made some Muslims prefer the star and crescent.

As for the crescent and the star as a cross for the Christians, this is a false statement and there are no comparison at all between the two, so the first has no sanctity at all for Muslims, while the second has the highest degrees of sanctity among the Christians

As for the universal slogans of religions that may be exposed to some kind of profanation, this is correct and a respectable point of view, but treating this problem by making the crescent and star a slogan of Islam makes the matter worse so that we make the non-Muslim that we worship the moon and the star, knowing that there is such a trend among atheists, they accuse Islam of having promoted the moon To the rank of a god: Please see this page on wikipedia Allah as a lunar deity .

That is why I think that we should be clear in disclosing that there is no relationship between the symbol of the crescent and the star or any other symbol with Islam. Muslims relate to God only, and if a Muslim sees the symbol of the crescent and the star thrown in the street, he will not initiate to capture and preserve it even if he is one of those who believe that there is a link between these two symbols And Islam

Which brings me to the last point and would like to hear your opinion about it making the Qur’an (the message) the symbol? If you are a Muslim, and if you are not, I wish you knew that if there was a true religion that does not violate reason, justice or humanity, we Muslims would be the first to follow it and I hope you attain the mercy of God by making you reach the Guidance because Allah it is the truth.

Finally, thank you and have a nice day. Wil13 (talk)