My todays pic: name of allah

It is a picture we (Yao from Cote d°ivore) have been given. If You read from right to left: the separate line is “A”, initial vowels are always standing alone. The right part of the bow is “L”, in the middle is again a line for “A” with a sign over it that makes it sound double, so “AA”, and the rest is “H”. So the proper pronunciation is “Alaah”.

“Allahu akbar” means “God is great”… its sad that for a lot of people this words became the symbol of a crazy militant blowing himself up as that is what they are portraited like.

But the most important thing is that I have not gottten out of home again. So again only a cover-up picture… My todays pic: Flag of Pakistan

The flag of Pakistan was created together with the creation of the state in 1947 (yes, they have celebrated 60th aniversary this year… actually two weeks ago).

The symbol of crescent moon and star and also the dark green are symbols of Islam as Pakistan was created to be a state of the Muslims of Indian subcontinent. At the same time the moon and star should represent Light and Knowledge. The white stripe is supposed to represent the non-muslim minorities of Pakistan.

Interesting fact is that the early Islam had no symbol and the Prophet didnt want any graphic symbol to become identified with Islam. At the same time the symbol itself is thousands year old than Islam itself. It was only later when Turks conquered the city of Constantinople (earlier known as Byzantium, later known as Istanbul) in 1453 that Ottoman Empire (for hundreds years being the ruling power over Muslim world) adopted it.

Read more on the history of Crescent moon HERE. and history of Pakistani flag HERE