Muslim star and moon symbol?

[smudgeoffudge]

My Grandpa has just been diagnosed with Alzheimers disease. Lately he has been rambling and saying things that I don't really understand. I listen to him, however, out of love. I mean, it's the least I can do for him just to listen as he talks, even if I don't understand much. He was talking about a lot of things that happened years ago, and could remember the names of children he went to school with who used to bully him. But he couldn't remember recent events very well.

Well, he was telling me about his trip to the doctors office. He said that the doctor had a star and moon on his door. He said that he just "walked in without knocking". The doctor looked up and my Grandpa said something about how he knew it was ok to walk into the office without knocking as soon as he saw the symbol on the door. He said that the doctor was very shocked by this.

So I wanted to ask if anyone here knew what that symbol means. And what the significance of walking into a room without knocking would be.

If this really happened, then why would the doctor be shocked?
I mean, this is the twenty first century and some people are bound to know what a symbol means even if they aren't of that religion.

Last edited by smudgeoffudge on Fri Jul 16, 2004 6:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

[Tuna Consuma]

As far as I know the symbol shows the light of God showing the path, I think. It's probably in my RE book somewhere, I'll check in a minute.

[[Ryu]]

Oh I should know this... We were doing Islam and such before school let out... >.<

[Mpx]

I searched up the symbol for you and I found this page all about the symbol and such with history and what it means:
http://islam.about.com/library/weekly/aa060401a.htm

[shapu]

Turkmenistan has one of the coolest flags I've ever seen.

[Kristina]

I only know the history about the star part of the symbol, but being Muslim, I should know more than that.

The star always has 5 points. That is the whole reason behind it being there, becuse the five point represents the 5 pillars of Islam. The pillars are things you must do to get into heaven. They are charity, prayer, belief of God (it is called witnessing), fasting, and traveling to Mecca, Saudi Arabia if you get an opportunity to (pilgrimage).


And I just read up on the crescent part of the symbol.

Sultan Othman, founder of the Ottoman empire, had a dream of crescent moon growing bigger and bigger until it reached East to West.

Possibly a form of wanting unity.

I have no idea about what your grandfather was talking about. Maybe it was something he heard and believed it.

I'm sorry about your grandfather having Alzheimers disease though. I hate hearing about people getting sick.

[Hunter Lupe]

Too many open ends here -- you'll probably never know the reason.

It was probably just a misunderstanding.

[Lillie]

So I wanted to ask if anyone here knew what that symbol means. And what the significance of walking into a room without knocking would be.

If this really happened, then why would the doctor be shocked?

I think the doctor would be shocked because the symbol does not mean "feel free to walk in" for most people. It is an Islamic religious symbol and he probably had it on his door for his own reasons. If to him it is something important, it would also be very insulting that someone believes it to mean it is okay to enter without knocking. I guess that is why he was shocked that someone could misunderstand it to that degree.

[smudgeoffudge]

I guess that was it. I don't know what my grandpa was thinking when he did that, if this even happened the way he said it did. I think in his mind the symbol meant everyone is welcome to come in or something. I suppose the doctor would have been insulted to a degree, but then Grandpa is sick so he wouldn't be too insulted.

[Ammer]

It means various things (being a muslim in the Islam religion myself) Krisitina has the correct answer for the star. However I cannot remember what the Crescent means but I'll ask my dad once I get home.