Byzantium (Constantinople, modern Istanbul) was dedicated to Diana, goddess of the hunt, and the crescent was her symbol. In 330 CE, Constantine rededicated the city to the virgin Mary. Mary's symbol was the star and this was added to the previous crescent. When the Turks took Constantinople, they found many star and crescent flags and adopted it as a symbol of good omen (In 339 BCE, Philip of Macedon (the father of Alexander the Great) was stopped from conquering Byzantium because his army was spotted due to a bright crescent moon).

"The star and crescent" was first hoisted on behalf of the Muslims by Mahomet II after the capture of Constantinople in 1453 CE. Prior to that, it was common on the arm of knight and esquires. A star within a crescent was a badge of Richard I, 250 years before Constantinople fell. When the Muslims adopted it as their banner, they stopped using it. Since then, Muslims has incresingly used it to identify themselves.

Some predominantly Muslim countries use the symbol or a variant of it on their national flags.

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