text: the 'star & crecent' & the hindu sign of aum? hinduism started with the indus valley civilisation which flowered around 2600–1900 bc aum (or om, ॐ) is the sacred symbol that represents god (brahman). it is prefixed and sometimes suffixed to all vedic mantras and prayers. it is often said to represent god in the three aspects of vishnu (a), shiva (u) and brahmā (m). as the divine primordial vibration, it represents the one ultimate reality, underlying and encompassing all of nature and all of existence. the written syllable serves as a deeply significant and distinctly recognizable symbol for hindu dharma.  please see this webpage if you are not familiar with the aum sign. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/image:aum.svg  in 339 bc the city of byzantium, (later known as constantinople and then istanbul), won a decisive battle under a brilliant waxing moon which they attributated to their patron goddess artemis whose symbol was the crescent moon. in honor of artemis the citizens adopted the crescent moon as their symbol, but later became associated with islam in general. . this is clearly shown at  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/star_and_crescent  since the aum sign originated much earlier (2600–1900 bc) and the ‘star and crescent’ became popular only after 339 bc, is it at all possible that it could have come from the hindu aum? i suppose it's possible, i'll have to read up on the religious connotations of both of them some more. they're both beautiful in there own way.  i have an om symbol on my purse. :-)