Arab culture relies primarily on the Koran - the holy book of Muslims. In view of the fact that Islam is the youngest of the world religions, the number of signs with special overtones in it is somewhat less than, for example, in Christianity. Most of the Arabic symbols are related to religion in one way or another and are mentioned in the Koran or its commentaries, but there are other sources: science, historical events, borrowings.
General remarks
Arabic symbols are often abstract, because according to the laws of Islam, graphic and sculptural images of animals and people are strictly prohibited. For this reason, a significant part of the symbolic images common in Europe was not welcomed for a long time and was not understood in the Arab world.
However, over time, the norms regarding the image of animals have been somewhat softened: for example, in Arabic calligraphy, you can find drawings of lions, eagles and other animals.
In general, there are three particularly interesting categories of Arabic characters: letters, numbers, and stylized images that have a special connotation.
Writing
Among Arabic symbols, letters occupy an important place. For over a thousand yearsThe existence of this culture has developed a whole variety of ways to write letters, ranging from fonts like Gothic to those that are simply impossible to find analogues in European culture.
For many centuries, the art of calligraphy has been developed in the East - it’s not for nothing that the expression “Arabic script” exists, because the letters are sometimes intertwined with each other, forming real pictures in which an outside observer may not recognize writing at all.
Letters, of which there are 28 in the alphabet, decorate the walls of mosques, books, clothes. Within the Arab culture, there are currents, within which each letter has its own inner meaning, connecting it with a certain planet, element, number. This approach has much in common with alchemy, the name of which, by the way, also comes from Arabic.
Numbers
Arabic numerals are symbols for designating numbers used to record the quantitative characteristics of objects and work with them. They are abstract concepts and were developed during the historical period of human existence.
Arabic numerals differ in important ways from, for example, Roman numerals. Iconism served as the source of the latter: one object - one dash, two objects - two dashes. Arabic numerals, on the other hand, are purely symbolic, require less space for writing, and allow faster mathematical operations. In addition, in this system there is the concept of zero, the discovery of which was an important milestone in the history of mathematics.
However, it is worth noting that these figures originated from India, from where they were borrowed in the era of the "golden age" of the Arab civilization. The merit of the Arabs lies primarily in the fact that they accepted the achievements of other cultures and developed them, spreading them around the world.
Images
Perhaps the most famous Arabic symbol is the crescent.
There are many hypotheses about the origin of this symbol, but there are also reliable facts. During the period of the birth and formation of Islam, the crescent was not used either on banners and flags, or in the design of any religious buildings. In battle, the flags were the same-color canvases associated today with the colors of Islam - green, black and white.
Only much later, in the 15th century, when Constantinople was taken by the Ottoman Turks, the sign of the city - a crescent with a star - penetrated into Muslim culture and turned into an Arabic symbol, initially entrenched as a sign of the Ottoman Empire, and later - of Islam in general.
The second characteristic associated with the East is the widespread use of ornaments.
Ornament
Among Arabic symbols, two varieties of ornamental patterns should be mentioned: geometric and floral.
In the first case, the pattern is formed by crossing geometric shapes, each of which has its own symbolic meaning. The images are "looped", i.e. the same fragment can be repeated an infinite number of times in alldirections. Such drawings often adorn the domes of mosques and minarets - they are designed to remind of the sublimity of the spiritual and divine.
Floral ornament is more often used in the design of small architectural forms, ceramics. Such patterns focus on the details of the surrounding world, thus bringing people closer to nature.
In closing
Careful examination of Arabic symbols and their meanings, like the symbols of any other culture, is a laborious and lengthy task. However, after a superficial acquaintance with the East, it becomes clear that no matter how long the study takes, the process of learning will be interesting and will cause many positive emotions.
