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The Rub el Hizb (Arabic: رُبْع الحِزْب, romanized: rubʿ al-ḥizb, lit. 'quarter of the party')[1] is an Islamic symbol in the shape of an octagram, represented as two overlapping squares ۞. While its main utility today is to mark a division inside some copies of the Quran to facilitate recitation, it has originally featured on a number of emblems and flags in the past and continues to do so today. It has traditionally been called the Seljuk Star.
| ۞ | |
|---|---|
Rub el Hizb | |
| In Unicode | U+06DE ۞ ARABIC START OF RUB EL HIZB |
In Arabic, rubʿ means 'one-fourth' or 'quarter', while ḥizb (plural aḥzāb) translates to 'a group'. The Quran is divided into 60 aḥzāb (groups of roughly equal length in turn grouped into 30 ajzāʾ), with instances of Rub el Hizb further dividing each ḥizb into four, for a total of 240 divisions.
What would become Rub el Hizb was originally the symbol with which the Tartessos, since remote Neolithic times, made offerings to the Sun and represented it with eight rays. By the time of Al-Andalus in the Iberian Peninsula, it had defined as a cultural symbol, appearing on the coins. In addition, the use of it in so many areas[which?] led to its name being changed to "the star of Abd al-Rahman I". From al Al-Andalus it was exported to the rest of the Arab world. It has also been used extensively in Turkic Islamic culture and history.[2][3]
The symbol has been used as a basis for plans of buildings, as in the case of the Petronas Towers.
The first country to use the Rub el Hizb on its flag was the Marinid Sultanate in 1258.
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