User blog comment:LurkerLordB/Religion in a world without Christianity/@comment-5012758-20120425130531/@comment-32656-20120427142045

Both are true. However, its usage in Arabia before Islam seems to have been irrelevant - it was not adopted as a Muslim symbol in any form until decades later, when they destroyed Persia and were fighting the Byzantines, for both of whom it was a symbol. And even then, its usage took centuries.