Islamic Flags

Muslim Flags through the years

The early Muslim community did not really have a symbol. During the time of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him), Islamic armies and caravans flew simple solidcolored flags (generally black, green, or white) for identification purposes. In later generations, the Muslim leaders continued to use a simple black, white, or green flag with no markings, writings, or symbolism on it. The Prophet used flags of different colors in different Ghazwat (campaigns commanded by the Prophet himself) and Saraya (campaign commanded by any Sahabi). The major flag of the Prophet was known as "Al- Uqaab", it was pure black with and without symbol or marking. Its name and color was derived from Quraish's flag. Other minor flags were known as Al-Raya, the most important flag among them was white, others were red, yellow, and perhaps green and zebra-striped.

Prophet Muhammad’s (PBUH) Flag

Flags of Rashidun Khilafa with Sahada

An authentic statement about the Umayyad flag is not available; however perhaps they used a white flag because this was also used by Umayyad’s of Spain later, this flag may be a memory of their glorious empire. The Abbasid Dynasty which succeeded them used a black flag. The Fatimid Dymasty of caliphs, meanwhile, had green as their traditional colour, while the Hashemites used red.

Fatimid’s of north Africa Flag

Libya (solid green)

Hashimite Flag

Ghaznavid Flag

Sultanate of Rum (The Great Seljuk Empire)

Mamluk Flag

Timur Lane Flag

Flag of Babur

Crescent moon and star It wasn't until the Ottoman Empire that the crescent moon and star became affiliated with the Muslim world. When the Turks conquered Constantinople (Istanbul) in 1453, they adopted the city's existing flag and symbol. Legend holds that the founder of the Ottoman Empire, Osman, had a dream in which the crescent moon stretched from one end of the earth to the other. Taking this as a good omen, he chose to keep the crescent and make it the symbol of his dynasty. There is speculation that the five points on the star represent the five pillars of Islam, but this is pure conjecture. The five points were not standard on the Ottoman flags, and it is still not standard on flags used in the Muslim world today.

The Crescent Moon and the Star For hundreds of years, the Ottoman Empire ruled over the Muslim world. After centuries of battle with Christian Europe, it is understandable how the symbols of this empire became linked in people's minds with the faith of Islam as a whole. Ottomans being Turks were using a crescent bearing flag. When Selim I resumed power as the caliph, the Ottoman flag was red with a green circle and three yellow crescents. Ottomans for the first time separate the religious flag and the national flag. The national flag was red with crescent facing right, while the religious flag green with crescent facing right. Later, a five-cornered star was added to symbolize the five pillars of Islam.

Ottoman Flag

Ottoman Flag

Later Flag of the Mughal Empire The typical green flag with crescent and star became a standard Islamic flag and is used till date, and it is very interesting that most of the people think that this flag has been used by Muslims since the beginning. This crescent bearing flag has been used by different Muslim empires and nations in the history especially those having Turkish origin. This crescent flag with some variations is still in use by different Muslim entities, e.g.,

Algeria, Azerbaijan, Comoros, Malaysia, Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus, Uzbekistan, and Western Sahara.

Based on this history, many Muslims reject using the crescent moon as a symbol of Islam especially Arab countries (Algeria and Tunisia being exceptions). The faith of Islam has historically had no symbol, and many refuse to accept what is essentially an ancient

pagan icon. It is certainly not in uniform use among Muslims, but commonly seen in many Non-Arab Muslim countries. Script Script takes one of two forms, either the Shahadah or Allahu Akbar ("God is great"). Iraq and Iran use both the pan-Arab colours (in the case of Iran slightly modified in shade and excluding black) with the addition of Allahu Akbar—in recognizable form on Iraq's flag, and stylised on Iran's. Saudi Arabia and Afghanistan use the Shahadah, a declaration of faith: lā ilāha illā-llāh, wa muħammadan rasūlu-llāh in Arabic, translation "There is no god but Allah and Muhammad is His Prophet".

Afghanistan

Iraq

Saudi Arabia

Iran

Limitations on the use of Flags Flags containing Allahu Akbar or Shahaadah are highly respected to due to the association of core Islamic belief shared by all Muslims. Misuse of such flags can be perceived as an attack on Islam regardless of nationality, whereas attacking a Muslim country flag containing none of these phrases will not be seen as an attack on Islam itself, but merely an attack on the country. Misuse of such a flag is understood to include stepping on the flag, burning it, hanging it in a pub or club, and association of flag with non-Islamic subjects, while the same treatment of a Muslim country's flag without the Shahaadah or Allahu Akbar might be considered perfectly normal. Flags are used as a badge on army, naval and government official uniforms as well as in government or emergency vehicles. Such usage is impermissible, however, with a flag bearing the Shahaadah or Allahu Akbar. This is in part because, in accordance to Islamic teaching, it is not recommended that one use the toilet in the presence of such phrases because they are extraction from Quran, the holy book which Muslims believe to be the word of Allah (God) and there is no doubt. In Islamic countries Muslims are required treat non-Muslim citizens with respect and dignity. A non-Muslim in an Islamic country can not be expected to fly the flag of Shahaadah or Allahu Akbar as he/she may not believe in these phrases. Hence, there is no infringement of human rights. Therefore, non-Shahaadah or non-Allahu Akbar flags may be more practical given the limitation above. Representation of flags Unlike the practice in most Western nations, flags are usually depicted in Islamic countries with the staff to the right. This is analogous to the right-to-left form of Arabic script. This can make for confusion when flag images are shown without an accompanying flagstaff, as it may not be immediately obvious which way around the flag is being depicted. In keeping with Islamic law, Muslim flags generally do not bear any representations of real creatures, though some flags have animal depictions on them such as Egypt having the Golden Eagle of Salahuddin al-Ayyubi (Saladin) that are used as supporters on the Coats of Arms. These flags are not necessarily Islamic in their nature; rather they more likely to derive from the Pan-Arabist movement. It is rare to find plants depicted on flags of Muslim nations, even though this is permissible under Islamic guidelines. Some state and royal flags of Saudi Arabia do, however, depict palm trees.

The Pan-Arab Flag In 1911, at a meeting in Istanbul, it was decided that a modern flag to represent all Arabs should include all four of these colours. Three years later, the Young Arab Society decreed that a future independent Arab state should use a flag of these colours, and on May 30, 1917 Sharif Hussein, leader of the Hejaz revolt replaced his plain red flag with one horizontally striped in black, green, and white with a red triangular area at the hoist. This was seen as the birth of the pan-Arab flag.

The Flag of the Arab Revolt Since that time, many Arab nations, upon achieving independence or upon change of political regime, have used a combination of these colours in a design reflecting the Hejaz Revolt flag.

Current flags with Pan-Arab colors

Former flags with the Pan-Arab colors

Muslim Flags with Pan African Colors The Pan-African flag, also referred to as the UNIA flag, Afro-American flag or Black Liberation Flag, is a tri-color flag consisting of three equal horizontal bands colored red, black and green. It was originally created as the official banner of the African Race by the members of the Universal Negro Improvement Association and African Communities League (UNIA). They formally adopted it in article 39 of the Declaration of Rights of the Negro Peoples of the World on August 13, 1920 during their month long convention held in Madison Square Garden, New York City, United States. The three colors represent: • • •

red: the blood that unites all people of African ancestry, and shed for liberation; black: black people whose existence as a nation, though not a nation-state, is affirmed by the existence of the flag; and green: the abundant natural wealth of Africa.

The flag later became an African nationalist symbol for the liberation of African people everywhere. As an emblem of black pride, the flag became popular during the Black Liberation movement of the 1960s.

Pan-African flag

Burkina Faso

Eritrea

Mali

Guinea

Senegal

Guinea-Bissau