Pan-Arab colors

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Flag of the Arab Revolt, used in Kingdom of Hejaz[1][2]
Arab Liberation Flag (1952 Egyptian Revolution)[1]

The Pan-Arab colours are black, white, green, and red. Individually, each of the four Pan-Arab colours were intended to represent a certain historical Arab dynasty, or era.[3] The black represents the Black Standard used by the Rashidun and Abbasid caliphates, white was the Umayyad dynastic colour, green was the Fatimid dynastic colour[4] as well as a colour strongly associated with Islam generally – and therefore also a color representative of the Rashidun Caliphate[5][6] – and red was the Hashemite dynastic colour. The four colours also derived their potency from a verse by 14th century Iraqi poet Safi al-Din al-Hilli: "White are our acts, black our battles, green our fields, and red our swords".[7]

Pan-Arab colours, used individually in the past, were first combined in 1916 in the flag of the Arab Revolt or Flag of Hejaz,[8] designed by the British diplomat Sir Mark Sykes.[9] Many current flags are based on Arab Revolt colours, such as the flags of Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and the United Arab Emirates,[10] and formerly in the flag of the brief (six month) union of the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan.

In the 1950s, a sub-set of the Pan-Arab colours, the Arab Liberation colours, came to prominence. These consist of a tricolour of red, white and black bands, with green given less prominence or not included. The Arab Liberation tricolour was inspired by the use of the Arab Liberation Flag in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952[11] which became the basis for the current flags of Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Syria and Yemen (and formerly in the flags of the rival states of North Yemen and South Yemen), and in the short-lived Arab unions of the United Arab Republic and the Federation of Arab Republics.[10]

Current flags with Pan-Arab colors[]

UN member and observer states[]

Unrecognized and partially recognized states[]

  • Republic of Somaliland

  • Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic

Former national flags with the Pan-Arab colors[]

  • Hejaz (1917–20),[14] OET Administration (1918–20),[15] Palestine (All-Palestine Government, 1948–59)[16]

  • Syria (8 March 1920 – 24 July 1920)[15]

  • Hejaz (1920–26) and Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (1926-1932),[14] Transjordan (1921–28)[17]

  • Iraq (1921–59)[18]

  • Transjordan (1928–39)[17]

  • Syria (1932–58 and 1961–63),[15] used currently (2011 onwards) by the Syrian Interim Government and the Free Syrian Army

  • Egypt (1952–1958, flown alongside the national flag)

  • Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq (14 February 1958 – 2 August 1958)[19]

  • United Arab Republic (1958–61), Egypt (1961–72)

  • Iraq (1959–63)

  • North Yemen (1962–90)

  • Iraq (1963–91)[20]

  • Syria（1963-72）

  • Palestine (1964–2006)[16]

  • Flag of Hadhramaut (1967–69)

  • South Yemen (1967–90), used currently (2007 onwards) by the South Yemen Movement

  • Libya (1969–72)

  • Federation of Arab Republics
    (Egypt (1972–84), Syria (1972–80),[15] and Libya (1972–77))

  • Lower Yafa
    (Yemen (1800–1967))

  • Mahra Sultanate (1895–1967)

  • Arab Islamic Republic (proposed 1974, never implemented)

  • Iraq (1991–2004)[20]

  • Iraq (2004–08)[20]

Flags of Arab political and paramilitary movements using Pan-Arab colors[]

  • Flag of Ottoman era Istanbul-based autonomist "Arab Literature Club" (1909–15), a precursor Arab flag[21]

  • Flag of Ottoman era autonomist "Young Arab Society" (1911–16), a precursor Arab flag[22]

  • Flag of the Ba'ath Party (1947–present), also used by the National Democratic Front for the Liberation of Oman and the Arabian Gulf (active 1969–71)

  • Flag of the National Liberation Front of Yemen (1963–78), the Dhofar Liberation Front (1965–68), and the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf (1968–74)

  • Flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (1974–92)

  • Flag used by Arab separatists and autonomists in Khuzestan, Iran[23]

  • Flag used by the separatist organisations the and the National Liberation Movement of Ahwaz in Khuzestan, Iran[23][24]

  • Flag of the Arab Movement of Azawad (2012–present)

  • Flag of Arab Jerusalem

  • Flag of the Syrian Salvation Government


  • Red dynastic color, used by the Hashemites (The Prophet of Islam Muhammad)

  • White dynastic color, used by Umayyads (661–750)[25]

  • Black Standard used by the Abbasids (750–1258)[26]

  • Green dynastic color, used by the Fatimids (909–1171)[27]

See also[]

References[]

  1. ^ Jump up to: a b Pan-Arab Colors, crwflags.com
  2. ^ Mahdi Abdul-Hadi. "The Great Arab Revolt". passia.org (in Arabic). Archived from the original on 2014-05-05.
  3. ^ Abū Khaldūn Sati' al-Husri, The days of Maysalūn: A Page from the Modern History of the Arabs, Sidney Glauser Trans. (Washington D.C.: Middle East Institute, 1966), 46.
  4. ^ Edmund Midura, "Flags of the Arab World", in Saudi Aramco World, March/April 1978, pages 4–9
  5. ^ Teitelbaum, Joshua (2001). The rise and fall of the Hashimite kingdom of Arabia. New York: New York University Press. p. 205. ISBN 1-85065-460-3. OCLC 45247314.
  6. ^ Marshall, Tim (2017). A flag worth dying for : the power and politics of national symbols. New York, NY: Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc. pp. 110–111. ISBN 1-5011-6833-9. OCLC 962006347.
  7. ^ Muhsin Al-Musawi, Reading Iraq: Culture and Power in Conflict (I. B. Tauris 2006), p. 63
  8. ^ I. Friedman, British Pan-Arab Policy, 1915–1922, Transaction Publ., 2011, p. 135
  9. ^ William Easterly, The White Man's Burden (2006), p. 295
  10. ^ Jump up to: a b Znamierowski, Alfred (2003). Illustrated Book of Flags. Southwater. p. 123. ISBN 1-84215-881-3. Retrieved 22 November 2014. The designs of these flags were later modified, but the four pan-Arab colors were retained and were adopted by Transjordan (1921), Palestine (1922), Kuwait (1961), the United Arab Emirates (1971), Western Sahara (1976) and Somaliland (1996).
  11. ^ M. Naguib, Egypt's Destiny, 1955
  12. ^ "Palestinian Law No. 5 for the year 2006 amending some provisions of Law No. 22 for the year 2005 on the Sanctity of the Palestinian Flag". Muqtafi.birzeit.edu. Retrieved 26 December 2014.
  13. ^ Also used as the flag of Fujairah since 1975
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b Kingdom of Hejaz 1915–1925, Crwflags.com
  15. ^ Jump up to: a b c d Historical Flags Overview (Syria), Crwflags.com
  16. ^ Jump up to: a b Historical Flags (Palestine) , Crwflags.com
  17. ^ Jump up to: a b Historical Flags (Jordan), Crwflags.com
  18. ^ Kingdom of Iraq (1924–1958), Crwflags.com
  19. ^ Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq, Crwflags.com
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b c Evolution of the Iraqi Flag, 1963–2008, Crwflags.com
  21. ^ Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, Al-Muntadha al-Adhabi Archived 2014-05-05 at the Wayback Machine, passia.org
  22. ^ Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, Jam'yiat al-'Arabiya al-Fatat Archived 2014-05-05 at the Wayback Machine, passia.org
  23. ^ Jump up to: a b Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan) Political Organizations (Iran) on crwflags.com
  24. ^ S. T. Al-Seyed Naama, Brief History of Ahwaz Archived 2014-07-15 at the Wayback Machine, on al-ahwaz.com
  25. ^ The contrast of white vs. black as the Fatimid/Umayyad vs. Abbasid dynastic colour over time developed in white as the colour of Shia Islam and black as the colour of Sunni Islam: "The proselytes of the ʿAbbasid revolution took full advantage of the eschatological expectations raised by black banners in their campaign to undermine the Umayyad dynasty from within. Even after the ʿAbbasids had triumphed over the Umayyads in 750, they continued to deploy black as their dynastic colour; not only the banners but the headdresses and garments of the ʿAbbasid caliphs were black [...] The ubiquitous black created a striking contrast with the banners and dynastic color of the Umayyads, which had been white [...] The Ismaili Shiʿite counter-caliphate founded by the Fatimids took white as its dynastic color, creating a visual contrast to the ʿAbbasid enemy [...] white became the Shiʿite color, in deliberate opposition to the black of the ʿAbbasid 'establishment'." Jane Hathaway, A Tale of Two Factions: Myth, Memory, and Identity in Ottoman Egypt and Yemen, 2012, p. 97f.
  26. ^ The Abbasid Revolution against the Umayyad Caliphate adopted black for its rāyaʾ for which their partisans were called the musawwids. Tabari (1995), Jane McAuliffe (ed.), Abbāsid Authority Affirmed, 28, SUNY, p. 124
  27. ^ "Green is frequently found in Arab flags because this colour was taken by the Fatimite dynasty, which ruled most of north Africa." American Educator, New York, 1973, 7th vol., p. 131.

External links[]

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