Pan-Arab colors
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The pan-Arab colors are black, white, green and red. Individually, each of the four pan-Arab colors were intended to represent a certain aspect of the Arab people and their history.<ref>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.</ref>
History
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(A modern revolutionary flag that spread to the Arab world inspired by the 1952 Egyptian revolution)<ref name="crw">Pan-Arab Colors, crwflags.com</ref>
The four colors derive their potency from a verse by 14th century Arab poet Safi al-Din al-Hilli: "White are our acts, black our battles, green our fields, and red our swords".<ref>Muhsin Al-Musawi, Reading Iraq: Culture and Power in Conflict (I. B. Tauris 2006), p. 63</ref> The black is the Black Standard, which was used by the Rashidun and Abbasid Caliphate, while white was the dynastic color of the Umayyad Caliphate.<ref name="Aramco">Template:Cite journal</ref> Green is a color associated with Islam, the primary religion of Arabs.<ref name="Teitelbaum 2001 p.205">Template:Cite book</ref><ref name="Marshall 2017 p. 110-111">Template:Cite book</ref> Green is also identified as the color of the Fatimid Caliphate by some modern sources,<ref name="Aramco"/><ref name="Pan-arab">Template:Cite book</ref> despite their dynastic color having been white.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref><ref>Template:Cite book</ref> Finally, red was used as the Hashemite dynastic color.
Pan-Arab colors, used individually in the past, were first combined in 1916 in the flag of the Arab Revolt or Flag of Hejaz.<ref>I. Friedman, British Pan-Arab Policy, 1915–1922, Transaction Publ., 2011, p. 135</ref> Many current flags are based on Arab Revolt colors, such as the flags of Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and the United Arab Emirates.<ref name="Ibof" />
In the 1950s, a subset of the Pan-Arab colors, the Arab Liberation colors, came to prominence. These consist of a tricolor of red, white and black bands, with green given less prominence or not included. The Arab Liberation tricolor or the Arab Liberation Flag was mainly inspired by the Egyptian Revolution of 1952 and Egypt's official flag under president Mohamed Naguib,<ref name="Naguib">M. Naguib, Egypt's Destiny, 1955</ref> which became the basis of the current flags of Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, and Yemen (and formerly in the flags of Syria, the 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.<ref name="Ibof">Template:Cite book</ref>
Flags with Pan-Arab colors
Current National flags
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United Arab Emirates<ref>Also used as the flag of Fujairah since 1975</ref>
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Flags of first-level administrative divisions
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Faiyum Governorate, Egypt
Former national flags with the Pan-Arab colors
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Hejaz (1917–20),<ref name="Hejz">Kingdom of Hejaz 1915–1925, Crwflags.com</ref> OET Administration (1918–20),<ref name="Syr_Hist">Historical Flags Overview (Syria), Crwflags.com</ref> Palestine Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap<ref name="Hist_Pal" />
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Hejaz (1920–26) and Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (1926–1932),<ref name="Hejz" /> Transjordan (1921–28)<ref name="Jor_Hist" />
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Mandatory Iraq and the Kingdom of Iraq (1921–59)<ref>Kingdom of Iraq (1924–1958), Crwflags.com</ref>Mandatory Iraq and the Kingdom of Iraq (1921–59)<ref>Kingdom of Iraq (1924–1958), Crwflags.com</ref>
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Transjordan (1928–39)<ref name="Jor_Hist">Historical Flags (Jordan), Crwflags.com</ref>
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Syria Template:Nowrap and Template:Nowrap,<ref name="Syr_Hist" /> used currently (2011 onwards) by the Syrian Interim Government and the Free Syrian Army
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Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq Template:Nowrap – Template:Nowrap<ref>Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq, Crwflags.com</ref>
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Iraq (1959–63)
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North Yemen (1962–90)
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Iraq (1963–91)<ref name="Iraq_2">Evolution of the Iraqi Flag, 1963–2008, Crwflags.com</ref>
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Syria (1963–72)
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Palestine (1964–2006)<ref name="Hist_Pal">Historical Flags (Palestine), Crwflags.com</ref>
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South Yemen (1967–90), used currently (2007 onwards) by the Southern Movement
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Libya (1969–72)
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Arab Islamic Republic (proposed 1974, Template:Nowrap
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Iraq (1991–2004)<ref name="Iraq_2" />
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Iraq (2004–2008)<ref name="Iraq_2" />
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Flags of Arab political and paramilitary movements using Pan-Arab colors
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Flag of Ottoman era Istanbul-based autonomist Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap<ref>Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, Al-Muntadha al-Adhabi Template:Webarchive, passia.org</ref>
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Flag of Ottoman era autonomist Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap Template:Nowrap<ref>Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, Jam'yiat al-'Arabiya al-Fatat Template:Webarchive, passia.org</ref>
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Flag of the Arab movement used during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt
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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)
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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)
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Flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (1974–92)
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Flag used by Arab separatists and autonomists in Khuzestan, Iran<ref name="ahwaz">Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan) Political Organizations (Iran) on crwflags.com</ref>
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Flag used by the separatist organizations the National Council of Ahwaz and the National Liberation Movement of Ahwaz in Khuzestan, Iran<ref name="ahwaz" /><ref>S. T. Al-Seyed Naama, Brief History of Ahwaz Template:Webarchive, on al-ahwaz.com</ref>
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Flag of the Arab Movement of Azawad (2012–present)
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Flag of the Syrian Salvation Government
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Red banner, attributed to the Banu Hashim
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White banner, used by Umayyads (661–750) and the Fatimids (909–1171)<ref>The contrast of white vs. black as the Fatimid/Umayyad vs. Abbasid dynastic color over time developed in white as the color of Shia Islam and black as the color 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 color; 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.</ref> and the Rashidun Caliphate
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Black Standard used by the Abbasids (750–1258)<ref>The Abbasid Revolution against the Umayyad Caliphate adopted black for its rāyaʾ for which their partisans were called the Template:Transliterations. Template:Citation</ref> and the Rashidun Caliphate
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Green banner, associated with the Rashidun Caliphate<ref name="Teitelbaum 2001 p.205"/><ref name="Marshall 2017 p. 110-111"/>
![White banner, used by Umayyads (661–750) and the Fatimids (909–1171)<ref>The contrast of white vs. black as the Fatimid/Umayyad vs. Abbasid dynastic color over time developed in white as the color of Shia Islam and black as the color 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 color; 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.</ref> and the Rashidun Caliphate](/index.php?title=Special:Upload&wpDestFile=Umayyad_Flag.svg){kind=link}
See also
- Black Standard
- Islamic flags
- Green in Islam
- List of Arab flags
- Pan-African colors
- Pan-Arabism
- Pan-Slavic colors
- Tricolor
References
External links
- Pan-Arab colors
- Evolution of the Arab Flag, by Mahdi Abdul-Hadi (in Arabic)