Hey everyone, I'm here talking about flags again.
This time, national flags that reference the very popular religion Islam.
Now if my research is correct, there do not seem to be any official symbols in the Islamic
religion.
However, there are a bunch of symbols that have become associated with Islam over time,
including one of the most popular ones: the crescent, that often comes with a star, or
two, or five, etc.
So, the crescent isn't an official symbol of Islam; it's just historically been tied
to it over time.
How did this happen?
Well, the details seem a bit fuzzy.
It appears that it began to be associated with Islam after the Ottoman Empire adopted
a crescent and star as their symbol.
And the Ottoman Empire was quite Islamic, and the star and crescent somehow became known
as an Islamic symbol even though it's been around as a symbol way before Islam even began.
On the flag of Croatia, even, you can see a star and crescent on one of the shields,
but it doesn't appear to have anything to do with Islam.
But since the crescent is now considered an Islamic symbol, it has made its way onto a
lot of national flags, including the flags of Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brunei, Comoros, Iran,
Libya, Malaysia, the Maldives, Mauritania, Pakistan, Tunisia, Turkey, and Turkmenistan.
You can also see it on the flag of Uzbekistan and Singapore, but it doesn't officially represent
Islam on those flags.
It also appears on the flags of Northern Cyprus and Western Sahara, which aren't universally
recognized as countries, but I thought I'd share 'em anyway.
The color green is used on many national flags to represent Islam.
Why does green represent Islam?
We don't seem to know for sure exactly why.
Some have said that Muhammad's favorite color was green.
He might have worn a green turban.
Maybe it's because in Sura 18 of the Quran, verse 31, that it mentions green garments
being worn in paradise.
We don't really seem to know.
Green is used to represent Islam, more or less, on these national flags: Afghanistan,
Algeria, Azerbaijan, Comoros, Iran, Mauritania, Pakistan, Saudi Arabia, Sri Lanka, Sudan,
Tajikistan, and Turkmenistan.
Also, the disputed country of Abkhazia.
On the flags of India, South Africa, and Uzbekistan, the green doesn't officially represent the
Islamic faith, but it might hint at it.
So, I'm not an expert in Islam, nor am I a Muslim, but based on the research I've done
it appears that Islam sort of frowns upon religious imagery, and this seems to be a
reason why calligraphy is so big in the Islamic world.
It's just text, just fancy text.
And, although it's not really the best flag design principle, there is some text that
shows up on national flags that reference Islamic beliefs.
The phrase "God is great", also known as the takbir, appears on three national flags: Afghanistan,
Iran, and Iraq.
In fact, it appears on Iran's flag 22 times!
And you see that emblem in the middle of the flag there?
That resembles the word for God.
Another big statement in Islam is the shahada, or the statement of faith.
The shahada more or less translates to "There is no God but God, and Muhammad is the prophet
of God."
And you can see the shahada on the flags of Afghanistan and Saudi Arabia... also, the
flag of Somaliland, which is again another disputed country.
Hi, Somaliland.
And the flag of Brunei also has a phrase written on it.
It says, "Always render service with God's guidance."
There's an important concept in the religion of Islam called the Five Pillars: basically,
five things that Muslims are expected to do.
It appears that the flag of Morocco, with its five-pointed star, may be a reference
to the Five Pillars of Islam.
And those five thingies that make up the emblem of Iran on its flag might also be references
to the Five Pillars.
They also seem to be referenced on the flag of Bahrain, with those five pointy things.
On the flag of Jordan, there is a seven-pointed star.
One interpretation of these seven points is that it references the seven verses of the
Fatihah, the opening verses of the Quran.
The red of Bahrain's flag also appears to be a reference to a certain sect of Islam.
And on the flag of Afghanistan, if you look closely, you can see a prayer niche, an altar,
and a mosque.
And of course if you pay attention to flags enough, you might notice that the colors red,
white, black, and green show up a lot.
I'm not sure whether to count it as Islamic symbolism or Arab symbolism, because there
is a difference.
Arab does not mean Islamic, Islamic does not mean Arab.
"Arab" is an ethnicity or nationality.
Islam is a religion.
Two different things.
Now, these colors are called the Pan-Arab colors.
It was part of the Arab Revolt of 1917, which was part of the events of World War I. These
colors were meant to unite Arabs in the region to rise up against the Ottoman Empire, or
something like that.
These colors were mentioned in a 14th century poem by a guy named al-Hilli, if I'm saying
that right.
So, each color became associated with a different Islamic dynasty of history: white for the
Ummayads, black for the Abbasids, green for the Fatimids, and red for the Hashemites...
I did it!
So a bunch of Arab countries started using this color scheme on their national flags.
There was also the Arab Revolution flag, which was a horizontal tricolor of red, white, and
black that started with Egypt in the 1950s.
And this inspired a few flags, too, possibly based off of the Arab Revolt colors.
So, the Pan-Arab colors can be seen on the national flags of countries including: Jordan,
Kuwait, Libya, Sudan, and the United Arab Emirates, and of course the disputed countries
Palestine, Somaliland, and Western Sahara.
And flags that seem to be inspired by the Arab Revolution flag include Egypt, Iraq,
Syria, and Yemen.
And again, with the colors, those might be more Arab symbolism than Islamic symbolism.
I just thought I'd include them anyway.
But keep in mind, "Arab" and "Islamic" are two different things.
So yeah.
So, that's basically it.
Thank you for watching.
Bye.