Pan-Arab colors

{{short description|Color combination first used in the flag of the 1916 Arab Revolt}} {{protection padlock|small=yes}} {{Use American English|date=December 2021}} {{Use mdy dates|date=December 2021}} [[File:Flag of Hejaz (1917).svg|thumb|180px|Flag of the Arab Revolt, associated with pan-Arabism.]] 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== [[File:Flag of Libya (1969–1972, 2-3).svg|thumb|180x180px|Arab Liberation Flag, or Revolutionary flag<br /> (A modern revolutionary flag that spread to the Arab world inspired by the 1952 Egyptian revolution)<ref name="crw">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xo-arabc.html 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">{{Cite journal |author=Edmund Midura | url = https://archive.aramcoworld.com/issue/197802/flags.of.the.arab.world.htm | title = Flags of the Arab World | journal = Saudi Aramco World | date = March–April 1978 | pages = 4–9}}</ref> Green is a color associated with Islam, the primary religion of Arabs.<ref name="Teitelbaum 2001 p.205">{{cite book | last=Teitelbaum | first=Joshua | title=The rise and fall of the Hashimite kingdom of Arabia | publisher=New York University Press | publication-place=New York | year=2001 | isbn=1-85065-460-3 | oclc=45247314 | page=205}}</ref><ref name="Marshall 2017 p. 110-111">{{cite book | last=Marshall | first=Tim | title=A flag worth dying for : the power and politics of national symbols | publisher=Scribner, an imprint of Simon & Schuster, Inc | publication-place=New York, NY | year=2017 | isbn=978-1-5011-6833-8 | oclc=962006347 | pages=110–111}}</ref> Green is also identified as the color of the Fatimid Caliphate by some modern sources,<ref name="Aramco"/><ref name="Pan-arab">{{Cite book |last=Znamierowski |first=Alfred |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=OwueMQEACAAJ |title=The World Encyclopedia of Flags: The Definitive Guide to International Flags, Banners, Standards and Ensigns, with Over 1400 Illustration |date=2013 |publisher=Lorenz Books |isbn=978-0-7548-2629-3 |pages=122}}</ref> despite their dynastic color having been white.<ref>{{cite book | last = Hathaway | first = Jane | title = A Tale of Two Factions: Myth, Memory, and Identity in Ottoman Egypt and Yemen | location = Albany, New York | publisher = State University of New York Press | year = 2003 | isbn = 978-0-7914-5883-9 | url = {{Gbook|L-lPC7DgepEC|plainurl=y}} | page =97 | quote = The Ismaili Shi'ite counter-caliphate founded by the Fatimids took white as its dynastic color, creating a visual contrast to the Abbasid enemy.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title = The Oxford History of Islam | editor-last = Esposito | editor-first = John L. | editor-link = John Esposito | location = Oxford | publisher = Oxford University Press | year = 1999 | isbn = 0-19-510799-3 | first1 = Sheila S. | last1 = Blair | first2 = Jonathan M. | last2 = Bloom | chapter = Art and Architecture: Themes and Variations | pages = 215–267 | quote = ...white was also the color associated with the Fatimid caliphs, the opponents of the Abbasids.}}</ref><ref>{{cite book | title=Ritual, Politics, and the City in Fatimid Cairo | series=SUNY series in Medieval Middle East History | first=Paula A. | last= Sanders | publisher=SUNY Press | year= 1994 | isbn=0-7914-1781-6 | page = 44 | quote=...wore white (the Fatimid color) while delivering the sermon (''khuṭba'') in the name of the Fatimid caliph.}}</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, ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=yJ9dFmK7qBwC&pg=PA135 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">{{cite book|last1=Znamierowski|first1=Alfred|title=Illustrated Book of Flags|date=2003|publisher=Southwater|isbn=1-84215-881-3|page=123|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8GG6z5qrS-4C|access-date=22 November 2014|quote=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).}}</ref>

== Flags with Pan-Arab colors == === Current National flags === <gallery class="center"> File:Flag of Egypt.svg|Egypt File:Flag of Iraq.svg|Iraq File:Flag of Jordan.svg|Jordan File:Flag of Somaliland.svg|Somaliland File:Flag of Kuwait.svg|Kuwait File:Flag of Palestine (original version).svg|Palestine File:Flag of Sudan.svg|Sudan File:Flag of Syria.svg|Syria File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg|United Arab Emirates File:Flag of Yemen.svg|Yemen File:Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.svg|Western Sahara </gallery>

=== Flags of first-level administrative divisions === <gallery class="center"> File:Governadorat de Faium.png|Faiyum Governorate, Egypt </gallery>

=== Former national flags with the Pan-Arab colors === <gallery class="center"> File:Flag of Hejaz (1917).svg|Hejaz (1917–20),<ref name="Hejz">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xo-hejaz.html Kingdom of Hejaz 1915–1925], Crwflags.com</ref> OET Administration (1918–20),<ref name="Syr_Hist">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/sy-his1.html Historical Flags Overview (Syria)], Crwflags.com</ref> Palestine {{nowrap|(All-Palestine Government,}} {{nowrap|1948–59)}}<ref name="Hist_Pal" /> File:Flag of Kingdom of Syria (1920-03-08 to 1920-07-24).svg|Syria {{nowrap|(8 March 1920}} – {{nowrap|24 July 1920)}}<ref name="Syr_Hist" /> File:Flag of Hejaz 1920.svg|Hejaz (1920–26) and Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (1926–1932),<ref name="Hejz" /> Transjordan (1921–28)<ref name="Jor_Hist" /> File:Flag of Iraq 1924.svg|Mandatory Iraq and the Kingdom of Iraq (1921–59)<ref>[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/iq_kingd.html Kingdom of Iraq (1924–1958)], Crwflags.com</ref> File:Flag of the Emirate of Transjordan.svg|Transjordan (1928–39)<ref name="Jor_Hist">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/jo_his.html Historical Flags (Jordan)], Crwflags.com</ref> File:Syria-flag 1932-58 1961-63.svg|Syria {{nowrap|(1932–58}} and {{nowrap|1961–63)}}<ref name="Syr_Hist" /> File:Flag of Egypt (1952-1958).svg|Egypt (1952–1958, {{nowrap|flown alongside}} {{nowrap|the national flag)}} File:Flag of the Arab Federation.svg|Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq {{nowrap|(14 February 1958}} – {{nowrap|2 August 1958)}}<ref>[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xo-auji.html Arab Federation of Jordan and Iraq], Crwflags.com</ref> File:Flag of the United Arab Republic.svg|{{nowrap|United Arab Republic}} (1958–61), {{nowrap|Egypt (1961–72)}}, Syria (1980–2024) File:Flag of Iraq 1959-1963.svg|Iraq (1959–63) File:Flag of the Yemen Arab Republic.svg|North Yemen (1962–90) File:Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg|Iraq (1963–91)<ref name="Iraq_2">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/iq_evol.html Evolution of the Iraqi Flag, 1963–2008], Crwflags.com</ref> File:Flag of Syria (1963–1972).svg|Syria (1963–72) File:Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg|Palestine (1964–2006)<ref name="Hist_Pal">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ps_his.html Historical Flags (Palestine)], Crwflags.com</ref> File:Flag of South Yemen.svg|South Yemen (1967–90), used currently (2007 onwards) by the Southern Movement File:Flag of Libya (1969–1972).svg|Libya (1969–72) File:Flag of Egypt 1972.svg|Federation of Arab Republics<br />{{nowrap|(Egypt (1972–84),}} {{nowrap|Syria (1972–80),<ref name="Syr_Hist" /> and}} {{nowrap|Libya (1972–77))}} File:Flag of Lower Yafa.svg|Lower Yafa<br />{{nowrap|(Yemen (1800–1967))}} File:Drapeau de la République Arabe Islamique (Union tuniso-libyenne).svg|Arab Islamic Republic (proposed 1974, {{nowrap|never implemented)}} File:Flag of Iraq, 1991-2004.svg|Iraq (1991–2004)<ref name="Iraq_2" /> File:Flag of Iraq (2004–2008).svg|Iraq (2004–2008)<ref name="Iraq_2" /> </gallery>

=== Flags of Arab political and paramilitary movements using Pan-Arab colors ===  <gallery class="center"> File:Flag of al-Mountada al-Adabi.svg|alt=Flag of Ottoman era Istanbul-based autonomist "Arab Literature Club" (1909–15), a precursor Arab flag|Flag of Ottoman era Istanbul-based autonomist {{nowrap|"Arab Literature Club"}} {{nowrap|(1909–15),}} {{nowrap|a precursor Arab flag}}<ref>Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, [http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/flag/16.htm Al-Muntadha al-Adhabi] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505085921/http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/flag/16.htm |date=2014-05-05 }}, passia.org</ref> File:Sdsdsd.svg|Flag of Ottoman era autonomist {{nowrap|"Young Arab Society"}} {{nowrap|(1911–16),}} {{nowrap|a precursor Arab flag}}<ref>Mahdi Abdul-Hadi, [http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/flag/18.htm Jam'yiat al-'Arabiya al-Fatat] {{webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140505081407/http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/flag/18.htm |date=2014-05-05 }}, passia.org</ref> File:Palestinian flag 1938.svg|Flag of the Arab movement used during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt File:Flag of the Ba'ath Party.svg|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) File:Flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of the Occupied Arabian Gulf.svg|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) File:Flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman.svg|Flag of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Oman (1974–92) File:Flag of Arabistan.svg|Flag used by Arab separatists and autonomists in Khuzestan, Iran<ref name="ahwaz">[http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/ir%7Dahwaz.html Al-Ahwaz (Khuzestan) Political Organizations (Iran)] on crwflags.com</ref> File:Flag of Al-Ahwaz.svg|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, [http://www.al-ahwaz.com/english/2006-2007/main.php?file=main&ID=article1&link=HistoryOfAhwaz&title=History_of_Ahwaz Brief History of Ahwaz] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140715032419/http://www.al-ahwaz.com/english/2006-2007/main.php?file=main&ID=article1&link=HistoryOfAhwaz&title=History_of_Ahwaz |date=2014-07-15 }}, on al-ahwaz.com</ref> File:Flag of the Arab Movement of Azawad.svg|Flag of the Arab Movement of Azawad (2012–present) File:Flag of the Syrian Salvation Government.svg| Flag of the Syrian Salvation Government </gallery>

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** Flag map of the Arab World is missing the flag of Palestine.!!**

** PLEASE verify before adding a flag here that it represents an Arab entity.!!** ** Turks and Persians are NOT Arabs. Please do not add Turkic or Persian flags.!!** ----------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <gallery class="center"> File:Red flag.svg|Red banner, attributed to the Banu Hashim File:Umayyad Flag.svg|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, [https://books.google.com/books?id=L-lPC7DgepEC&pg=PA96 p. 97f].</ref> and the Rashidun Caliphate File:Black flag.svg|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 ''{{Transliteration|ar|musawwid}}''s. {{citation | author=Tabari | year=1995 |editor1=Jane McAuliffe | title=Abbāsid Authority Affirmed | publisher=SUNY | volume=28 |page=124}}</ref> and the Rashidun Caliphate File:Rectangular green flag.svg|Green banner, associated with the Rashidun Caliphate<ref name="Teitelbaum 2001 p.205"/><ref name="Marshall 2017 p. 110-111"/> </gallery>

== References == {{Reflist|colwidth=30em}}

== External links == * [http://www.crwflags.com/fotw/flags/xo-arabc.html Pan-Arab colors] * [https://web.archive.org/web/20020624063004/http://www.passia.org/palestine_facts/flag/03.htm Evolution of the Arab Flag], by Mahdi Abdul-Hadi (in Arabic)

Category:Arab nationalist symbols Category:Color schemes Category:Flags by color Colors Colors, Pan-Arab Category:Color in culture