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Pan-Arab colors

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.^[1]

History[edit]

The black represents the Black Standard used by the Rashidun and Abbasid Caliphates, while white was the dynastic color of the Umayyad Caliphate.^[3] Green is a color associated with the primary religion of Islam – and therefore also a color representative of the caliphates.^[4][5] Green is also identified as the color of the Fatimid Caliphate by some modern sources,^[3][6] despite their dynastic color having been white.^[7][8][9] Finally, red was the Hashemite dynastic color. The four colors also derived 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."^[10]

Pan-Arab colors, used individually in the past, were first combined in 1916 in the flag of the Arab Revolt or Flag of Hejaz.^[11] 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.^[12]

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.^[13] which became the basis of 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.^[12]

Current flags with Pan-Arab colors[edit]

National flags[edit]

• 
  Egypt
• 
  Iraq
• 
  Jordan
• 
  Kuwait
• 
  Libya
• 
  Oman
• 
  Palestine
• 
  Sudan
• 
  Syria
• 
  United Arab Emirates^[14]
• 
  Yemen
• 
  Western Sahara

Flags of first-level administrative divisions[edit]

• 
  Faiyum Governorate, Egypt
• 
  Azal Region, Yemen

Former national flags with the Pan-Arab colors[edit]

• 
  Hejaz (1917–20),^[15] OET Administration (1918–20),^[16] Palestine (All-Palestine Government, 1948–59)^[17]
• 
  Syria (8 March 1920 – 24 July 1920)^[16]
• 
  Hejaz (1920–26) and Kingdom of Hejaz and Nejd (1926–1932),^[15] Transjordan (1921–28)^[18]
• 
  Mandatory Iraq and the Kingdom of Iraq (1921–59)^[19]
• 
  Transjordan (1928–39)^[18]
• 
  Syria (1932–58 and 1961–63),^[16] 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)^[20]
• 
  United Arab Republic (1958–61), Egypt (1961–72)
• 
  Iraq (1959–63)
• 
  North Yemen (1962–90)
• 
  Iraq (1963–91)^[21]
• 
  Syria (1963-72)
• 
  Palestine (1964–2006)^[17]
• 
  South Yemen (1967–90), used currently (2007 onwards) by the Southern Movement
• 
  Libya (1969–72)
• 
  Federation of Arab Republics
  (Egypt (1972–84), Syria (1972–80),^[16] and Libya (1972–77))
• 
  Lower Yafa
  (Yemen (1800–1967))
• 
  Mahra Sultanate (1895–1967)
• 
  Oman (1970–1995)
• 
  Arab Islamic Republic (proposed 1974, never implemented)
• 
  Iraq (1991–2004)^[21]
• 
  Iraq (2004–2008)^[21]

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

• 
  Flag of Ottoman era Istanbul-based autonomist "Arab Literature Club" (1909–15), a precursor Arab flag^[22]
• 
  Flag of Ottoman era autonomist "Young Arab Society" (1911–16), a precursor Arab flag^[23]
• 
  Flag of the Arab movement used during the 1936–1939 Arab revolt
• 
  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^[24]
• 
  Flag used by the separatist organizations the National Council of Ahwaz and the National Liberation Movement of Ahwaz in Khuzestan, Iran^[24][25]
• 
  Flag of the Arab Movement of Azawad (2012–present)
• 
  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) and the Fatimids (909–1171)^[26] and the Rashidun Caliphate
• 
  Black Standard used by the Abbasids (750–1258)^[27] and the Rashidun Caliphate
• 
  Green, associated with the Rashidun Caliphate^[4][5]

See also[edit]

• Black Standard
• Islamic flags
• Green in Islam
• List of Arab flags
• Pan-African colors
• Pan-Arabism
• Pan-Slavic colors
• Pan-Iranian colors
• Tricolor

References[edit]

External links[edit]

• Pan-Arab colors
• Evolution of the Arab Flag, by Mahdi Abdul-Hadi (in Arabic)