Kingdom of Saudi Arabia
لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا اللَّٰه مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ اللَّٰه
("There is no god but the Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of the Allah")
UseState and war flag, state and naval ensign Small vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flagSmall vexillological symbol or pictogram in black and white showing the different uses of the flagReverse side is congruent with obverse side Design has no element that can be rotated
Proportion2:3
Adopted
  • 1744 (1744) (original version, at the establishment of the first Saudi state, it continued to the second and the beginning of the third)
  • 11 March 1937 (1937-03-11) (current version, as defined by royal decree)
  • 15 March 1973 (1973-03-15) (the latest version)
DesignA green field with the Shahada or Muslim creed written in the Thuluth script in white above a horizontal sword, having its tip pointed to the left.
Designed byHafiz Wahba

The national flag of Saudi Arabia, also known as the al-Alam,[lower-alpha 1] is a green background with Arabic inscription and a sword in white. The inscription is the Islamic creed, or shahada: "There is no deity but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God". The current design has been used by the government of Saudi Arabia since 15 March 1973.

Design

The Arabic inscription on the flag, written in the calligraphic Thuluth script with the current one by Saleh al-Mansouf, is the shahada or Islamic declaration of faith:

لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله
lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muhammadun rasūlu-llāh
"There is no god but the Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of the Allah."[1]

The green of the flag represents Islam and the sword stands for the strictness in applying justice.[2]

The flag is manufactured with identical obverse and reverse sides, to ensure the shahada reads correctly, from right to left, from either side. The sword also points to the left on both sides, in the direction of the script. The flag is sinister hoisted, meaning that when viewed from the obverse (front) side, it is hoisted to the left of the flagpole.[3]

The usual color of the flag's green was approximated by Album des pavillons as Pantone 330 C, while the color used on flags at United Nations is approximately Pantone 349. At the 2012 London Olympics, Pantone 355 was used.[4][5]

Construction sheet

Green White
Pantone 2427 CWhite
RGB 0/84/48255/255/255
Hexadecimal #005430#FFFFFF
CMYK 100/0/42/670/0/0/0

Use

The flag of Saudi Arabia is never flown at half-mast.

Because the shahada is considered holy, the flag is not normally used on T-shirts or other items. Saudi Arabia protested against its inclusion on a planned football to be issued by FIFA, bearing all the flags of the participants of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Saudi officials said that kicking the creed with the foot was completely unacceptable. Similarly, an attempt by the U.S. military to win favour with children of the Khost Province of Afghanistan by distributing footballs adorned with flags, including that of Saudi Arabia, ended in demonstrations.[6]

The flag is never lowered to half-mast as a sign of mourning, because lowering it would be considered blasphemous and desecrating.[7] Similarly, the flags of Afghanistan and Iraq are also never at half-mast.[8]

The normal flag cannot be hoisted vertically according to Saudi legislation. Special vertical flags are manufactured where both the inscription (the creed) and the emblem (the sword) are rotated, although this is rare, as most Arab countries traditionally do not hoist flags vertically.[5]

History

The precursor states to Saudi Arabia were Nejd and Hejaz. The state flag of Nejd followed today's Saudi flag pattern very closely. The state of Hejaz followed the patterns seen in countries like Palestine and Sudan. Caliphates such as the Rashiduns, the Umayyads and the Abbasids used other flags with only one color. After the Siege of Baghdad in 1258, the primary caliphate became the Mamluk Sultanate. In 1517, the Ottomans invaded Egypt and inherited Hejaz and ruled it until the Arab Revolt (1916–18). From 1902 until 1921 a different Arabic inscription was used. One of the primary opponents to the Saudis was the Emirate of Jabal Shammar of the Al Rashid family in the north of the peninsula, until their defeat in 1921.

flag (hanging)Flag can be hoisted vertically only

The Al Saud, the ruling family of Saudi Arabia, has long been closely related with Muhammad ibn Abd al-Wahhab. He and the people who followed him, since the 18th century, had used the shahada on their flags.[9] In 1921, Abdulaziz Abdulrahman Al-Saud, leader of the Al Saud and the future founder of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, added a sword to this flag.[9] The design of the flag was not standardized prior to 15 March 1973 when its use became official.[10] Variants with two swords and/or a white vertical stripe at the hoist were frequently used. By 1938, the flag had basically assumed its present form, except the sword had a different design (with a more curved blade) and it, along with the shahada above, took up more of the flag's space.

Royal Standard

The Royal Standard consists of a green flag, with an Arabic inscription and a sword featured in white, and with the national emblem embroidered in gold in the lower right canton of the year 1973.

The script on the flag is written in the Thuluth script. It is the shahada or Islamic declaration of faith:

لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله
lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muhammadun rasūlu-llāh
There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God[11]

Other flags

The civil ensign, for use by merchant vessels at sea, is a green flag with the state flag in the canton with a white border. The royal standard is the state flag with the palm tree and swords in the canton.

See also

Notes

  1. ↑ Arabic: علم المملكة العربية السعودية

References

  1. ↑ "About Saudi Arabia: Facts and figures". The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington D.C. Archived from the original on 2012-04-17. Retrieved 2016-08-05.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  2. ↑ Eriksen, Thomas; Jenkins, Richard (2007). Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America. p. 171. ISBN 9780415444040. Retrieved 3 October 2012.
  3. ↑ Saudi Arabia: The Reverse of the Flag, FOTW Flags Of The World, 3 June 2019. Accessed 2 May 2020.
  4. ↑ UN Map Library
  5. 1 2 Saudi Arabia, FOTW Flags Of The World, 19 January 2008. Accessed 13 May 2009.
  6. ↑ Leithead, Alastair (2007-08-26). "'Blasphemous' balls anger Afghans". BBC News Online. Retrieved 2007-08-26.
  7. ↑ "Saudi King Fahd is laid to rest". BBC News. 2 August 2005.
  8. ↑ "The National Emblem of Afghanistan". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan. Archived from the original on 2021-11-23. Retrieved 2020-12-17.
  9. 1 2 Firefly Guide to Flags of the World. Firefly Books. 2003. p. 165. ISBN 978-1552978139. Retrieved 12 September 2012.
  10. ↑ Elie Podeh (2011). The Politics of National Celebrations in the Arab Middle East. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. p. 256. doi:10.1017/CBO9780511734748.009. ISBN 9780511734748.
  11. ↑ "About Saudi Arabia: Facts and figures". The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington D.C. Archived from the original on 17 April 2012. Retrieved 24 April 2012.
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