THERE are gale-force winds blowing across the Arab world­—and ever more flags fluttering in them. As many states dissolve into violence or struggle with insurgencies, national standards compete with the banners of non-state actors that include numerous militias. But across the board there are similar colours and symbols. So who puts what on their pennon? And what does it all mean?



When Arab nation states were carved out at the end of the Ottoman Empire in the 20th century their flags tended to involve one or more of white, black, green and red—all four colours had been used in the flag held high by the pan-Arab revolt. The white drew on the colourless standard used by the Umayyad dynasty, which fell in 750. They adopted it because the Prophet Muhammad’s army was said to have carried it in an early battle. The Abbasid lot who succeeded the Umayyads used black, because the prophet and the first four caliphs (known collectively as the Rashidun) flew it as their banner. Green is particularly common in the Islamic world—minarets are also lit up in the hue—because writings say it was favourite colour of prophet and the colour under which his army fought for Mecca. Sunni Algeria and Saudi Arabia’s flags are a solid block of the colour, but green is often associated with the Shia in particular. The Shia Fatimid dynasty adopted the colour, as did Ali, the fourth caliph after whom the Shia—“partisans of Ali”—are named. Red’s significance is less clear. It is said to have appeared on battle standards, and became the colour of the Ottomans; Turkey and Bahrain use the colour today. Most standards include a nod to Islam, the majority religion of the region (flags of Christian minorities do not). Popular motifs are the star and crescent, which has come to be seen as a religious symbol, or the sword, which appears in the Koran. Scripts include the shahada (the profession of faith that “Allah is the only God and Muhammad his messenger”) and the takbir ("Allahu Akbar"—translated as either “Allah is Great" or "Allah is the Greatest”).



Today most states retain a mixture of one or more of the main colours and writing or a symbol. Iraq’s red, white and black flag features “Allahu Akbar”. Egypt’s tricolour has the same colours but with an eagle in the middle, said to be the symbol of Salaheddin, a famed military commander who became the first sultan of Egypt, or nationalism. Iran’s flag contains a five-pronged shape, believed to represent the main tenets of Islam. Lebanon, whose inhabitants like to think of themselves as Phoenician not Arab, uses a cedar tree. Opposition movements have drawn on history. Syria’s opposition has resurrected the green, white and black horizontal stripes with three red stars in the middle that was used by the movement that gained independence from France in the 1930s. Today the flags used by militias are based more explicitly on religion, which has become the most prominent marker of identity, and division, in the region. Jihadists use black flags with the shahada in white; Islamic State's flag stands out for its use of a circle around the second part, about the prophet. Hizbullah, Lebanon’s Shia militia-cum-political party has a bright yellow base (incidentally, the colour of the Kurdish Ayubbid dynasty led by Salaheddin) with green Arab lettering in which the tip of the “A” in Allah is holding a gun. Badr Brigades, the military wing of a movement in Iraq, has a streak of nationalism with its outline of Iraq—ironic since the group was set up by Iran. It also features a stem of wheat, the staple crop.