PALESTINE FACTS | |
The Meaning of the Flag By Dr. Mahdi Abdul Hadi
Click on the colors |
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RED: | The Khawarij were the first Islamic group to emerge after the
assassination of Caliph Uthman III, forming the first republican party in
the early days of Islam. Their symbol was the red flag. Arab tribes who
participated in the conquest of North Africa and Andalusia carried the red
flag, which became the symbol of the Islamic rulers of Andalusia
(756-1355). In modern times, red symbolizes the Ashrafs of the Hijaz and
the Hashemites, descendants of the Prophet. Sharif Hussein designed the
current flag as the flag of the Arab Revolt on June 1916. The Palestinian
people raised it as the flag of the Arab National movement in 1917. In
1947, the Arab Ba'ath Party interpreted the flag as a symbol of the
liberation and unity of the Arab nation. The Palestinian people readopted
the flag at the Palestinian conference in Gaza in 1948. The flag was
recognized by the Arab League as the flag of the Palestinian people. It
was further endorsed by the PLO, the representative of the Palestinians,
at the Palestinian conference in Jerusalem in 1964. |
BLACK: | The Prophet Mohammad (570-632)
In the seventh century, with the
rise of Islam and subsequent liberation of Mecca, two flags - one white,
one black - were carried. On the white flag was written, "There is no god
but God (Allah) and Mohammad is the Prophet of God." |
WHITE: | The Umayyad Dynasty (661-750), Damascus
The Umayyads ruled for ninety
years, taking white as their symbolic color as a reminder of the Prophet's
first battle at Badr, and to distinguish themselves from the Abbasids, by
using white, rather than black, as their color of mourning. |
GREEN: | The Fatimid Dynasty (909-1171), North Africa
The Fatimid Dynasty was founded
in Morocco by Abdullah Al-Mahdi, and went on rule all of North
Africa. |
From: Evolution of the Arab Flag, by Mahdi Abdul Hadi, Amman, Feb. 1986.