Pan-Arab Colors *

Pan-Arab Colors in Arab flags are red, black, white and green (Pan-Arab colors); common symbols include stars, crescents and the Shahada.

Pan-Arab Colors

Each of the four Pan-Arab colors were intended to represent a certain Arab dynasty, or era. 

• The black was the Abbasid dynastic color
• White was the Umayyad dynastic color
• Green was the Fatimid dynastic color
• Red was the Hashemite dynastic color. The four colors derived their potency from a verse by 14th century Iraqi poet Safi al-Din al-Hilli: “White are our acts, black our battles, green our fields, and red our swords”.

Shahada

لَا إِلَٰهَ إِلَّا ٱللَّٰهُ There is no deity but Allah.

مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ ٱللَّٰهِ Muhammad is the messenger of Allah.

National flag

A national flag is a flag that represents and symbolizes a given nation. It is flown by the government of that nation, but usually can also be flown by its citizens. A national flag is typically designed with specific meanings for its colours and symbols. Historically, flags originate as military standards and  maritime flags. With the emergence of nationalist sentiment from the late 18th century national flags began to be displayed in civilian contexts as well.

Pan-Arab colors were first combined in 1916 in the flag of the Arab Revolt, designed by the British diplomat Sir Mark Sykes. 

Many current flags are based on Arab Revolt colors, such as the flags of Jordan, Kuwait, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic (Western Sahara), and the United Arab Emirates.

In the 1950s, a sub-set of the Pan-Arab colors, the Arab Liberation Colors, came to prominence.

Arab Liberation Colors consists of a tricolor of red, white and black bands, with green given less prominence. (A tricolor is a type of flag design with a triband design which originated in the 16th century as a symbol of republicanism, liberty or indeed revolution.) The Arab Liberation Colors were inspired by the use of the Arab Liberation Flag in the Egyptian Revolution of 1952.

The Arab Liberation Colors appear in the current flags of Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, Syria, and Yemen.