Black Islamic Flag

An Islamic flag is a flag that complies with Islamic rules. Traditionally Islamic flags were of solid colour. The most favoured colours were black, white, red and green. However, other plain colours can be adopted. A bi-colour or tricolour (triband) flag can also be adopted as an Islamic flag. An example of a traditional solid coloured Islamic flag would be the old flag of Libya under Gaddafi.
Flag of Libya under the Gaddafi regime (traditional solid coloured Islamic flag)
 Early history

The early Muslim community did not use any designs or geometric shapes as symbols on their flags. During the time of the Islamic prophet, Muhammad, Muslim armies and caravans flew simple solid-coloured flags (generally black or white) for identification purposes. In later generations, the Muslim leaders continued to use a simple black, white, or green flag with no markings, writings, or symbolism on it.

Muhammad used flags of different colours in different Ghazwat (or campaigns commanded by Muhammad himself) and Saraya (or campaigns commanded by any Sahaba, the companions of Muhammad). The major flag of Muhammad was known as Al-Uqab (The Eagle); it was pure black, without symbols or markings. Its name and colour was derived from the flag of the Quraysh, an Arabian tribe, whose flag, also called Al-Uqaab, was black with an eagle.
Flag of Quraish (as carried by Bani-Ummaiya; putative design with a hawk)

Black Standard

The Black Banner or Black Standard (راية السوداء rāyat al-sawdā' , also known as راية العقاب rāyat al-`uqāb "banner of the eagle" or simply as الراية al-rāya "the banner") is one of the flags flown by the prophet Muhammad in Islamic religion, an eschatological symbol in Shi'a Islam (heralding the advent of the Mahdi), and a symbol used in Islamism and Jihadism.

Origin

Before Islam, visible standards were used at least in the Roman army to identify the core of the legion – the Eagles. By the middle 600s CE, the Arabs were using standards for the same purpose. Among the Arabs the rāya was a square banner; not to be confused with the liwā' or `alam, an identifying mark like a red turban.

Islamic tradition states that the Quraysh had a black liwā' and a white-and-black rāya. It further states that Muhammad had an `alam in white, nicknamed "The Young Eagle (العقاب al-`uqāb)"; and (relevant here) a rāya in black, said to be made from his wife Aisha's head-cloth. This larger flag was known as the Eagle. The name may have referred to the Byzantine eagle.

The tradition reports Muhammad said that the advent of the Mahdi would be signaled by "Black Standards" proceeding from Khorasan.

At Siffin it was said that `Ali used the liwā' of the Prophet, which as noted above was white; but those who fought with him did use black banners as well.

Historical use

Historically the Abbasid Revolution adopted black for its rāya; for which their partisans were called the musawwids. Their rivals chose other colours in reaction; among these, forces loyal to Marwan II adopted red.

After the revolution, Islamic apocalyptic circles admitted that the Abbasid banners would be black but asserted that the Mahdi's standard would be black and larger. Anti-Abbasid circles cursed "the black banners from the East", "first and last".

The Bábí leader Mullá Husayn-i-Bushru'i raised the Black Standard in his westward march from Mashhad starting 21 July 1848, to proclaim the Báb's message. The people ofBarfurush confronted the march and a series of battles ensued. The Bábís stopped and built the fort Shaykh Tabarsi which developed into one of the most significant battles of the Bábí religion. It is reported the Black Standard flew above the fortress.

The flag flown by the Emirate of Afghanistan under Abdur Rahman Khan (1880–1901) was also solid black.

Solid black flag; flag of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1880 to 1901.
As Arab nationalism developed in the early 20th century, the black within the Pan-Arab colours was chosen to represent the black banner of Muhammad, while the name of "The Eagle" gave rise to the eagle depicted in the flag of the Federation of Arab Republics (1972), which survives as the modern flag of Egypt.

Jihadist black flag

A black flag with the shahada inscribed in white was spotted on Jihadist websites from at least 2001. Even though the historical black banner did not have any inscription, this variant is commonly known as al-rāya "the banner" or rayat al-`uqab "banner of the eagle" after the hadith tradition, and has been dubbed the black flag of jihad by western observers.
The "black flag of jihad" as used by various Islamist organisations (since the late 1990s) consists of a white-on-black shahada
Flag used by Caucasian Mujahideen in 2002. The design shows the phrase al-jihad fi sabili llahi and thetakbir rather than the shahada.
Islamic extremist organizations that used such a black flag include al‑Qaeda, al‑Shabaab, the Islamic Courts Union, the ISIS and Hizbul Islam (2009). Some variant designs depict the second phrase of the shahada in the form of the historical seal of Muhammad.

The shahada placed above a rendition of the historical seal of Muhammad, in use by Al-Shabaab and Islamic State of Iraq (later Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) since 2006.
The beheading of Jack Hensley in September 2004. The flag shows the shahada in white, above a white circle surrounded by the name jamaa'tul tawhid wal jihad in yellow script.

Source:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Standard

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Islamic_flags

1 comment:

  1. Once I read the first 2 lines of this blog I was well aware I was gonna be exposed to some top level bs lmaoo

    ReplyDelete