Flag of Saudi Arabia#History

The Arabic inscription on the flag, written in the calligraphic Thuluth Script, is the shahada or Islamic declaration of faith:

: {{lang|ar|{{large|لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله}}}}

: {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muḥammadun rasūlu-llāh}}

:'There is no god but Allah; Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah.'{{cite web |url=http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/facts_and_figures/ |title=About Saudi Arabia: Facts and figures |publisher=The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington D.C |access-date=2016-08-05|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417231457/http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/facts_and_figures/|archive-date=2012-04-17|url-status=unfit}}

The flag's green represents Islam, and the sword stands for safety and justice.{{cite book |title=Flag, Nation and Symbolism in Europe and America |last=Eriksen |first=Thomas |author2=Jenkins, Richard |year=2007 |isbn= 9780415444040|page=171 |publisher=Routledge |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=SlhbERCCqzUC&q=saudi+flag+sword+symbolises&pg=PA171 |access-date=3 October 2012}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.saudiflag.sa/en|title=Kingdom Of Saudi Arabia Flag|website=Saudi Flag Day}}

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.{{Cite web|url=https://www.un.org/Depts/dhl/maplib/countinfo-flags-sub8.htm|title=UN Map Library}}

File:Flag of Saudi Arabia (construction sheet).svg

File:Flags at half-staff outside Central Plaza.jpg

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 Arabian officials said that abusing the shahada was completely unacceptable and sacrilegious. 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.{{cite news |first=Alastair |last=Leithead |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/south_asia/6964564.stm |title='Blasphemous' balls anger Afghans |work=BBC News Online |date=2007-08-26 |access-date=2007-08-26}}

The flag is never lowered to half-mast as a sign of mourning, because lowering it would be considered blasphemous and desecrating.{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/middle_east/4736935.stm | work=BBC News | title=Saudi King Fahd is laid to rest | date=2 August 2005}} Similarly, the flags of Afghanistan and Somaliland also never at half-mast, and neither is the flag of Iraq because it bears the takbir.{{cite web |title=The National Emblem of Afghanistan |url=https://www.mfa.gov.af/protocol/national-emblem.html |website=Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan |access-date=2020-12-17 |archive-date=2021-11-23 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211123215204/https://www.mfa.gov.af/protocol/national-emblem.html |url-status=dead }}

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.

File:Flag of Saudi Arabia (Hanging).svg

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. Caliphs such as Rashiduns, Umayyads and Abbasids used different colors, inscriptions and symbols. 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.

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.{{cite book |title=Firefly Guide to Flags of the World|year=2003 |isbn=978-1552978139 |page=165 |publisher= Firefly Books|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FsxaAAAAYAAJ&q=wahhabi+flag+shahada |access-date=12 September 2012}} 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. The design of the flag was not standardized prior to 15 March 1973 when its use became official.{{cite book|author=Elie Podeh|title=The Politics of National Celebrations in the Arab Middle East|year=2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge|isbn=9780511734748|page=256|doi=10.1017/CBO9780511734748.009

|url=https://doi.org/10.1017/CBO9780511734748.009}} 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.

File:Secretary Kerry Sits With Saudi King Salman, Foreign Minister al-Jubeir Before Bilateral Meeting in Washington (21148062001).jpg and Saudi Foreign Minister Adel al-Jubeir meet with U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry in September 2015.]]

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:

: {{lang|ar|لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله مُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله}}

: {{Transliteration|ar|DIN|lā ʾilāha ʾillā-llāh, muhammadun rasūlu-llāh}}

:There is no god but God; Muhammad is the Messenger of God{{cite web|url=http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/facts_and_figures/ |title=About Saudi Arabia: Facts and figures |publisher=The Royal Embassy of Saudi Arabia, Washington D.C |access-date=24 April 2012 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120417231457/http://www.saudiembassy.net/about/country-information/facts_and_figures/ |archive-date=17 April 2012 }}

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• [http://www.flagsinformation.com/saudi_arabian-country-flag.html World Flags Information, Saudi Arabian page] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20111007084730/http://www.flagsinformation.com/saudi_arabian-country-flag.html |date=2011-10-07 }}
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