Black And White All Over
Sep. 17th, 2012 08:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
4thofelevenSo. The world-wide protests against the film The Innocence of Muslims has reached Australia, with violent protests in Sydney this weekend. Don’t want to weigh into that issue, but I do want to comment on one thing that’s come up during reporting of the story.
A lot of reporters have referred to the black banners carried by protestors as a “Jihadist” flag; the implication being this was more than just a Muslim protest, but a demonstration by supporters of political Islam. Now, as I said, I don’t want to weigh into the protests themselves, but the flags they were using, while somewhat associated with Jihadist, Taliban and al-Qaeda affiliated groups, isn’t purely affiliated with those ideologies.
The flag in question is a black flag with white Arabic text, the shahada, or declaration of faith. Black flags have a very long history in Islam; all-black flags were used to represent Islam in Muhammad’s day, and right up until the rise of the Ottoman Empire were used by the various Caliphates as the closest thing those empires had to a national flag. There’s a lot of mythology about the black flag; according to one account, the first black flag was made from the head-scarf of one of Muhammad’s wives. Of course, it was probably adopted less for any symbolic meaning so much as an all-black flag being both easily recognised at a distance and easy to manufacture – something modern flag designers should consider more often…
The shahanda meanwhile, is one of the key symbols of Islam. (The Crescent Moon was initially a Turkish symbol – possibly initially a stylised bow - and only became dominant after the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Note that very few Arabic countries have a Crescent Moon on their flag.) Islam’s iconoclasm meant only abstract symbols would ever be used to represent the religion, and with Arabic calligraphy one of the key art-forms of the early Muslim world, the declaration of faith was a logical choice. Saudi Arabia’s flag is a shahanda on a green flag, with the sword of the Saudi dynasty beneath it, and the text was a common symbol under the Caliphs, frequently appearing on coins minted under their rule.
So, what of the black flag with shahanda? Well, its modern use does seem to originate with the Taliban. However, interestingly, the Taliban initially used a white banner with black text, and only switched the colors several years after they rose to power – I’m willing to bet for the same reason the Confederate States abandoned the ‘Stainless Banner’ design; a predominantly white banner looks too much like a surrender flag. Meanwhile, Hamas has been using all-green flags with white text, similar to Saudi Arabia’s, for some time.
In other words, single-coloured flags and the shahanda have a long history as symbols of Islam; once someone decided to combine the two, it spread pretty quickly, and probably far beyond its original political meaning. It’s a design that pretty much any Muslim would immediately recognise as ‘Islamic’. The presence of such flags, then, probably tells you very little about the politics of those carrying them.
A lot of reporters have referred to the black banners carried by protestors as a “Jihadist” flag; the implication being this was more than just a Muslim protest, but a demonstration by supporters of political Islam. Now, as I said, I don’t want to weigh into the protests themselves, but the flags they were using, while somewhat associated with Jihadist, Taliban and al-Qaeda affiliated groups, isn’t purely affiliated with those ideologies.
The flag in question is a black flag with white Arabic text, the shahada, or declaration of faith. Black flags have a very long history in Islam; all-black flags were used to represent Islam in Muhammad’s day, and right up until the rise of the Ottoman Empire were used by the various Caliphates as the closest thing those empires had to a national flag. There’s a lot of mythology about the black flag; according to one account, the first black flag was made from the head-scarf of one of Muhammad’s wives. Of course, it was probably adopted less for any symbolic meaning so much as an all-black flag being both easily recognised at a distance and easy to manufacture – something modern flag designers should consider more often…
The shahanda meanwhile, is one of the key symbols of Islam. (The Crescent Moon was initially a Turkish symbol – possibly initially a stylised bow - and only became dominant after the rise of the Ottoman Empire. Note that very few Arabic countries have a Crescent Moon on their flag.) Islam’s iconoclasm meant only abstract symbols would ever be used to represent the religion, and with Arabic calligraphy one of the key art-forms of the early Muslim world, the declaration of faith was a logical choice. Saudi Arabia’s flag is a shahanda on a green flag, with the sword of the Saudi dynasty beneath it, and the text was a common symbol under the Caliphs, frequently appearing on coins minted under their rule.
So, what of the black flag with shahanda? Well, its modern use does seem to originate with the Taliban. However, interestingly, the Taliban initially used a white banner with black text, and only switched the colors several years after they rose to power – I’m willing to bet for the same reason the Confederate States abandoned the ‘Stainless Banner’ design; a predominantly white banner looks too much like a surrender flag. Meanwhile, Hamas has been using all-green flags with white text, similar to Saudi Arabia’s, for some time.
In other words, single-coloured flags and the shahanda have a long history as symbols of Islam; once someone decided to combine the two, it spread pretty quickly, and probably far beyond its original political meaning. It’s a design that pretty much any Muslim would immediately recognise as ‘Islamic’. The presence of such flags, then, probably tells you very little about the politics of those carrying them.