The flag of Qatar () is in the ratio of 11:28. It is maroon with a broad white serrated band of nine points at the hoist. It was adopted shortly before the country declared independence from the United Kingdom on 3 September 1971 as a slight color change from an earlier flag adopted from 1949. The triangular edges represent Qatar as the 9th "reconciled emirate".
The flag is similar to the flag of Bahrain, which has fewer points, a 3:5 proportion, and a red colour instead of maroon. Qatar's flag is the only national flag having a width more than twice its height.
History
Qatar's historic flag was plain red, in correspondence with the red banner traditionally used by the Kharjite leader Qatari ibn al-Fuja'a. In the 19th century, the country modified its entirely red flag with the addition of a white vertical stripe at the hoist to suit the British directive. After this addition, Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani officially adopted a patterned purple-red and white flag which bore a strong resemblance to its modern derivative. The white signifies peace, while the maroon reflects the nation’s rich heritage in purple dye production—a craft that dates back to the Kassite and Sasanian periods. The history of purple dye in the country dates back several centuries. It has been asserted that Qatar was the site of the earliest known production of shellfish dye during the rule of the Kassites due to the presence of a purple dye industry on Al Khor Islands. Qatar was also known for its production of purple dye during the rule of the Sasanian Empire. Mohammed bin Thani, who ruled from 1847 to 1876, proposed the creation of a flag with a purple-red colour in order to unify the state, and to highlight its historic role in the production of dye. In 1932, the British Navy suggested an official flag should be designed. According to the Qatari government, the British proposed that the flag be white and red, but Qatar rejected the red colouring and continued using a mixture of purple and red instead. This resulted in the eventual adoption of a maroon colouring in 1936.