Pan-Arab colors

thumb|180px|[[Flag of the Arab Revolt, associated with pan-Arabism.]]

The pan-Arab colors are black, white, green and red. Individually, each of the four pan-Arab colors were intended to represent a certain aspect of the Arab people and their history.

History

thumb|180x180px|[[Arab Liberation Flag, or Revolutionary flag<br />

(A modern revolutionary flag that spread to the Arab world inspired by the 1952 Egyptian revolution)]]

The four colors derive their potency from a verse by 14th century Arab poet Safi al-Din al-Hilli: "White are our acts, black our battles, green our fields, and red our swords". The black is the Black Standard, which was used by the Rashidun and Abbasid Caliphate, while white was the dynastic color of the Umayyad Caliphate. Green is a color associated with Islam, the primary religion of Arabs. Green is also identified as the color of the Fatimid Caliphate by some modern sources, despite their dynastic color having been white. Finally, red was used as the Hashemite dynastic color.

Pan-Arab colors, used individually in the past, were first combined in 1916 in the flag of the Arab Revolt or Flag of Hejaz. Many current flags are based on Arab Revolt colors, such as the flags of Jordan, Kuwait, Palestine, the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, and the United Arab Emirates. which became the basis of the current flags of Egypt, Iraq, Sudan, and Yemen (and formerly in the flags of Syria, the states of North Yemen and South Yemen), and in the short-lived Arab unions of the United Arab Republic and the Federation of Arab Republics.

Flags with Pan-Arab colors

Current National flags

File:Flag of Egypt.svg|Egypt

File:Flag of Iraq.svg|Iraq

File:Flag of Jordan.svg|Jordan

File:Flag of Somaliland.svg|Somaliland

File:Flag of Kuwait.svg|Kuwait

File:Flag of Palestine (original version).svg|Palestine

File:Flag of Sudan.svg|Sudan

File:Flag of Syria.svg|Syria

File:Flag of the United Arab Emirates.svg|United Arab Emirates

File:Flag of Yemen.svg|Yemen

File:Flag of the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic.svg|Western Sahara

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Flags of first-level administrative divisions

File:Governadorat de Faium.png|Faiyum Governorate, Egypt

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Former national flags with the Pan-Arab colors

File:Flag of Hejaz (1917).svg|Hejaz (1917–20), OET Administration (1918–20), Palestine

File:Flag of the Emirate of Transjordan.svg|Transjordan (1928–39)

File:Syria-flag 1932-58 1961-63.svg|Syria and

File:Flag of the United Arab Republic.svg| (1958–61), , Syria (1980–2024)

File:Flag of Iraq 1959-1963.svg|Iraq (1959–63)

File:Flag of the Yemen Arab Republic.svg|North Yemen (1962–90)

File:Flag of Iraq (1963-1991).svg|Iraq (1963–91)

File:Flag of Syria (1963–1972).svg|Syria (1963–72)

File:Flag of Palestine - short triangle.svg|Palestine (1964–2006)

File:Flag of South Yemen.svg|South Yemen (1967–90), used currently (2007 onwards) by the Southern Movement

File:Flag of Libya (1969–1972).svg|Libya (1969–72)

File:Flag of Egypt 1972.svg|Federation of Arab Republics<br />