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Saudi Arabia

by Herman De Wael 1997-04-24

Reverse side

History of the Flag
Reverse side of the Flag
the Ensigns

History of the flag

The "base flag" of Saudi Arabia, the shahada or profession of faith ("There is no God but God and Muhammad is his Prophet") on solid green was an old flag, connected to the Wahhabi reformist movement of the late 18th century, with whose religious drive the as-Saud family first rose to power. The sword was added in 1902, when Abdulaziz ibn Abdulrahman as-Saud ("Ibn Saud" to the British) established himself as King of the Nejd. (The King of the Hejaz, Hussein, used the "Arab Revolt Flag"). In 1925, Abdulaziz established himself as King on the Nejd and Hejaz, with unknown flag alterations.
When the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia was established in 1932, the earlier Nejdi flag continued, though variants are shown with two swords, with a white stripe toward the hoist, etc.
ed haynes - 1996-03-14

The Sept. 1934 National Geographic (delivered in pristine condition, from the printer). includes a black and white photo of the Saudi Arabian flag with one sword. the caption under the picture reads "King Ibn Saud's Army carried this flag in its desert conquests. . .
When the powerful King of Saudi Arabia visited Germany_two_years ago, this flag was [used] in his honor by the officials of Tempelhof, Berlin's huge airport"
Unfortunately the new kingdom was proclaimed after the plates for this issue went to press, so there is no color plate or explanation about the dates of adoption, etc. There is a note in the text that also mentions that the flag was supposedly designed by Ibn Saud's grandfather, a century earlier.
There are several possible explanations for the one and two sword flags. The caption under the picture makes it cound like Ibn Soud's_army_ carried the flag during their conquests, therefore it may be that this is a military flag, not a national one. This would also account for its appearent use before 1932.
natham augustine - 1996-03-13

As I promised I send to the list the images of the flag of Hijaz and Nejd (1926-1932). It comes from Lucien Philippe collection.
Mario Fabretto - 1996-09-29

The official definition of the flag dates from 1973-03-15.
harald mueller - 1996-03-13

One sword or Two ?

I have found a picture of a flag of Saudi Arabia. On it, under the inscription ' There is no god ...', two swords crossed, both pointing downwards. On today's flag of Saudi Arabia, there is only one sword, leveled, and pointing upwards. Can anybody resolve the mystery ?
Goren M. Shaked - 1996-04-25

My 1961 edition of Carr's _Flags of the World_ shows the two sword version you describe, but the text notes that there is also a one-sword version. My 1991 edition of Crampton's _The World of Flags_ says that the sword was added to the traditional Wahhabite green banner in 1902, but that there have been many variants. I suspect that the flag was never rigidly defined in the past, and whether to use one sword or two was left to the taste of the king at the time. Interestingly, Saudi Arabia's national emblem remains *two* swords crossed under a palm tree.
Roy Stilling - 1996-04-25

Forgetting the left and right of displaying flags from Muslim countries, can someone tell me when the Saudi flag changed from two crossed swords to one sword? And why?
Steve Stringfellow - 1996-09-24

The change was gradual and never quite official due to the fact that the flag was not officially described until recently (if recently is the right word for 1973). However, 1973-03-15 is the date of adoption of the one-sworded flag.
Zeljko Heimer - 1996-09-26

The Reverse side of the flag

Since Arabic reads right to left, the hilt of the sword on the Saudi flag is under the "There is no god but God..." while the tip is under the "...And Muhmmed is His prophet." But the phrase has to be reversed on the other side in relation to the fly and hoist, lest it read the equivalent of "tehporp siH si demmhuM dna doG tub dog on si erehT" So, does the [sword] still point in towards the hoist? Or does it maintain its orientation with the phrase?

Josh Fruhlinger - 1996-04-24

I discussed this with Smith also. In the early 1970's the flag was re designed to make it easier to manufacture. The intent is that the obverse (remember, this is Saudi Arabia, so "obverse" is the "other side" here) can be printed first, and then a smaller panel of fabric with just the SHAHADA printed on it can be sewn onto the reverse, leaving the rest of the reverse untouched. Therefore, the sword will always point towards the fly of the flag, and the Shahada will always read correctly.

Nick Artimovich - 1996-04-25

As I said in my last mail, there is an article in the Flagmaster 081 about reverses of the flags. There are two examples there, one is Egyipt, that is quite unquestionable, but the other is Saudi Arabia.
The article claims that the reverse of the SA flag is exact copy of the obverse, i.e. that two the same flags are made, and then sewed one to each other, making shahada readable from both sides.
But, I believe that the sword underneath is pointing to the fly on both sides, and that just shahada is printed twice, and the smaller piece of flag is sewed on the reverse.
Am I right? Or is FM right? Which way the sword points on the reverse?
Zeljko Heimer - 1996-08-07

In Saudi Arabia, a small cutout of the _shahadat_ is separatetly manufactured (and they sew better than I type!) and applied on the "reverse" of the flag. So, what you have is a flag with hoist on right, the sword hilt toward the hoist and the _shahadat_ on right, the sword hilt toward the hoist and the _shahadat_ (oops) reading out properly from the hoist. The "reverse" (hoist on the left) has the sword with hilt to left, pointing away from the hoist, and the sewn-on _shahadat_ reading inward from the fly toward the hoist.
Is that even remotely clear?!
Ed Haynes - 1996-08-07

the Ensigns

the civil ensign

by Zeljko Heimer 1996-07-04

from Flagmakers catalogue:

Saudi Arabian civil ensign - green with small national flag in canton bordered white, ratio ?
The Saudi Arabian flag is lefthoisted, but the canton would then be in the fly end according to the image in the brochure. I made gif with canton in hoist corner, i.e. right when looking to it. Did I do it right?

Zeljko Heimer - 1996-07-04

Apparently in 1961 the Saudi merchant flag was a green equilateral *triangle* bearing the two swords in the centre and a foul anchor in the upper hoist. Anyone know if it's still in use?

Roy Stilling - 1996-04-25

I can't answer that with certainty, but the triangular flag is still shown as the Saudi Merchant flag in Smith's 1975 book FLAGS THROUGH THE AGES AND ACROSS THE WORLD. However, in the 1993 SHIPMATE flag chart, a different flag is shown: a green field with the Saudi national flag as a canton, separated by a wide white border. I don't have my references handy to tell when that change was made, or by whom it was designed.

by Mario Fabretto 1996-09-18

I just checked my photos of my flag chart collection, and the FLAGS OF ALL NATIONS chart by Brown, Son and Ferguson, (dated 1989 I believe) shows the "new" rectangular Saudi Merchant flag, so this is confirmation of the design I described above. It also shows a light blue flag with the National flag as a canton, with the Saudi roundel for the Air Force, and the Naval flag is shown as the National flag, with an additional green vertical stripe at the hoist with the yellow astrolabe centered on it. This stripe is separated from the rest of the field by a white fimbriation.

Nick Artimovich - 1996-04-29

the naval ensign

One last note about the Saudi flags. Whitney Smith got the official contract to re design the flags for the Saudi Navy in the 1970's. Since Smith is an atheist, his first idea was to redesign all of their flags to read "There is no god." Needless to say, in an effort to retain his contract, and his head, he got over that initial impulse. He selected a gold astrolabe on green as the identifying emblem of the Saudi Navy and designed a suite of flags for them.

Nick Artimovich - 1996-04-25

For more on Saudi Arabian flags, see my: http://192.203.180.62/flags/sau
Ed Haynes