Black Standard

"Ar-raya" redirects here. See Arraya for disambiguation.

Solid black flag; flag of the Emirate of Afghanistan from 1880-1901.

The "black flag of jihad" as used by various Islamic terrorist organizations (since the late 1990s)

Flag used by Caucasian jihadists in 2002. The design shows the phrase al-jihad fi sabili llahi and the takbir rather than the shahada.

Flag used by the Islamic State of Iraq (2007), Al-Shabaab and other jihadists during the 2000s.

Typical use of jihadist flags is in rallies, but also as banners hung in the background in videos released by terrorists. This example shows the beheading of Jack Hensley in September 2004. The flag shows the shahada in white, above a white circle surrounded by the name jamaa'tul tawhid wal jihad in yellow script.

The Black Banner or Black Standard (راية السوداء rāyat al-sawdā' , also known as راية العقاب rāyat al-`uqāb "banner of the eagle" or simply as الراية al-rāya "the banner") is the historical flag flown by Muhammad in Islamic tradition, an eschatological symbol in Shi'a Islam (heralding the advent of the Mahdi), and a symbol used in Islamic extremism and Jihadism.

History

Islamic tradition states that besides his small flag (`alam) in white, nicknamed "The Young Eagle"), Muhammad also had a larger banner (rāya) in black, said to be made from his wife Aisha's bedcloth. This larger flag was also known as "The Eagle" (العقاب al-`uqāb). Both its name and its colour were presumably derived from the earlier flag flown by the Quraysh, which may still have depicted an eagle.

The tradition reports Muhammad said that the advent of the Mahdi would be signaled by 'Black Standards' proceeding from Khorasan.^{[citation needed]} This may be part of the reason why black was adopted as the color of the Abbasid dynasty, since the Abbasids sought to attract Shi`ite support in their efforts to overthrow the Umayyads.^{[citation needed]} The flag flown by the Emirate of Afghanistan under Abdur Rahman Khan (1880–1901) was also solid black in this tradition.

The Bábí leader Mullá Husayn-i-Bushru'i raised the Black Standard in his westward march from Mashhad starting 21 July 1848, to proclaim the Báb's message. The people of Barfurush confronted the march and a series of battles ensued. The Bábís stopped and built the fort Shaykh Tabarsi which developed into one of the most significant battles of the Bábí religion. It is reported the Black Standard flew above the fortress.

As Arab nationalism developed in the early 20th century, the black within the Pan-Arab colors was chosen to represent the black banner of Muhammad, while the name of "The Eagle" gave rise to the eagle depicted in the flag of the Federation of Arab Republics (1972), which survives as the modern flag of Egypt.

Jihadist black flag

A black flag with the shahada inscribed in white was spotted on Islamic extremist websites from at least 2001. Even though the historical black banner did not have any inscription, this variant is commonly known as al-rāya "the banner" or rayat al-`uqab "banner of the eagle" after the hadith tradition, and has been dubbed the black flag of jihad by western observers. Islamic extremist organizations that used such a black flag include al-Qaeda, al-Shabaab, the Islamic Courts Union, the Islamic State of Iraq and Hizbul Islam (2009). Some variant designs depict the second phrase of the shahada in the form of the historical seal of Muhammad.

See also

• Islamic view of the Last Judgment
• List of black flags
• Islamic flags
• Black Banner Organization

External links

• collection of imagery of black flags used in Islamic extremism
• The Black Flag (al-raya) at The Islamic Imagery Project, The Combating Terrorism Center at West Point
• The Semiotics of a Black Flag (makingsenseofjihad.com)
• Muslim extremist rally disrupting Remembrance Day in London (November 2010)