Last modified: 2015-09-04 by 
zoltán horváth
Keywords: stars: 3 (green) | text: arabic (green) | allahu akbar | takbir | triband | iraq | pan-arab colors | arab colors |
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![[Iraq]](../images/i/iq.gif)
image by Eugene Ipavec, 24 Jan 2008
Adopted 29 Jan 2008
Description: Horizontally divided red-white-black flag with the takbir in dark green Kufic calligraphy, placed horizontally in the white stripe. The hoist of the Iraqi flag should be at the viewer's right, as is the case for Saudi Arabia and Iran, two other flags
featuring Arabic inscriptions (which are read from right to left).
Use: on
land, State and war flag, at sea, civil, state and war ensign.
Colour approximate specifications (as given in [Album des Pavillons 2000 ):
Reuters just reported that the parliament of Iraq voted today to adopt a new interim national flag, new in the sense that the old flag is modified so that the three stars are removed but the inscription remains. AFP news agency now reports that the inscription "Allahu Akhbar" (God is Greater) will be in green and that it is written in the Kufic script.
So, now we have the basic idea of the flag that will serve as the national flag for one year: The old one without the stars.
Jan Oskar Engene, 22 Jan 2008
Interesting how the stars seem to be as associated with Hussein as the first version of the takbir that appeared on the flag. The stars were put on by the Baathist party, but 5 years before Saddam took control of the party. They were originally meant to express Arab unity (specifically with Egypt and Syria, who also altered their flags to include 3 stars). By the time Saddam took power, the unity with Egypt and Syria was a no-go, so the stars' meaning was altered. Now, granted, Saddam's meaning for the stars lasted for at least 35 years, where the "Arab unity" meaning was no more than 5 years, so it would be more entrenched in the Iraqi mind that it stands for the Baath party values, but since they used to mean Arab unity, why can't it go back to that?
David Kendall, 22 Jan 2008
As I understand it from the news reports, the main motive in the flag change is to overcome Kurdish opposition to the current national flag. Given the level of hatred for the 3-star flag in Kurdistan I doubt any cosmetic reinterpretation would mollify them in any case, but I strongly suspect that merely substituting a Pan-Arab meaning to replace a Baathist meaning would amount to "six of one, half a dozen of the other" in Kurdish minds.
Ned Smith, 22 Jan 2008
Not to compare the two situations, but something similar happened with the Georgia (US state) flag. When they changed the flag in 2001 to the LOB horror, they added – probably in a futile attempt to silence some critics – the legend "In God We Trust" on the bottom. When they went to the much nicer design in 2003, there was no way they were going to have a flag without those words. Never mind that they'd only appeared for two years before and that they are the national, not state, motto: The new flag takes the state arms from previous flags and places it in the first Confederate flag- and adds the motto.
Again, I realize that the situations are completely different, but I wonder if there's a similar dynamic here: The stars, which Hussein did not add, are removed, but the motto, which he definitely did add, is only altered in font, but remains. Perhaps once God, or Allah, appears on a flag, people are reluctant to remove Him.
Nathan Lamm, 22 Jan 2008
The takbir is certainly a considerably darker shade than those we've seen hitherto. We shall have to await a formal translation of the law of course, but if the one-third of flag length quoted proves to be accurate then the official
image (and Jan Oscar's) show the takbir at far too large a size.
The official image illustrates the inscription at about 7/15 of flag length, with the figures on my prelimary spec (based on a flag of 120 x 180 units due to a vertical placing of the takbir) reading 40-40-40 for the hoist, 49-76-55 for the length and 10-23-7 for the central stripe at the fly.
Christopher Southworth, 23 Jan 2008
The Iraqi flag has what are known as the pan-Arab colors, black, white, red, and green. For a discussion
of the history and symbolism of these colors, see Pan-Arab Colors.
contributor and date unknown
[In the Jan. 2008 Flag Act, t]he colours of the flag are explained as "the Islamic colours."
Jan Oskar Engene, 22 Jan 2008
The takbir [الله أكبر, Allahu Akbar ("God is great") in Arabic script] in green was added to the 1963 flag during the Gulf War, 13 January 1991. The Arabic text may be read from right to left on both sides of the flag, which are identical.
Juan Manuel Gabino Villascán, 08 Jan 2001
As I noted before, the 1991 flag (and the arms) included the Allahu Akbar salutation in Saddam Hussein's
own handwriting. Certainly, the new Iraqi government doesn't want to associate itself with
the former dictator's calligraphy, but taking under consideration the overwhelming rejection of the recently proposed "blue" flag, got to modify the flag used universally by their people. Nothing better than using decorative Kufic script, which originated in Iraq, in the town of Kufa (one of the most important cultural centers of an early Islamic period) and is used extensively for the calligraphy of Qur'ans.
It might look like a "block style", but, in reality, it is a venerable Kufic script, well known and admired by
the Iraqi people.
Chrystian Kretowicz, 29 Jun 2004
On June 30 this design was raised over the Iraqi embassy in Washington when it reopened, and the adoption of this new design seems to be general for high-profile government use at least.
Richard Knipel, 27 Aug 2004
The choice of Kufic calligraphy for the takbir on Iraq's new flag is quite appropriate. The Kufic style is oldest calligraphic form of the Arabic script and originates in Kufa (al-Kufah), which is south of Baghdad near Najaf. Wikipedia has a short article on Kufic (with some links to other sites about the Kufic hand and history.)
Kufic was also used for the takbir on the Iraqi flag after the US invasion, to remove Saddam Hussein's handwritten version from the flag.
Brian Ellis, 24 Jan 2008
The web site of the Iraqi Council of Representatives, the parliament of Iraq, has put out an image of what is appears to be the new interim flag, valid for one year. Further details are available here.
The ratio appears to be 2:3, though the appearance of the image is somewhat forcefully stretched in the web site.
Based on a computer translation of this latter page it seems that the Act passed today amends previous legislation, that is Act No. 33 of 1986 and Law No. 6 of 1991. It appears representatives had four proposals to choose from and that proposal B won by 110 out of 165 votes. The colours of the flag are explained as the Islamic colours. There is also reference to the deletion of article one of the 1991 act, concerning the three stars and the "handwriting of President Saddam Hussein, the President of the Republic." The inscription is to be in bold and occupies one third of the length (?) of the flag.
Jan Oskar Engene, 22 Jan 2008
Based on a report from the Information Service of the Iraqi Parliament, and with the help of some rusty automatic translation, it seems the legislation being dealt with this week amends two existing pieces of legislation:
So the 2004 flag with the Kufic writing is only de facto, the previous flag with the more "freehand" script (supposedly of Saddam himself) was still the legal flag [until 2008]?
David Kendall , 14 Jan 2008
The web site of the president of Iraq
announces that the Iraqi Presidency has signed into law on Tuesday 29 January the Flag Act passed by Parliament a week ago. This means that the new/modified flag is now official.
Jan Oskar Engene, 31 Jan 2008
The protocol manual for the
London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual
London 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations
for national flag designs. Each
NOC was sent an image of the flag,
including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced
a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may
not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what
the NOC believed the flag to be.
For Iraq: PMS 185 red, 355 green and black. The vertical flag is simply the
horizontal version turned 90 degrees anti-clockwise. Both sides are identical.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012