What does the color black represent on the Arab flags?

Black was the color of the banner of Muhammad and the Rashidun Caliphate and was later adopted by the Abbasid Caliphate. After the Egyptian revolution of 1952, a sub-set of the Pan-Arab colours, the Arab Liberation colours (the tri-color of black, red and white) came to prominence. read more

Pan-Arab colors were first combined in 1916 in the flag of the Arab Revolt. 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, and formerly in the flag of the brief six month union of the Arab Federation of Iraq and Jordan. read more

Flags show you what a state's founders wished for their people. They show you moments in history the first rulers viewed as essential to the nation. Flag design is a practice in identity formation, which is especially delicate and important when the nation-state in question was born out of borders drawn by colonialists. read more