Green (Arabic: أخضر) is considered the traditional color of Islam.
Contents |
The Arabic word for "greenness" is mentioned several times in the Quran, describing the state of the inhabitants of paradise. Examples include:
Al-Khidr (“The Green One”) is a Qur’anic figure who met and traveled with Moses.[4]
The Green Dome, traditional site of the tomb of Muhammad, was painted green on the order of sultan Abdul Hamid II (r. 1876–1909).
Green was used as the color of the banners of the historical Fatimid Caliphate. The Fatimid banner was in use until 1171, and thus during the first century of the crusades, and by this way has taken influence on Christian heraldry, where the tincture vert was very rarely if ever used for the field (background) until the end of the Middle Ages (indeed the term sinople used to signify a reddish colour until the 14th century, and only after ca. 1400 did it change its meaning to refer to green as a heraldic tincture).
Today, the color green is used in a number of flags as a symbol of Islam, so in the flag of the Organization of the Islamic Conference and that of Hamas,[5] National flags including green as a symbol of Islam include those of Mauritania, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran. In radical Islamism, a Black Flag has tended to be preferred since ca. the late 1990s, derived from a supposedly black banner carried by Muhammad.
Green wrist bands, threads and bracelets containing Islamic calligraphy are worn by Muslims in order to identify themselves as Muslim. The green wrist bands and bracelets contain Islamic calligraphy or some are worn as plain green threads.