The ISIS Flag consists of three different elements:
The Black Flag
The First line of the “Shahada”
Muhammad’s Seal
They mean different things and have each their own history:
The Black Flag
The original black flag was Muhammad’s favorite wife Aisyah’s headscarf turned into a battle flag (I’m not making this up: read page 6 of David Nicole’s book “Armies of the Muslim Conquest” (1993), Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-279-0):
, BSc Computer Science and Software Engineering & Machine Learning, Faculty of Engineering, Ain Shams Univers...
Answered Aug 25
well we read it and find this : Sahih al-Bukhari 6924—Muhammad said: “I have been ordered to fight the people till they say: La ilaha illallah (none has the right to be worshipped but Allah), and wh...
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Answer · International Relation...
Why do some see it as a sole responsibility of the POTUS to stop the Islamic State (ISIS/ISIL) and other terrorist organizations like Boko Haram?
David Kahana
David Kahana, I'm a first generation immigrant living here continuously since 1967.
Answered Sep 11, 2014
I really don't know why for sure. But it just may be that those people don't understand that this problem has a very, very long history, starting as early as the 7th century CE. It certainly didn't...
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Answer · Islamic State of Iraq ...
What is the current situation of ISIS?
Vakhtang Khosroviani
Vakhtang Khosroviani, Professionally interested in the Near East affairs since 16 y.o.
Answered Sep 8
The Black Flag
The First line of the “Shahada”
Muhammad’s Seal
They mean different things and have each their own history:
The Black Flag
The original black flag was Muhammad’s favorite wife Aisyah’s headscarf turned into a battle flag (I’m not making this up: read page 6 of David Nicole’s book “Armies of the Muslim Conquest” (1993), Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-85532-279-0):
Muhammad used this flag as a battle banner and called it the rāya (Black Standard - Wikipedia). It was the official battle banner of Muhammad’s army.
The black flag has also eschatological value, as Muhammad gave this following prophecy of the End Times about the army of the Islamic Mehdi:
Black standards will come from Khorasan (Modern Day Iraq or Iran), nothing shall turn them back until they are planted in Jerusalem.
Source: Sunan At-Tirmidhi 2269
We all know that ISIS is basically an End-Times death cult, and as such they are surely capitalizing on this prophecy.
The First line of the “Shahada”
The Arabic writing (in classical script without the current accents commonly in use today) say: lā ʾilāha ʾillā llāh - There is no god but Allah, which is the first line of the Shahada - Wikipedia, the Muslim testimony of faith. The shahada is the central part of Muslim believe. Islam has no other form of initiation into the faith, other than professing the shahada.
Writing the shahada in white upon a black background has its roots in Pashtun tradition of the 18th century, and was later adopted by Al-Qaeda.
Muhammad’s Seal
The round thing in the middle of the flag is the historical seal of Muhammad himself. Upon the historic seal was written the second part of the shahada: Muhammadun rasul Allah - Muhammad is Allah’s Prophet.
Placing the second part of the shahada here has a double meaning: Muhammad is named the seal of the prophets in Islam (Khatam an-Nabiyyin - Wikipedia) - it signifies Muhammad’s role as the last prophet who would bring order into all the previous prophet’s teachings which have been corrupted and it also stands for the physical seal that Muhammad would put onto his letters when sending out his call to Islam to various rulers.
The actual seal used by Muhammad. Now in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul
These letters were not theological treatises, but rather a “convert or die” warning before the Islamic army would invade a new area. Here’s an example of such a letter:
In the Name of Allâh, the Most Beneficent, the Most Merciful. From Muhammad, Messenger of Allâh to Al-Harith bin Abi Shamir.
Peace be upon him who follows true guidance, believes in it and regards it as true. I invite you to believe in Allah Alone with no associate, thence after your kingdom will remain yours.
Letter to to Harith bin Abi Shamir Al-Ghassani, King of Damascus
