This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website

Islamic Extremism

Last modified: 2020-08-15 by rob raeside
Keywords: islam | extremism |
Links: FOTW homepage | search | disclaimer and copyright | write us | mirrors



See also:

Other sites:

  • Jihad Intel, by the Middle East Forum - a database for identifiers of designated Islamic terrorist organizations

Background Information

The Taliban replaced their solid white flag with a white flag inscribed with the shahada in black as they took power in Afghanistan in 1997. Political Islamism and Islamic terrorism has been using black flags inscribed with the shahada in white since ca. 2001.

During the 2000s, it became popular in Islamist jargon to refer to the black flag as al-raya and the white flag as al-liwa', after the terms of the black and white flags flown by Muhammad according to the hadith. The white flag is sometimes identified as the "flag of the Caliphate" while the black one is dubbed the "flag of Jihad".
Bill Garrison, 26 June 2013


al-Qaeda

al-Qaeda flag image by Colonel Emerson Begolly, 14 Sep 2004

It is the new al-Qaeda flag, black with the “long version” of the Shahada in a yellowish colour and a yellowish circle in the center. I have seen the flag several times before before; I was in Iraq for the past 6 months. The flag is being debated as either Abu Mousab al-Zarqawi’s al-Qaeda (Ansar al-Zarqawi) flag or the al-Qaeda flag in Iraq. I never actually saw one flying, etc. This flag was used in the background of several beheading videos. I was given, and still have, a captured flag like this one from another soldier who raided an abandoned al-Qaeda safe-house in Fullujah. The flag was not a machine-produced flag, but two pieces of black nylon with embroidered lettering and the circle in a light yellow. It was not made to fly, but rather to hang on a wall. I know another soldier who has a flag like that one, but only the lettering and circle is white, not yellow like the other one. The videos are not clear enough to tell whether the lettering and circle is white or yellow, but it probably differs depending on who made the particular flag.
Colonel Emerson Begolly, 14 September 2004


Islamic Jihad Union

Islamic Jihad Union flag image located by Bill Garrison, 9 October 2014

This photo depicts either a wall-banner or possibly a flag, purporting to be for an "Islamic Jihad" group. This source notes that the flag is for the "Islamic Jihad Union".
Bill Garrison, 9 October 2014