Recently David Cameron may have triggered a new flag debate in the UK that could result in another wave of anti-terror arrests and a consequential artificial inflation of the terror threat to the UK. Writing in the Daily Telegraph on 16 August, the Prime Minister confirmed that anyone walking around with “ISIS flags” would be arrested with their materials seized. In light of the tragic murder of US journalist James Foley by ISIS, such an order could lead to a disproportionate number of arrests due to an ignorance of the reality of the ISIS flag.
The problem is that in each case, the flag in question was not the ISIS flag but simply a black flag with an Arabic inscription on it, known as the shahada or the Islamic declaration of faith, translated as: ‘There is no deity worthy of worship except Allah, Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’. Although the flags appear similar, they are not the same.
The ISIL/ISIS flag is black in colour with the shahadah divided into three parts. The top part contains the first half of the shahadah. Below this is an image of the seal of the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) that would be used for ambassadorial letters, treaties and contracts saying ‘Muhammad is the Messenger of Allah’. Finally and critically, the bottom of the flag contains a third Arabic inscription that translates as ‘The Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant’, although there have been instances of ISIS members flying the generic shahadah flag without this last inscription. (Presumably these flags will be replaced with a new version to reflect ISIS’ official recent brand as ‘The Islamic State’ which incidentally is not a proscribed organisation under the Terrorism Act 2000.)
The shahadah flag, on the other hand, can come in different forms. One is identical to the ISIS flag save for the final inscription with the name of ISIS. Another form contains both parts of the shahadah in the one line using a more ornate calligraphy. The flag comes in different colours but its most common form is in white or black. Many of the groups fighting inside Syria including Jabhat al-Nusrah use the black shahadah flag. It is also used by al-Shabab in Somalia and the Islamic Movement of Uzbekistan.The prime minister would do well to remember the advice the father of celebrated Northern Ireland leader John Hume once gave him: “You can’t eat a flag“, meaning that real politics is about living standards and social and economic development, and not about waving flags at one another.
Leave the flag alone Mr Cameron as it will only antagonise 3 million of your citizens. Focus on the real issues and reasons for the rise of ISIS.
Allahu Akbar
It is such a beautiful flag.
