Jordan

Al-Urdun, Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan, Al-Mamlaqa al-Urduniyya al-Hashimiyya

Last modified: 2000-01-21 by santiago dotor
Keywords: jordan | transjordan | anchor | star: 7 points | koran | sword | crown | gyronny | hashemite | canton on fly | arab league | league of arab states |
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by Mark Sensen
Flag adopted 16th April 1928, coat-of-arms adopted 25th May 1946

• Description of the flag
• Introduction to Jordanian Flags
• Royal Standard
  • Former King's Standard 1959-1966 ?
• Army Flag
  • Pennant of the Commander of the Arab Legion
• Naval Ensign
• Air Force Flag
• Police Flag
• Coat-of-Arms
• National Flag Canton on the Fly?
• Civil Defence Flag
• Yarmouk University Flag
• Jordanian UFEs
• Kingdom of Transjordan (1920-1927)

See also:

• British Mandate of Palestine and Transjordan
• Pan-Arab Colours
• Palestine
• Iraq
• League of Arab States ("Arab League")

Adopted on April 16th, 1928. The 7 point star refers to the first 7 verses of the Koran (Islamic holy book).

David Kendall, 4 October 1996

From the Official Site of the King of Jordan: "The flag symbolizes the Kingdom's roots in the Great Arab Revolt of 1916, as it is adapted from the revolt banner. The black, white and green bands represent the Arab Abbasid, Umayyad and Fatimid dynasties respectively, while the crimson triangle joining the bands represents the Hashemite dynasty. The seven-pointed Islamic star set in the center of the crimson triangle represents the unity of Arab peoples in Jordan."

Ivan Sache, 29 December 1998

It is not only based on the flag of the Arab Revolt of 1916. The leader of the revolt, Hussein, is the great grand-father of the today king of Jordan who is named after him. Today's king is Hussein Ib'n Talal Ib'n Abdalla Ib'n Hussein. The former Iraqi kings came from the same family.

Dov Gutterman, 29 December 1998

In March and April 1997 I visited Syria and Jordan. In contrast to Syria (using only the national flag and the flag of the ruling Baath party), Jordan uses a lot of flags for different purposes (besides the well known national flag). This results from the long British influence there (whereas Syria was influenced by France). Another difference between Syria and Jordan is that in Syria you can find horizontally and vertically hanging flags, differing proportions of length to width, different dimensions of the stars etc., whereas in Jordan all the flags conform to certain regulations (e.g. proportions 1:2). I am sending gifs of the following flags: Army flag, Naval ensign, Police flag, Civil Defence flag and Yarmouk University flag.

Marcus Schmöger, 24 November 1997

by Michael P. Smuda

Jordan's royal standard is quite unique, it has a small national flag in the center, on a white oval, only the star in the triangle is replaced by an arched crown. The field is made up of rays in the state colors, black in each corner (like an andrew's cross) then white, green, white, red, white, repeats. If you could have gyronny with 4 colors and white in every other space that is what this looks like.

Josh Fruhlinger, 8 April 1996

Smith 1975 p. 295 depicts the crown on the arms in gold/yellow.

Kevin McNamara, 18 November 1998

After watching Jordan TV, I found out that the crown is in gold.

Dov Gutterman, 19 November 1998

Months ago I submitted a GIF of the Jordanian Royal Standard. Dov Gutterman and others said that the crown should have been gold, so I changed it. This evening on the TV news, they showed the new king of Jordan and behind him were two royal standards, both with white crowns as shown in Pedersen 1971. This is via cable and my color is fine. What's up?

Michael P. Smuda, 8 February 1999

Page 3 of The Guardian UK newspaper February 8th 1999 has a photo of the new King Abdullah passing a Jordanian royal standard in the background. This is the rayed version and it clearly bears a white crown.

Roy Stilling, 8 February 1999

Yesterday all Spanish TV channels plus BBC World showed Queen Noor and women of the royal family standing before a royal standard with a white crown. Also King Abdullah was shown taking office before two royal standards with white crowns. But I believe at some point (or simultaneously) a royal standard with a golden crown has existed. Whitney Smith had it like that in Smith 1975 and Dov Gutterman saw it on Jordan TV. By the way, the crown looked more elaborate than the one in FOTW: some thin, black fimbriation in the borders plus some hatching to make slight shadows.

Santiago Dotor, 9 February 1999

I must add one more piece more to the puzzle. My observation on the royal flag was when I watched the finale of JTV broadcasting, showing, while the himn is sung, the picture of the late king and the royal standard. The same finale was used since I started watching JTV about more than 15 years ago, and by judging from the quite "young days" photo of the late king, even more. Therefore, my observation, even registered in last months, is not, by all means by watching a current flag. If W. Smith informed about a gold crown at 1975, and no doubt the current flags are with white crown, I must agree with Santiago's suggestion that there was a change somewhere in the way. BTW - I tried to copy the finale with my VCR, but it was already changed!

Dov Gutterman, 10 February 1999

by Calvin Paige Herring

This flag is described as the King's flag in two versions of The Observer's Book of Flags: Evans 1959 and Evans 1966. The description was "[t]he King's Standard adds a crown, in gold, between the star and the hoist". Flaggenbuch 1939 and all recent (since 1970s) books say that the King's Standard is the white with the multicolored rays. Was this a real royal flag, is it something else, or is it nothing?

Calvin Paige Herring, 6 February 1999

by Marcus Schmöger

This is a red ensign with the Jordani national flag in canton, and a green emblem (two crossed swords under a crown) in the fly. This is found in Smith 1980.

Marcus Schmöger, 24 November 1997

According to Flaggenbuch (1938)

by Calvin Paige Herring

This flag is exactly as that currently used, but the emblem is smaller and in the lower fly.

Calvin Paige Herring, 6 February 1999

by Calvin Paige Herring

by Jan Oskar Engene

Jordan's naval ensign is depicted in Jane's Fighting Ships. When I made copies of the flag table, I wrote down the colours. According to my notes, the anchor emblem is black.

Jan Oskar Engene, 22 September 1996

Steve Stringfellow and Zeljko Heimer also confirmed that the emblem is black. It is also black in Jane's Fighting Ships, I looked it up again. Incidentally, the emblem on Malaysia's naval ensign is also black in Jane's Fighting Ships, but we know from flag books it should be blue. I am a bit unsure about the reliability of design details in Jane's Fighting Ships.

Jan Oskar Engene, 24 September 1996

The anchor is black according to Flags and Arms of the World, Whitney Smith 1980.

Steve Stringfellow, 23 September 1996

Smith has it black in both books (Smith 1975 and Smith 1980). Interestingly, this ensign and the army flag (red with national flag in canton and crossed green scimitars under the crown) are marked as left-hoisted (in both books). That would mean that the national flags are not in the canton, but in the upper fly quarter. I believe that is not the case, but that if you put the canton in the left upper corner you are actually showing the reverse of the flag. This 'left-hoisted' indication I found a bit confusing and inconsistent since, if you follow the same rule, the national flag should also be shown with this sign.

Zeljko Heimer, 24 September 1996

by Mark Sensen

Some days ago Ivan Sache posted some air force roundels. In Pedersen 1980 there are several air force flags with roundels. All have the same pattern; light blue, the national flag in the canton, the air force roundel in the fly.

Mark Sensen, 22 June 1997

by Marcus Schmöger

This is a blue ensign with the Jordani national flag in canton, and a white emblem (two crossed swords under a crown with a wreath around it) in the fly. This flag is used at different kinds of police stations (border police as well as tourist police and "normal police").

Marcus Schmöger, 24 November 1997

from the King Hussein I Official Website

From the King Hussein I Official Website:

"The crown symbolizes the system of monarchy. The sash upon which the crown is placed symbolizes the Hashemite throne. Its scarlet color represents sacrifice, while the white inner background symbolizes purity.

"The two flags are the flags of the Great Arab Revolt. The eagle in the center of the coat of arms symbolizes power, might and loftiness. The eagle is perched on the globe, and his wings touch the two flags of the Great Arab Revolt. The blue color of the globe symbolizes the spread of Islam across the world.

"The bronze shield in front of the globe represents the defense of truth and right in the world. The spears, swords, bows and arrows are traditional Arab weapons.

"Below the shield to the left are three branches of wheat, and to the right is a palm branch. Stretching down from between the wheat and palm branches is the highest Jordanian medal, the decorative order of al-Nahda.

"Above the al-Nahda medal are three phrases inscribed on a golden ribbon. In the middle: King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan. To the right: Al-Hussein bin Talal bin Aoun (Aoun, one of the Hashemite patriarchs, was great great-grandfather of Sherif Hussein)."

Santiago Dotor, 10 January 1999

In Pedersen 1979 (Danish edition), Jordan's Navy, Army and Air Force flags are shown with the national flag in the upper fly, and with the triangle at the outer edge of the flag. The images made me think 'It must be a mistake. The national flag should be in the canton.' Is Pedersen mistaken, or are Jordanian flags just very odd?

Ole Andersen, 29 April 1998

Actually neither. We who read from left to right believe that the wind blows from left to right; at least, that's how we picture our flags. In countries where people write from right to left —in Arabic, for example— they show the flags flying from right to left. This convention is sometimes referred to as sinister hoist. Jordan's armed forces ensigns have the national flag in canton, with the triangle at hoist. Some books show such a flag with a bit of flagpole next to it, as a hint. Others don't.

John Ayer, 29 April 1998

I believe that that's the old problem with different tastes in representing flags in western and arabic countries. We like representing them with the hoist to the left, and they like it better the other way around. So, in our ways, the flag you describe is a mirror image of what is really flying.

Jorge Candeias, 29 April 1998

Jorge is exactly correct. When a Jordanian flag flies from a pole, it looks just like what we would expect: ie., in an ensign, the national flag in the canton, next to the pole. (I know this from first-hand experience: I lived in Syria for 2 years and visited Jordan on numerous occasions). However, when they describe it officially, they work from the fly to the hoist, (ie., backwards to us); I've always assumed that this is simply in accordance with the way people naturally do things in an Arab culture - don't forget, they read/write from right to left (which seems backwards to users of Latin scripts), as well as open books from what we would consider to be the last page/back-cover. (Hebrew, of course, is the same.) If one looks at Smith 1975 he indicates this fact through a symbol above the Jordanian flag with the pole to the right.

Glen Robert-Grant Hodgins, 29 April 1998

That explanation would work, if Pedersen did not include a bit of flagpole, but he does. He explicitly shows the piece of pole to the left and the triangle to the right. So I guess he has misplaced his pole. Related to all this reading/wind direction/pole placement is the matter of crescents. The waxing moon is believed to be a good omen, while the waning moon is a bad omen. But when we have the pole on the left, we make the moon waning, or decrescent, instead of waxing, or crescent.

Ole Andersen, 30 April 1998

by Marcus Schmöger

This is an orange ensign (1:2) with the Jordani national flag in canton, and a pale blue triangle in the fly. I mentioned this flag several months ago as being the flag of the Jordani fire brigade, as I saw it flying at fire brigade stations. Zeljko Heimer corrected me and informed me, that this resembles flags of the civil defence in several countries, and is thus probably the flag of the Civil Defence including the Fire Brigade.

Marcus Schmöger, 24 November 1997

by Marcus Schmöger

This is a green flag with an emblem in the center (I'm not sure about the actual symbolism of all parts of it) and the writing "Yarmouk University" in English and Arab. I saw this flag at the Marine Biological Station in Aqaba (Red Sea coast).

Marcus Schmöger, 24 November 1997

At the Marine Biological Station in Aqaba there was another flag (unknown to me): a yellow ensign with the Jordani national flag in canton, and an emblem in the fly. The actual flag was quite old and torn, so that about a third of the flag was no longer existent (quite often there is considerable wind there in Aqaba). I only could see the rest of this emblem, and was not able to reconstruct it for making a GIF. If anybody knows about this flag (probably a flag for scientific institutions or something like that), please help me.

Marcus Schmöger, 24 November 1997

On TV last week I was watching a show about the Middle East, and I noticed this flag from Jordan (I believe it was an insurrectionist force from the 70's): It was red, and in the center it had a yellow circle with a symbol in it. I'm assuming this force was USSR-backed.

Georges G. Kovari, 24 March 1999

Flag of Transjordan 1920-1921
by Filip van Laenen and Santiago Dotor

The Transjordanian flag was the same as today, but without the white star, which makes it the same as the Palestinian National Authority flag. That is black, white, green horizontal stripes with a red triangle at the hoist. At that point (1923 is the year I am quoting) Hejaz's (now in Saudi Arabia) flag was black, green, white horizontal stripes with a red triangle at the hoist. The Federation of Syria's flag was green, white, green horizontal stripes with a French flag in the canton (1/2 the width). The British Mandate of Palestine used the Union Flag. The Kingdom of Egypt's flag was green with a large white crescent, within whose horns were three stars in a triangular formation (two to the left and one to the right). All this came from some research William Crampton did for me when I was doing a historical map of the Middle East showing the changing borders this century. I wanted to make sure that for each year we featured the flags were the correct ones.

Graham Bartram, 1 July 1997

The zone was occupied by the Arab Legion and British troops. The emirate was created in 1921 for a Hashemite family member. The flag should be the flag of the Arab revolt, the same of the Hejaz (the king was the father of Transjordan's emir), Syria (kingdom on 1920 but flag of Arab revolt in use between 1918 to 1920, and star was added 1920) or Iraq (arab government 1920-21, two stars were added 1921 if I don't remember wrong).

Jaume Ollé, 2 July 1997