Ismaili Flag - Significant Features Of Both Colors

By Author: Ibrahim Machiwala Lodhi
Total Articles: 396
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"We have described above the features of green and red colours. We will briefly proceed to discuss significant characteristics of these two colours together.

Ibn Khaldun (d. 1406) writes in Muqaddimah (1:186) that Khadija asked, what garment he liked best to wear during revelation, and the Prophet replied, "White and green ones", whereupon she said that it was an angel, meaning that green and white, are the colours of goodness and of the angels." Imam Ahmed bin Hanbal (d. 855) writes that when the revelation came, the Prophet covered his head with almost green mantle, his face grew red, he snored as one asleep, or rattled like a young camel; after some time he recovered (Masnad, Cairo, 1949, 4:222).

Ibn Athir (2:83) writes that when the Prophet handed over his green banner to Ali bin Abu Talib during the battle of Khaibar, he proceeded towards the fort. On that occasion, Ali had worn a red sheet on his body.

The famous tradition has it that once Imam Hussain and Hasan mounted on the shoulders of the Prophet when they were yet small boys. Imam Hussain wore red garment, while his elder brother was in green ...
... dress. Being asked why both brothers were in different dresses, the Prophet said, "This Hasan will fight for restoring peace in religion, while Hussain will sacrifice for the cause of Islam." It ensues from this tradition that the agency of peace and sacrifice is symbolized in green and red colours in Islam.

Ibn Jubayr, who went on a pilgrimage to Mecca on August 22, 1183, described the cover of the Kaba that, "The outside of the Kaba, on all its four sides, is clothed in coverings of green silk with cotton warps; and on their upper parts is a band of red silk on which is written the verse (3:96): "Verily, the first House founded for mankind was that at Bakkah i.e., Mecca." (vide The Travels of Ibn Zubayr tr. By R.J.C. Broadhurst, London, 1952, p. 79)

Kubrawiyya, one of the Sufi orders developed an elaborate colour symbolism. Najmuddin Kubra (d. 1220), one of the saints speaks green with tranquility (itmi'nan) and red with gnosis (irfan). Furthermore, Prophet Abraham is symbolized as the red colour, the aspect of the heart and the Prophet of Islam as the green colour, the point connected with the divine reality (haqqiyya).

Imam Sultan Muhammad Shah ascended on the throne of Imamate at the age of 7 years, 9 months and 16 days on August 17, 1885. His enthronement ceremony was solemnized at Bombay Darkhana Jamatkhana on Friday, September 1, 1885. On that historic occasion, he sat on the oblong wooden throne surrounded by the elder persons of the community. The most striking feature was that the oblong cushion inside the throne was absolutely green, and the Imam sat in the centre in red attire. It explicitly depicted an image of the present design of the Ismaili flag.

It must be known that both ruby (yakut) and pearl (marjan) are the Koranic terms, having natural colours of red and green respectively. Ruby is a transplant red gemstone variety of the mineral corundum. Rubbies vary in colour from pale to deep red, also called the pigeon blood. On the other hand, the pearl is a substance forming the inner layers of the shells of nacreous mollusks, as pearl-oyster, abalones, etc., having rich green colour. The Koran contains following mention of yakut (ruby, i.e., the red) and marjan (pearl, i.e., the green) that:- Ka anahunal yakut wal marjan "As though they were rubies and pearls" (55:58) and Both yakut and marjan, therefore denote the celestial emblems.

The notion of green and red emerges in addition while pondering minutely over the following Koranic verses:- "And the herbs and the trees do adore" (55:6), "Therein (earth) is fruit and palms having sheathed clusters" (55:11), "And when the heaven is rent asunder then it becomes red like red hide" (55:37), "And for him who fears to stand before his Lord are two gardens" (55:46), "Dark-green in colour" (55:64) and "In both are fruits and palms and pomegranates" (55:68).

The essential features of green and red colours have been mentioned above in the historical context. In sum, the green colour in Ismaili flag symbolizes joy, gaiety, prosperity and peace; while the broad red diagonal on it connotes sacrifice.

Wazir Dr. Pir Muhammad Hoodbhoy (1905-1956), the then President of the Ismailia Association for Pakistan had made a humble submission to the Imam in his letter of October 8, 1954, asking the interpretation of green and red colours of the Ismaili flag. In reply, the Imam sent the following letter that:-

16TH OCTOBER, 1954

My Dear Hoodbhoy,

In reply to your letter of 8th october, the colours of our family are, as you know, red and green, the reason being that we represent both the (offices of) shah and the peer.

The shah was hussein, the peer was hasan. Hasan had the peer's colour of green, but hussein's martyrdom was so enormous in events and was so opposed to even the smallest laws of war that the colour of his holy blood, namely red, was accepted with the green of the prophet's flag as a souvenir and remembrance of that terrible day.