Qatar's national flag has a long history. Did you know that the Qatari flag holds a Guinness World Record?
The ILoveQatar.net (ILQ) team has put together a brief of what you need to know about the flag at a glance. Let's go!
The Qatari flag is called Al Adaam, which means "To The People". It's locally pronounced as "Lad-am".
The Qatar flag consists of a white band on the hoist side, separated from a reddish-maroon area by 9 white triangles.
The 9 triangles signify the country's inclusion as the ninth member state of the Emirates after the Qatari-British treaty in 1916.
Is the colour maroon, burgundy or Qatar red? Qatar's original Pantone was 222C, but due to the difficulty with replicating the colour on print, the nation went through a campaign to align everyone with the official and current Pantone colour.
The current flag's registered Pantone is 1955C and it is more reddish than maroon in colour.
The origins of the colour of the Qatari flag takes us to the island of Bin Ghannam, near the Al Khor area of the country which was the source of a maroon dye. Archaeologists had discovered the remains of murex sea shells from which the dye was extracted. When exposed to the sun, the maroon dye turned into a deep purple hue.
For Qataris, the word Al Adaam signified the deep red colour, as per the standard set by the founder of Qatar, Sheikh Jasim bin Mohammed bin Thani.
The origins of the word Al Adaam from the olden days was used to refer to the word 'to support' or a central pillar or 'post' of the house, that supports it. This post was where people would congregate.
Sheikh Mohammed bin Thani was the first to adopt maroon-red as the colour of Qatar's flag in April 1932.
In April 1932, the British Navy suggested that Qatar have its own flag and that they use the red flag. Qatar refused to use the colour red, and insisted on using maroon, based on the history of the colour. The nine points were retained, but maroon-coloured diamonds were added to the flag, along with the word 'Qatar', which appeared in white, over the maroon background.
In 1960, the ruler of the time, Sheikh Ali Bin Abdullah Al Thani made a minor change to the Qatar flag. He retained the white and maroon colours, but he removed the diamonds and the word 'Qatar' from the flag, changing it to its current form.
The aspect ratio of the Qatar flag is 11:28. It is the only national flag with a width more than twice its height. The most common aspect ratios in official flags are 2:3 and 1:2. Qatar national flag holds the Guinness World Record for the same.
During the reign of H.H. The Father Amir Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al Thani, Law No. (14) of 2012 was issued, which stated that the Qatar flag must be respected and treated with dignity as a symbol of the State, and must not be disrespected in any way.
The law also mentions the specifications like shape, design, colours, size, materials, flag-hoisting protocol, and other details.
Learn more about the standard specifications and the protocols for the use of the flag as per Al Meezan below:
You can also check out the do's and don'ts of raising and using the Qatar national flag [General public].
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Sources: Hukoomi, Guinness World Records, Amiri Diwan, Qatar.qa, Al Meezan
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