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Comoros: Variations of the 1996-2001 flag

Last modified: 2007-09-29 by antónio martins
Keywords: crescent: points to fly (white) | star: 5 points (white) | islam | stars: 4 | stars: line | ulam | مهمّد | allah | اللّه | muhammad | olympics |
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Local variations

There is quite a variety of objects [regarded as the national flag] hanging from flagpoles in the country.
Iain Walker, 10 Feb 1999

I just got back from the Comoros where I made a point of inspecting the flags. There are at least three varieties flying [two shown on this page and the third, most recent and official, at the main 1996-2001 page]. I could not find the presidential decree in the national archives, it seems to have been “lost”. On all flags the crescent and four stars are as we know, upright and open to the fly. It’s the text that moves, although the actual text itself is the same: Allah (اللّه) and Mohammed (مهمّد), both with shaddas (little "w"s), but no other diacritics. I didn’t manage to actually measure any, but these old dark green varieties are probably slightly squarer than 3:4
Iain Walker, 21 Dec 1999 and 14 Jan 2000

The sides are different because the writing must be correct in both sides (thus differentially inverted) and the moon must point to the fly in both sides (thus not inverted), I believe.
António Martins, 08 Nov 1998


Variation #1

Obverse

var. #1(obv.)
image by Arnaud Palac and António Martins,
25 Jan 2000 | two-sided sinister

Flag 1 (the oldest): obverse (face showing when the pole is at the viewer’s right hand), Allah (اللّه), top, in the fly, Mohammed, bottom, hoist; reverse (face showing when the pole is at the viewer’s left hand), Allah, top, in the fly, Mohammed (مهمّد), bottom, hoist.
Iain Walker, 21 Dec 1999

Reverse


var. #1(rev.)
by Arnaud Palac and António Martins,
25 Jan 2000 | two-sided reverse

Calvarin [clv02] shows a flag similar to this one.
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002


Variation #2

Obverse

var. #2(obv.)
image by Arnaud Palac and António Martins,
25 Jan 2000 | two-sided sinister

Flag 2: obverse (face showing when the pole is at the viewer’s right hand), Allah (اللّه), top, in the hoist, Mohammed (مهمّد), bottom, in the fly; reverse (face showing when the pole is at the viewer’s left hand), Allah, top, in the fly, Mohammed, bottom, hoist.
Iain Walker, 21 Dec 1999

Album 2000 [pie90] shows this design.
Željko Heimer, 15 Jan 2002

Reverse


var. #2(rev.)
by Arnaud Palac and António Martins,
25 Jan 2000 | two-sided reverse

Incorrect design from tFB174

(used, i.a., at the UN headquarters and at the Sydney Olympics)


err. flag
by Jos Poels and Mark Sensen,
05 Apr 1997 | two-sided reverse

The flags at the Sydney Oympics were made by the USA subsidiary of Doublet. The form of Comoros flag used was the design as supplied by Paramount Flags — which naturally enough followed the Flag Research Centre version of the design. A Flag Bulletin article [smi97b] (No. 174 (March 1997) shows the design with the name "Muhammad" (مهمّد) in a single line and "Allah" in a different lettering.
Ralph Kelly, 22 Dec 2000

The design in [smi97b] was used by Annin to make the Comoros flags for outside the United Nations. When the Comoron Ambassador to the UN saw it he rejected it as having the wrong inscription on it. The words "Allah" (اللّه) and "Mohammed" (مهمّد) are meant to be the traditional ullams or monograms rather than the names written out in full. The Comoron government supplied a sample flag which Annin used to make replacement flags.
Graham Bartram, 23 Dec 2000

Lux-Wurm [lux01] shows the incorrect version from [smi97b].
Ivan Sache, 20 Apr 2002

The flags originally flown at the UN after the new flag was announced, had "Muhammed" written out in “long hand”, as was shown in [smi97b]. The actual flag doesn’t use “long hand” but the more stylized ulam (a sort of monogram). Arabic calligraphy is very flexible and forms a major part of Arabic art and the ulams have developped as a stylized form of the names. If you look at the flag of Saudi Arabia it quickly becomes apparent that the Shahada is not just written across it in everyday writing, but has been drawn in a complex and beautiful pattern. Since the design approved by the Comoros government specifically used ulams and not everyday script they felt it was inappropriate for the flag outside the UN to have the wrong type of calligraphy. They sent an actual flag to the UN which was then used by Annin & Co to make replacement flags for UN use. (Another example of stylized arabic calligraphy can be found in the flag of Iran: the swords write out Allah, and the edge pattern says "Allah u ahkbar").
Graham Bartram, 23 Sep 1999


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