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Before the plain red background and the green star, Morocco raised differently designed flags. But the Kingdom did not just have one other flag than the one Moroccans have been carrying since 1915. As far as historians know, the country designed several banners to represent the several dynasties that ruled it.
Indeed, from Idrisids and Almoravids to Alaouites, dynasties that built powerful governments and capitals and created armies in Morocco opted for flags that represented their legacy, strength and ambitions.
However, identifying these flags, tracking them back and trying to understand their designs is no easy task. Few books and history resources have managed to give a slightly elaborated idea about the flags that our ancestors carried, when fighting, traveling and attending foreign meetings.
A plain white banner
Several accounts suggest, however, that the early flags used by Morocco were plain white banners brandished by the Idrisid dynasty, which ruled the country from 788 to 974 AD. During this period, Moroccans only carried «white silk banners» during battles and wars, World Atlas wrote.
But this quickly changed after the first Moroccan Islamic dynasty fell. The use of flags in Morocco as a «symbol of the state», dates way back to the Almoravid dynasty (1062-1125), recalled Internet-based vexillological association Flags of the World (FOTW) in a paper entitled «Morocco Historical Flags».
«The Almoravids institutionalized the practice» of carrying white flags with «koranic inscriptions written on them». According to the same source, Almoravids «gave one banner to every unit of 100 soldiers» and the leaders «always carried one inscribed : ‘There is no God but Allah, and Mohamed is His Prophet’».
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A pop of color and chequered pattern
While the Almoravids were not prone to creativity when trying to design a flag for their dynasty, their successors opted for a more interesting banner. Almohad's Caliphate, which founded its empire in the 12th century, was the first to go for a red background, giving a pop of color to the Kingdom’s flag.
That was not the only thing they added. Indeed, their flag had a chessboard, placed right in the middle of the red background. In his book «The Secret History of Iran» (Lulu.com, 2013), historian Hamad Subani described the design on the flag adopted by the Almohad dynasty as a «chequered Masonic pattern».
The historian tried to explain the reason behind this «curiously» surprising pattern, stating that «the Amohads acquiesced to Christian Spain, and also patronized crypto-Ismaili philosopher Averroes (Ibn Rushd) and Jewish philosopher Maimonides (…) who both were involved in the corruption of Islamic theology with Greek philosophy in Moorish Spain».
But the use of flags, for other historians, was not just related to the famous chequered banner. To Almohads, flags were also used to differentiate between tribes and communes in Morocco. In his book «The Almoravids and the Meanings of Jihad» (ABC-CLIO, 2010), Ronald A. Messier recalls that Almohad leader «Ibn Tumart placed each tribal contingent of his troops under the command of men who were devoted to him (…) each unit was under a flag of a different color».
«The Mahdi (another name for Ibn Tumart) placed a white flag in the hand of Abd al-Mumin and put him in command of the Bani Gadmiwa. He handed Abu Ibrahim a yellow flag and placed him in command the Bani Hargha. To ibn Malwiya he handed a red flag and placed him in command of the Bani Ganfisa».
A star
By 1244, the Marinid rulers overthrew the Almohad Caliphate, adopting a flag that would display their victory, and erase the symbols of the former dynasty. Pictures show that their emblem and flag had a red background but no chequered pattern. Instead, the Marinids’ banner featured a golden eight-angled star.
The octogram flag is deemed Marinid, according to FOTW, which wrote that «during the pacification campaigns (led by the French protectorate), the war flags captured to Moroccan tribes were based on the Marinid emblem, a red field with two yellow interlaced squares forming a star».
While other sources suggest that the Saadi dynasty kept using a white flag as the Almoravids did, others indicate that the sultanate adopted the same design introduced by the Marinids : a red background with the eight-angled star.
Despite the different designs, red remained a big and an important part of the Moroccan flag. While other dynasties decided to go for their own designs, Alaouite sultans opted for a plain red flag. According to FOTW, Alaouites «were the first to introduce the red flag».
«It was raised every morning and lowered every evening on the fortresses at Rabat and Sale. The green five-pointed star on the flag was introduced in 1915, when Morocco was put under the French protectorate, in order to distinguish the nation’s flag from the others», the same source concluded.
For centuries Moroccans have tried to distinguish themselves through their emblem, but red remained a favored color.
