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![[Jordan]](../images/j/jo.gif)
1:2
image by Zoltan Horvath, 17 June 2024
Official Name: المملكة الأردنية الهاشمية [Al-Mamlakah al-Urdunniyyah al-Hāšimiyyah], Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan
Short Form: الأردنّ [Al-Urdunn], Jordan
Capital: Amman
Flag Adopted: 16th April 1928
Coat of Arms Adopted: 25th May 1946
See also:
Adopted on April 16th, 1928. The seven-pointed star refers to the first seven verses of the Quran.
David Kendall, 04 Oct 1996
From the King Hussein Official Website:
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 Dec 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 [deceased 7th February 1999]. The former Iraqi kings came from the same family [the Hashemites].
Dov Gutterman, 29 Dec 1998
I seem to recall that the seven points in the Hashemite star stand for the Fatiha, the first seven verses or Surahs of the Quran.
Santiago Dotor, 06 Nov 2000
On the seven-pointed star: Dov posted a while back that the seven points stood for the seven pillars of Islam. I questioned that on the grounds that there are only five pillars of Islam. In his coverage of Jordan, Whitney Smith's FTTAAATW say the points stand for the seven verses of the first sura of the Koran, the Fatihah, which is the most important and most often repeated of Muslim prayers:
Joseph McMillan, 27 Jul 2005
In March and April 1997 I visited Syria and Jordan. In contrast to Syria, Jordan uses a lot of flags for different purposes. 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).
Marcus Schmöger, 24 Nov 1997
There seems to be no question about the national flag being used as civil ensign, according to both [Smith 1982 and [Album des Pavillons 2000. The first source also marks it as state ensign. I guess [Album des Pavillons 2000 dismissed the use as state ensign having no proof of that usage, but what do the
Jordanian state-owned vessels fly? Possibly the police boats fly the blue ensign, but FotW only mentions the use of that blue flag on land.
Željko Heimer, 05 Mar 2002
The constitution of Jordan gives a description of the flag:
http://www.kinghussein.gov.jo/const_ch1-3.html
Zoltan Horvath,
17 June 2024
The protocol manual for the
London 2012 Olympics (Flags and Anthems Manual
London 2012 [loc12]) provides recommendations
for national flag designs. Each
NOC was sent an image of the flag,
including the PMS shades, for their approval by LOCOG. Once this was obtained, LOCOG produced
a 60 x 90 cm version of the flag for further approval. So, while these specs may
not be the official, government, version of each flag, they are certainly what
the NOC believed the flag to be.
For Jordan: PMS 485 red, 355 green and black. The vertical flag is simply the
horizontal version turned 90 degrees clockwise.
Ian Sumner, 10 October 2012
Other sources for colors:
The Flag Manual - Beijing 2008 gives Pantone
colors: PMS 032 (red), PMS 355 (green), and PMS Black.
The Album des
Pavillons 2000 [pay00] gives approximate colors
in Pantone and CMYK systems:
Red: Pantone 186c, CMYK 0-90-80-5
Green:
Pantone 356c, CMYK 100-0-90-25
Blue: Pantone 653c, CMYK 100-60-0-19
The Album des Pavillons 2023 already specifies the colors of the flags in three
color systems.
Blue: Pantone 653c, CMYK 90-66-18-3, RGB 42-86-143
Red:
Pantone 186c, CMYK 10-100-74-2, RGB 210-16-52
Green: Pantone 356c, CMYK
89-29-100-18, RGB 0-114-41
Vexilla Mundi gives colors in Pantone
system: PMS Black, PMS White, PMS 36C (green), and PMS 186C (red).
Wikipedia illustrates a
construction sheet and gives color values as follows.
Red: RGB 206-17-38,
Hex #ce1126, CMYK 0-92-82-19
White: RGB 255-255-255, Hex #FFFFFF, CMYK
0-0-0-0
Green: RGB 0-122-61, Hex #007a3d, CMYK 100-0-50-52
Black:
RGB 0-0-0, Hex #000000, CMYK 0-0-0-100
Flag Color Codes gives the following color values:
Red: Hex. # CE1126, RGB 206-17-38, CMYK 0-95-100-0, Pantone 485, RAL 3028
Black: Hex. # 000000, RGB 0-0-0, CMYK 0-0-0-100, Pantone Black, RAL 9005
White: Hex. # FFFFFF, RGB 255-255-255, CMYK N/A, Pantone 0-0-0-0, RAL N/A
Green: Hex. # 007A3D, RGB 0-122-61, CMYK 93-0-100-0, Pantone 355, RAL 6029
Zoltan Horvath, 17 June 2024
![[Coat-of-Arms (Jordan)]](../images/j/jo).gif)
image by Zoltan Horvath, 20 June 2024
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
The history of the coat of arms is given in
https://www.hubert-herald.nl/Jordan.htm.
The first version of the coat
of arms dates to 1921. The motto, which in this version is unknown, was placed
on a green scroll. The mantle was decorated with stars.
The difference
between the 1952 and 1999 versions is that the 1999 version has Arab Revolt
flags, the eagle is facing left, and the motto was slightly changed that year.
Sean Gibbon, 19 June 2024
The current inscription on scrolls is dedicated to King Abdullah II:
"Abdullah II bin Al Hussein bin Aoun, King of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan,
who seeks support and guidance from God"
Zoltan Horvath, 20 June
2024
The specifications can be found at
http://www.jsmo.gov.jo/en/EServices/Standards/Pages/stdDetails.aspx?mfn=997.
However, the cost of this document is 20 JOD (about 28 USD). I also checked
using Arabic sources and I cannot confirm anything with regards to the colors.
Zachary Harden, 20 June 2024
The coat of arms was approved by Executive Council Resolution No. (558) on
August 25, 1934 (source:
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php) in which it adopted the design issued on
March 11, 1921. (source:
https://ar.wikipedia.org).
Additionally and over the years the
official emblem of the (Hashemite) Kingdom of Jordan has changed as well, first
on February 21, 1982 when the Council of Ministers issued Official Communiqué
No. 6 which confirmed what was enacted through Resolution No. 3531 indicating
the description of the motto and its meaning, complimented with the issuing of a
Royal Decree on February 7, 1987 confirming the modifications and approving them
with the final amendment issued on September 19, 2006 indicating its components,
connotations, use, specifications, measures and colors.
Sources:
https://mfa.gov.jo/content/Coat-of-arms-of-Jordan and
https://royalheritage.jo
The corresponding official description is
located here (in Arabic):
https://mfa.gov.jo/content/Coat-of-arms-of-Jordan
and
https://www.facebook.com/photo.php
Esteban Rivera, 20 June 2024
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 Apr 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 Apr 1998
Jorge Candeias is exactly correct. When a Jordanian flag flies from a pole, it looks just like what we would expect: i.e. 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 two years and visited Jordan on numerous occasions. However, when they describe it officially, they work from the fly to the hoist (i.e. 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 Apr 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 Apr 1998
![[Centennial Flag]](../images/j/jo_100.gif)
image by Esteban Rivera, 9 January 2023
Source:
https://www.jordanheritage.jo
Jordan commemorated the centennial of the foundation in modern times of the
Kingdom of Jordan in 2021. A series of events was scheduled to take place
between March 2021 and February 2022 (source:
https://100jordan.jo/AR/Modules/Calendar)
A special official website
was launched for this occasion (http://www.100jordan.jo)
on February 28, 2021.
Images attached:
-
Logo (cropped image from: Image on page
205 of the PDF document "The Historical Encyclopedia of the Jordan Armed Forces-
Arab Army / History of Bravery and Sacrifices 1442 AH/2021 AD" by the "Moral
Guidance Department", source:
https://www.jaf.mil.jo/Assets/File/hestoryPdfEn.pdf)
-
Photograph (cropped image from Image on
page 208 of the PDF document "The Historical Encyclopedia of the Jordan Armed
Forces- Arab Army / History of Bravery and Sacrifices 1442 AH/2021 AD" by the
"Moral Guidance Department", source:
https://www.jaf.mil.jo/Assets/File/hestoryPdfEn.pdf )
[The "Moral
Guidance Department" has been renamed "Military Media Directorate" (of the
Jordan Armed Forces-Arab Army, (JAF) since February 1, 2022 (source:
https://www.jordantimes.com/news/local/jaf-amends-title-moral-guidance-department-military-media-directorate)].
For additional information go to 100 Jordan (official website):
https://100jordan.jo/
Esteban Rivera,
9 January 2023
Here is a picture I took last October of the Jordanian flag you mention on your Flag Superlatives page. However, it seems that King Abdallah likes to erect huge flagpoles; what about the one mentioned in an article at the Debka File site:
"an enormous flag flying from a 136 meter (446 foot) – high pole."
This is even taller than 126.8m. A new record?
Jean-Francois Dal, 27 Dec 2004
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