Saudi Flag Day Date in the current year: March 11, 2026

The history of the Saudi flag can be traced back to the Emirate of Diriyah, which existed from 1744 to 1818 and is considered the First Saudi state. The emirate used a green banner bearing the shahada, an Islamic declaration of faith that reads: “I bear witness that there is no god but God, and I bear witness that Muhammad is the Messenger of God”. Green was chosen as the color of the flag due to its significance in Islamic culture. The Second Saudi state, which existed from 1824 to 1891 in the Najd region, used the same flag.

When Abdulaziz ibn Saud of the House of Saud launched a military campaign to unify the Arabian Peninsula in the early 20th century, he continued to use the green banner with the shahada because he was a descendant of Muhammad ibn Saud, the founder of the Emirate of Diriyah. In 1921, Ibn Saud modified the flag by adding a sword to symbolize justice and military strength.

The design with the sword was subsequently modified several times. On March 11, 1937, Ibn Saud issued a royal decree standardizing the Saudi flag. The decree defined the banner’s shape and color, the shahada’s script, and the sword’s shape and placement. The 1937 flag closely resembled the current one; the main differences were the sword’s slightly different design and the sword and shahada taking up more space on the banner.

The current design of the Saudi flag was officially adopted on March 15, 1973, through a royal decree issued by King Faisal. It is a deep green, rectangular banner with a width-to-length ratio of 2:3. The shahada, written in the calligraphic Thuluth script, is located in the center of the banner. Beneath the inscription is a horizontal white sword, placed parallel to the text. The blade points toward the fly end of the flag in the direction of the script; the hilt points toward the hoist.

The Saudi flag is two-sided with an identical obverse and reverse to ensure the shahada is legible from both sides. The regular flag cannot be hoisted vertically because the shahada would not be legible in that orientation. Because the shahada is considered holy, the Saudi flag is used differently from most other state flags. For example, it is never flown at half-staff as a sign of mourning, as this would be considered blasphemous. It also cannot be used on T-shirts and other items.

In 2023, King Salman designated March 11 as Saudi Flag Day, commemorating the adoption of the Saudi national flag in 1937. This made it the third non-religious official holiday in Saudi Arabia observed according to the Gregorian calendar. The other two are Founding Day, which commemorates the establishment of the First Saudi state, and National Day, which commemorates the unification of Saudi Arabia under Ibn Saud.