^{This page is part of © FOTW Flags Of The World website}

Flag Variants (Saudi Arabia)

Flag variant with gold shahada
Proposed Alternate Flag Without Shahada?
1950's Two-Sword Variant With White Panel
Misprint With Black Shahada
"Mecca," 1888
Ornate versions

See also:

Saudi Arabia

Flag variant with gold shahada

image by Tomislav Šipek, 09 February 2015

On http://www.alriyadh.com/508700 I found gold shahada and sword on green field. Does anyone know who uses this flag?
Tomislav Šipek, 09 February 2015

This flag seems to be unusual indeed, but I think it's a variant of Saudi flag with a more decorative mode. The article has no any flag relevance, it says three sport-officials men meet in Kuwait in residence of Deputy General President of Youth Welfare Prince Nawaf bin Faisal (of Saudi Arabia) during the 24th meeting of the Ministers of Youth and Sports and the heads of the Olympic committees of the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). The prince is head of this committee.
While he is a prince of Saudi royal family, I suspect he can use Saudi flag with this decorative version aka with gold shahada and sword. But it's only a speculation. I haven't find any other information about it.
Zoltan Horvath, 15 February 2015

Proposed Alternate Flag Without Shahada?

From the Tunisian blog "Waleg," 30 June 2007:

A serious decision has been taken by the Saudi authorities to come up with a second flag for Saudi Arabia âАж one that presents the most significant aspects of Saudi Arabia as a symbol of union so that it could be used in sports events and other occasions. This statement was given by Sheikh Abdallah Saleh Al Otheimin, who felt that the current flag is being degraded by events like Star Academy & other similar programs.
It seems the Saudi citizens are glad to hear this news, because after seeing a singer or dancer holding the flag & dancing aroundâАж they would rather have it changed!

I have not found this information anywhere else, but I do not have access to Arabic-speaking sources.
Ivan Sache, 01 Jul 2007

1950's Two-Sword Variant With White Panel

image by Eugene Ipavec , 16 Feb 2012

Flickr hosts scans of a 1950s series of Topps "Flags of the World" trading cards, including this unusual depiction of the flag of Saudi Arabia. There are two swords and a white stripe at the hoist, both mentioned at Historic Flags, Saudi Arabia (the stripe is usually explained as an exaggerated sleeve).
Eugene Ipavec, 16 Feb 2012

Misprint With Black Shahada

A Saudi flag with black writing is shown in the poorly printed (and somewhat inaccurate) flag plates of a geographical atlas printed in Yugoslavia, the 1965 Geografski atlas i statističko-geografski pregled svijeta [y9u65].
Aleksandar Nemet, 18 Jun 2009

Not so much an inaccuracy; the black color used for the text on the Saudi flag looks caused by technical limitations.
António Martins-Tuválkin, 19 Jun 2009

"Mecca," 1888

image by Eugene Ipavec , 06 Apr 2012

...As depicted on a 1888 box of "Allen & Ginter's Cigarettes."
William Garrison and Eugene Ipavec, 18 Mar 2012

Ornate versions

image by BlinxCat, 17 April 2022

This flag came from a set of large parade or "hand waving" flags made of a painted cotton(?) created by a Flag Company in Ohio before the 1960s. The writing and the sword on this flag match that of the pre-1970s specifications in a way however there is clearly more "detail" being added onto this. Considering it was hand-painted, the painters may have taken the liberty to make them fancier with their skills or the flag manufacturers description of the flag was not fully understandable.
BlinxCat, 17 April 2022

image by BlinxCat, 19 April 2022
based on photo

This Saudi Arabian flag is an Annin-made 4x6 inch table flag produced in the 1970s and was purchased from Nick Artimovich; it is before the later-on standardization of the overall flag but some notable differences are seen.
-The text is rendered differently from the other variants.
-The sword's curve is slightly different along with the handle grip being an oblong shape.
-Some genuine examples of this variant show the shade of green varying from bluish-green to lime green.

These are technically two variants due to my findings of genuine examples from Annin.
BlinxCat, 19 April 2022

Slight graphic variations are seen between the two, due to a lack of both a standardization (i.e. an absence of a construction sheet) and legal background (Law procedures to define its specifications in design, material, color, etc.). In fact, this is the 1938-1973 version of the flag, featuring a bigger font Shahada and a sword below it, instead of the bayonet featured on the current version. See here.
Esteban Rivera, 11 July 2022