The Army is given banners and flags and the Head of State (the Khalifah) gives the banners to whomever he appoints to lead the Army, whereas the flags are provided by the brigadiers.

1. Al-Liwa’ (banner) and Al-Rayah (flag) – from the linguistic angle, they both mean Al-’Alam (sign) as mentioned in the Al- Muhit dictionary. The Shari’ah gave each of them, in terms of usage, a Shari’ah meaning along the following manner:

The Banner is white: written upon it La Ilaha Illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah in black, which is given to the Amir or leader of the Army. It is used to identify his position, and follows the position. The evidence for attaching the banner to the Amir of the Army:

. » دَخَلَ مَكَّةَ يَ وْمَ الْفَتْحِ وَلِوَاؤُهُ أَبْ يَضُ أَنَّ النَّبِيَّ « .

“The Prophet (phuh) entered Makkah on the Day of Conquest and his banner was white” reported by Ibn Maja from Jabir, and on that day the Messenger (pbuh) was the leader of the Army. In the same way, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) used to attach the banners to the leaders of the armies that he sent out, as has been mentioned in “‘Uyun Al-Athar fi Funun Al-Maghazi Wal- Shama’il Wal-Siyar” by Imam Al-Hafiz Abi Al-Fateh who is known by the name Ibn Sayyid Al-Nas who died in 734 AH, where he stated “...on Monday, four days before Safr of the eleventh year of Hijrah, the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) ordered the people to prepare to fight against the Romans. When it was the next day, he called Usamah Bin Zayd, and said to him go to the place your father was killed, so prepare the horses and you are the Amir of the Army…and so when it was Wednesday the Messenger of Allah (pbuh) began to feel pain…then when it was Thursday he gave a white banner to Usamah, then he said go out on the expedition in the path of Allah, and fight those who disbelieved in Allah, and so he went out with the banner tied…” The Flag is black: written upon it La Ilaha Illa Allah, Muhammad Rasul Allah in white, which is given to the heads of the divisions of the Army (brigade, unit, etc.). The evidence is that during Khaybar in his role as the leader of the Army, the Messenger (pbuh) said,