Ever wonder what the black-and-white ISIS flag means?

September 06, 2014 14:54

It has become a symbol that's hard to ignore this summer: The black flag with white Arabic writing flown by ISIS, the militant group in Iraq and Syria that calls itself the Islamic State.

The flag has shown up everywhere -- from images posted online by the militants to the suburbs of New Jersey. But just what are the origins of this flag?

The flag is often called the Black Standard or the Black Banner. "The black banner of Islam as an idea goes back to the 8th century, when the Second Dynasty of Islam came to power with black banners," says Jonathan Bloom, a professor of Islamic Art at Boston College.

The white writing that you see at the top of the flag is the first half of an Islamic phrase called the shahada, or declaration of faith, which reads: "There is no god but God, Muhammad is the messenger of God."

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