Flag of Morocco

What the flag of Morocco looks like

The flag of Morocco is a red field with a green pentagram in the middle. The pentagram is not a filled star. It is formed by five straight green lines that cross each other, leaving a small pentagon open in the center, so the red background shows through. This is why it is often called an interlaced pentagram or a five-pointed seal. The flag has a ratio of 2:3, and the star points upward.

There are no stripes, text or coat of arms on the national flag. The royal standard and the state and naval flags are separate designs: the royal standard, for instance, carries the royal coat of arms. Because the national flag is so simple, it is easy to recognize at a distance, but it can be confused with the flag of Vietnam, which is also red with a single star in the middle. The Vietnamese star is yellow and solid, while the Moroccan one is green and drawn in outline.

You can see how the flag looks as an emoji on the Morocco flag emoji page, or get image files from the download page.

Moroccan flag meaning and symbolism

The red field is linked to the Alaouite dynasty, which has ruled Morocco since the 17th century and traces its descent to the Prophet Muhammad. Red is also commonly said to stand for courage, strength and the blood of those who defended the country.

The green star is called the Seal of Solomon (Khatam Sulayman) in the Islamic tradition. The five points are usually read as the five pillars of Islam: the declaration of faith, prayer, charity, fasting during Ramadan and the pilgrimage to Mecca. Green is a traditional color of Islam and is also often said to represent hope, joy, peace and the fertility of the land. Another common reading is that the star stands for the link between the Moroccan people and their king.

These meanings are traditional rather than set out in law. The Moroccan constitution only states that the flag is red with a green five-pointed star.

The pentagram has nothing to do with the Star of David, which has six points and does not appear on any version of the Moroccan flag.

History of the Moroccan flag

For centuries Moroccan dynasties used banners of a single color. The Alaouites, who came to power in the 1660s, adopted a plain red flag, and it remained the symbol of the sultanate for a long time. Earlier flags of the region had been white or other colors, depending on the ruling house.

The green star was added in 1915. Morocco had become a French protectorate in 1912, with a Spanish zone in the north and the international city of Tangier. Under Sultan Yusef the sultanate adopted a new flag, a red field with a green pentagram, partly to make it distinct from other plain red flags in use at the time. The star was probably chosen because the Seal of Solomon had long been used as a decorative and protective symbol in Moroccan art.

The flag did not change when Morocco regained its independence from France and Spain in 1956, and it has stayed the national flag of the Kingdom of Morocco ever since. This is also the answer to a frequent question about "the old Moroccan flag": before 1915 the flag was the plain red banner without a star.

Today the flag is flown on public buildings and on national holidays such as Throne Day on 30 July and Independence Day on 18 November.

Colors of the Moroccan flag

The flag uses only two colors, red and green. They are also two of the traditional pan-Arab colors, and the combination of red and green is common across the Maghreb and the Arab world. Red makes up nearly all of the surface, with the green star taking up a small part in the middle. To find the exact values for printing and web use, see the color swatches on this page.

Morocco's neighbor Algeria uses green as well, but in a very different design: two vertical halves of green and white with a red crescent and star.