Marrakech – The Royal Institute for Research on the History of Morocco (IRRHM), operating under the Academy of the Kingdom of Morocco, hosted on Thursday in Rabat a scientific colloquium dedicated to the history of Moroccan flags, led by historian and political scientist Mohamed Nabil Mouline.
The event brought renewed scholarly attention to one of the Kingdom’s most enduring symbols, positioning the flag as a key lens through which to read Morocco’s political, religious, and institutional evolution.
Far from being static visual markers, “the flags of Morocco,” Mouline argues, have continually evolved in response to shifting forms of authority, legitimacy, and collective identity.
In his presentation, Mouline emphasized that the function of the flag in Moroccan history has undergone a fundamental transformation: from a primarily military and organizational tool to a powerful symbol of political sovereignty and religious authority.
Prior to the rise of the Almoravid dynasty, Morocco was characterized by a plurality of political entities, where flags served largely tribal or military purposes. This fragmented landscape, he explained, began to change decisively with the emergence of centralized dynastic rule.
The Almoravid period marked a first major turning point with the adoption of the black flag, signaling a new political order.
An even more significant symbolic rupture occurred under the Almohads, who replaced black with white, establishing the white flag as a marker of sovereignty and a visual expression of the sultan’s majesty during official ceremonies and processions.
This choice, Mouline noted, reflected a deliberate effort to articulate authority through symbolism.
The white flag continued to dominate during the Marinid and Saadian periods, underscoring a long phase of continuity in the visual language of power. By the seventeenth century, however, green began to gain prominence, particularly through its association with Sufi zawiyas, where it carried strong religious connotations.
This period illustrates the growing interaction between political authority and spiritual influence in Morocco’s symbolic universe.
With the advent of the Alaouite dynasty, red emerged as the dominant color of power, gradually asserting itself as the principal emblem of the state.
Green, meanwhile, retained its religious significance, creating a dual symbolic register that continues to inform Moroccan identity.
According to Mouline, this balance between political authority and spiritual legitimacy remains central to understanding Morocco’s historical continuity.
The nineteenth and early twentieth centuries introduced a new phase, shaped by international transformations and external pressures.
In 1915, a green pentagram was added to the red flag, redefining its meaning in a global context. Mouline highlighted how the national movement and Sultan Mohammed Ben Youssef later reclaimed this symbol, turning it into a powerful emblem of national unity and the struggle for independence.
Following independence, the flag became firmly established as the official symbol of the modern Moroccan state.
For his part, IRRHM Director Rahal Boubrik underlined that the colloquium aligns with the Institute’s broader mission to renew approaches to writing Moroccan history by exploring multiple angles.
He emphasized the importance of focusing on symbols, concepts, and historical figures that have contributed to the formation of the state and national identity. The study of flags, he noted, fully embodies this approach, combining historical depth with symbolic analysis.
Boubrik described the colloquium as a rigorous and innovative research experience, both in substance and methodology, opening new perspectives for understanding Morocco’s past through one of its most significant political and identity-based symbols.
Mohamed Nabil Mouline is a senior researcher specializing in history and political science. He holds a PhD in history from Sorbonne University and a doctorate in political science from Sciences Po Paris, and is a researcher at France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). His body of work includes several influential publications, notably The Caliphate: A Political History of Islam (Flammarion, 2016), The Idea of the Constitution in Morocco: Documents and Texts (1901–2011), and Flags of Morocco: A Symbolic History.
