Anṣār (الأنصار) banner

Title

flag

Creator

Creator Unrecorded

Subject

Sudan

Flags and Colours

Description

Very large banner, possibly carried by Anṣār (الأنصار) in battle but in remarkable condition. Fine silk fabric in faded green, with white cotton lettering sewn on (rather then appliqued) and running over conventional line length. Border of fine white cotton. The name of the Sufi mystic, ʿAbd-al-Qādir al-Jīlānī, is spelled correctly on this banner, although a spelling error in the final line is corrected with the insertion of the missing letter. The Arabic script reads:

يا الله يا رحمان يا رحيم يا حي يا قيوم يا ذالجلال
yā allah yā raḥmān yā raḥīm yā ḥayy yā qayūm yā ḍhi’l-jalāl
Oh Allah, O the compassionate, O the merciful | O ever-living, O everlasting, O Lord of Majesty

والاكرام لا الله الا الله محمد رسول الله
wa’l-ikrām lā illah ill’allah muḥammad rasūl allah
and Generosity | There is no god but Allah [and] Muḥammad is the Prophet of Allah

محمد المهدي خليفة رسول الله الجيلاني ولي الله
muḥammad al-mahdī khalīfat rasūl allah al-jīlānī walī allah
Muḥammad the Mahdī is the successor of the Prophet of Allah | al-Jīlānī is a friend of Allah

[FN/ON 14.8.19, FHM 2019]