flag of his country, and it remained on Iraq’s flag
even after the fall of his government in 2003. The
new flag of aFghanistan consists of the shahada
inscribed over a mosque. The flags of 11 countries
with Muslim-majority populations contain a form
of the new moon (hilal) and star design, including
algeria, Azerbaijan, pakistan, and tUrkey. This
symbol has traditionally been used to represent
states governed by Muslims, especially since the
18th century, but it is not seen as an aspect of
Islamic worship, unlike the shahada.
See also government, islamic; politics and
islam.
Further reading: William G. Crampton, Smithsonian
Handbooks: Flags (New York: DK Publishing, 2002).
folklore
Folklore in the Islamicate lands encompasses
a rich and varied body of oral and written lit-
erature. In the qUran, several terms are used
to denote the narrative accounts of prophets
and other didactic tales: qassa, haka, haddatha,
khabara, and naba-a. These words indicate the
relating of news or passing on of information,
often with specific reference to the sayings and
doings of exemplary figures. The word ustura
also appears in the Quran with the pejorative
connotation of the superstitious tales believed
by the credulous and sinful. The same semantic
range appears in the hadith literature. It seems
clear that there were active storytelling tradi-
tions extant in the Hijaz (the western region
of the Arabian Peninsula) from before the time
of mUhammad (d. 632) that may have accom-
panied the rich tradition of pre-Islamic poetry.
In addition to early Arabian traditions, Islamic
folklore has been profoundly influenced by the
storytelling traditions in other parts of the world,
particularly those linked to the region via the
Silk Road. Indian, Chinese, Turkish, and Persian
stories have greatly enriched Arabic folklore.
Since at least al-Muhassin ibn al-Tanukhi’s 10th-
century collection of anecdotal tales, al-Faraj
baad al-shidda (Joyous Relief after Hardship),
there have been efforts to compile and classify
the various types of Arabic narratives. Another
famous work was Muhammad Awfi’s Jawami
al-hikayat wa-lawami al-riwayat (Collection of
stories and illustrious tales), a 13th-century col-
lection of some 2,000 Persian narratives.
Among the classificatory categories, hikaya is
perhaps the most common term used to denote
the range of fictional narratives, encompassing
didactic tales with ethical and moral functions,
etiological tales and fables, heroic ballads and
legends, and fanciful stories of the supernatural.
These works include the Tutinama and Kalila wa
Dimna, two cycles of fable that were translated
into Arabic from Sanskrit literature. The Gulistan
of Saadi (d. ca. 1291) is perhaps the greatest
example of Persian hikaya literature. The sira
denotes a biographical account that may range
from the life of Muhammad to the Sirat Bani Hil-
lal, a long oral epic poem describing tribal wars
and genealogical heroes of bedoUins that remains
one of the most popular tales in egypt and the
Middle East. The qissa came through Persian and
Turkish literature to signify biographical legends
such as the Hamzanama (The tale of Hamza),
love stories such as Layla wa Majnun and Shi-
rin-Farhad, and hagiographical tales of prophets
and saints such as the Qisas al-anbiya or the
Menaqib-i Haji Bektash. The most famous collec-
tion of Arabic folklore is, of course, Alf Layla wa-
Layla (The Thousand and One Nights, or arabian
nights), a tremendous gathering of tales with
Asian, Middle Eastern, and European origins.
However, this collection was actually reimported
to the Middle East from the French traveler Jean
Antoine Galland’s publication Les mille et une
nuits, which he began to publish in 1704. Some of
the tales are of Arab origin, but many also appear
to be the inventions and collections of Galland
and later editors. The cycle was reintroduced into
the Arab world in the early 19th century and has
gained popularity.folklore 245 J