Countries

Saudi Arabia

Home to Mecca and Medina, Islam's two holiest cities, Saudi Arabia hosts the Hajj each year, a pilgrimage every able Muslim is expected to make once in their lifetime. The kingdom, unified in 1932, sits atop some of the largest oil reserves on Earth.

Pilgrims performing Tawaf, circling the Kaaba, inside the Masjid al-Haram in Mecca

The Kaaba, Mecca

Photo: Basheer Olakara, CC BY 2.0

Green field adopted in its current form in 1973. The Shahada (Islamic declaration of faith) sits above a sword, and since the flag's text is sacred script, it is never flown at half-mast and never printed on anything disposable.

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