Nine serrations divide the white and maroon areas on Qatar’s national flag.
The flag has a broad white band at the hoist and a maroon field toward the fly. Their boundary is a serrated line made from nine white triangular points. Those points are not decorative guesswork: they are traditionally interpreted as representing Qatar’s status as the ninth reconciled emirate to sign the 1916 treaty with Britain, after eight other Gulf sheikhdoms.
Qatar’s flag is often confused with Bahrain’s because both use a white hoist section and a jagged boundary. Bahrain’s flag has fewer points, however, and its field is red rather than Qatar’s distinctive dark maroon. Qatar’s unusually long 11:28 proportions also help distinguish it; it is the only national flag whose width is more than twice its height.
The current design was adopted on 9 July 1971, shortly before independence. Qatar’s maroon shade was formally standardised as Pantone 1955 C in 2012. The white is associated with peace, while the maroon is linked to Qatar’s historic purple-dye tradition.