I’m posting this picture of the Saudi national flag only because I went through so much trouble to get it ;-). The first time we visited here there was no breeze at all; this time there was, but I always have a hard time timing it just right. This flag I thought was interesting – it seems very beat up, and I don’t know if it’s because it sits in front of the historic Masmak Fort, where the future King Abdulaziz retook Riyadh and is a special flag, or if it’s just the result of the extreme climate here. Now this gallery is paused until we get back to Qasr Al Hokm again!

The Arabic inscription on the flag, written in the Thuluth script, is the shahada or Islamic declaration of faith:

لَا إِلٰهَ إِلَّا الله ومُحَمَّدٌ رَسُولُ الله
lā ʾilāha ʾillā l-Lāh wa Muḥammadun rasūlu l-Lāh
"There is no god but God and Muhammad is the messenger of God"