سبز

سبز is the color of Shia Islam: green banners, green flags on imamzadehs, the green sayyid turban worn by descendants of the Prophet. In Iranian flag symbolism, the top stripe is green and is read as the color of Islam. سبز also carries pre-Islamic weight: in classical Persian poetry سبز belongs to spring, paradise, and renewal. Hafez and Saadi pair سبز with the garden, the meadow, and the beloved's youth. In recent political memory, سبز is the color of the 2009 Green Movement (جنبش سبز, jonbesh-e sabz), the protest wave that followed the disputed presidential election. Wearing green in summer 2009 was a political signal. Years later, سبز still triggers that association for many Iranians, layered on top of the religious and poetic ones. The color is plural: nature, faith, and politics all claim it.