In october 1971, the Emiri Diwan of Abu Dhabi announced a competition in Al Ittihad newspaper to design the national flag, which elicited 1.030 designs submissions. Six of these were shortlisted for consideration.
Abdullah Mohammad Al Maena, ayoung Emirati, won the competition and was awarded a prize of Dh4,000 for his design. Later, he was given the post of Plenipotentiary Minister at the UAE Foreign Ministry. The designer was inspired by a dobayati (double verse poem) on Arab unity written by the poet Safiul Deen Al Holi describing good deeds as white, the fertile plains as green, battles as dark, and swords as red.
