Ahmed El Shamsy

The Hoax in the ISIS Flag

The 19th century saw a spate of forgeries by European Orientalists of letters claiming to be from the Prophet Muhammad himself. Sultan Abdul Majid bought one for the equivalent of a staggering 73 pounds of gold. Over 100 years later, the Islamic State used the seal on this fake for its own logo and infamous flag, tricked by the wiles of expert entrepreneurs.