Muslim Views . February 201824

SALIM PARKERHAJJ is Arafah, and on the ninthday of Dhul-Hijjah, all pilgrims,dressed in their symbolicallybasic and unifying ihraam, headfor Arafah, the vast plain aroundJabal Rahmah, the Mount ofMercy. All are aware of the twopieces of white cloth that adornthe bodies of men while ladieswear their humblest garbs.

No pilgrim is in Makkah at thattime and the Kaabah, in effect, thecentre of the universe for all Mus-lims, undergoes a revival of its glo-rious external splendour.

It is on this day that the kiswah,the cloth covering the Kaabah, ischanged annually, and there is arich history associated with it.

On this day, every year, the oldkiswah is removed and cut intosmall pieces. Certain individuals,visiting foreign Muslim dignitariesand organisations are then givensome of these pieces. Most con-sider it as one of their most prizedpossessions.

The new kiswah then adornsthe Kaabah. It is claimed that thiscustom was started by Nabi Ismail(AS) 4 000 years before the originof Islam. The current cost of thekiswah is about 60 million rand as670 kilograms of pure silk is usedas well as 150 kilograms of goldthread.

The kiswah consists of 47pieces of cloth; each piece is 14metres long and one metre wide,in effect, covering 658 square me-tres. The kiswah is wrappedaround the Kaabah and tied tocopper rings at its base.

The manually designed embroi-dery of the Quranic verses isslowly being aided by computers,thus increasing the speed of pro-duction. The upper half of thekiswah is decorated with a 95-cen-timetre wide strip featuring versesof the Holy Quran, inscribed ingold-plated silver thread.

Traditionally, the pattern of thekiswah has not changed. The ma-terial is made from silk and a goldembroidered band is sewn about

three-quarters the distance fromthe bottom.

The part covering the door,which stands just over two metresabove the ground, on the north-east side wall, is covered sepa-rately with richly embroideredQuranic verses. There is also anopening at the Hajaratul Aswad,the Black Stone.

Nabi Muhammad (SAW) andthe Muslims in Makkah did notparticipate in the draping of theKaabah until the conquest of thecity, in 630 AD (7 AH), as the rul-

ing Quraish tribe did not allowthem to do so.

When Makkah was conqueredby the Muslims, they decided toleave the kiswah as it was until awoman lighting incense in theKaabah accidentally set it alight.

Nabi Muhammad (SAW) thendraped it with white Yemeni cloth.Later, Caliph Muawiyah used todrape the Kaabah twice a year andintroduced the now traditional silkcovering. Al-Nasir, the Abbasidcaliph, established the currentpractice of dressing the Kaabahwith only one kiswah at a time,superseding the former custom ofallowing old kiswahs to accumu-late one over the other.

This was due to Al-Nasir ob-serving, when he performed Hajjin 160 AH, that the accumulatedkiswahs could cause damage tothe Kaabah, and he, therefore, de-creed that only one kiswah shoulddrape the Kaabah at any one time.

Another caliph, named Al-Ma’mun, draped the Kaabah threetimes a year, each time in a differ-ent colour. He used red on theeighth of Dhul-Hijjah, white onthe first of Rajab, and another redbrocade on the twenty-ninth ofRamadaan. Later on, Al-Nasirdraped the Kaabah in green. How-ever, both he and Al-Ma’mun werenot happy with the frequentcolour changes, and switched toblack. Black has remained the onlycolour that has since been used forthe kiswah.

Earlier, the kiswahs were plainand it was only in 1340 that theembroidery border tradition wasintroduced by the Egyptian ruler,Hassan.

From the time of the Ayyubids,during the reign of as-Salih Ayyub,the kiswah was manufactured inEgypt, with material sourced lo-cally as well as from Sudan, Indiaand Iraq. The Amir al-Hajj (com-mander of the hajj caravan), who

was directly designated by thereigning sultans and emperors,transported the kiswah fromEgypt to Makkah on an annualbasis, amid huge fanfare.

The tradition continued until1927, when a factory was openedin Saudi Arabia but this closedabout a decade later due to non-availability of machinery. Produc-tion was then shifted to Egyptuntil 1962.

The relationship between Egyptand Saudi Arabia soured duringthat time and the Saudi factorywas reopened and was used untilthe modern, presently used, fac-tory was opened, in 1977. Pilgrimsoften visit it. High quality silk iscurrently imported from Italy andSwitzerland. It is then dyed black,and automated machines are in-creasingly being used in the spin-ning manufacturing process.Computers are currently also usedto assist in the hand-embroidereddecorative process.

Some pilgrims sometimes try totear or even cut parts of thekiswah during the Hajj andUmrah, to take home. The factoryhas maintenance teams on standbywho can inspect it every hour ifneeded and repair any damages.

To strengthen the kiswah, ateam of experts at Umm al-QuraUniversity, in Makkah, is studyingthe introduction of Kevlar, a syn-thetic fibre, into the silk in orderto make it resistant to high tem-peratures and heavy weights. Nan-otechnology is also beingincorporated to strengthen thefabric and make it less susceptibleto mishandling and the elements.

Saudi Arabia is introducingausterity measures due to its eco-nomic decline. When the high costof the kiswah was mentioned toone of the factory officials, hisreply was: ‘The kiswah glorifiesthe house of Allah. The Kaabahmore than deserves this honour.’

Kiswah – the covering of the Kaabah

Besides the gold inlay, the black part of the kiswah is also embroidered with black Quranic inscriptions.Photo SALIM PARKER

The door of the Kaabah is covered by an exquisitely decorated piece of embroidery. Photo SALIM PARKER

Craftsmen at work with part of the kiswah to be used in 2018. This was at an exhibition in Abu Dhabi. Photo FATIMA PARKER