The Holy Kaaba is covered by a cloth which is known as Kiswah. It has a very interesting history from different eras. Some scholars say that the first Kiswah was made by Prophet Ismail. It was also mentioned by others that the first Kiswah was made by Adnan Inn Ad, a great-great-grandfather of the Prophet Muhammad. However many scholars agree that Tuba, King of Humayyur in Yemen, was the first person to start this tradition. After that, many other people began draping the holy Kaaba during the pre-Islamic period.
It is said that in the pre-islamic era, Abu Rabiah Ibn Amr Al-Makhzoomi was a very rich man, and he said to the Quraysh that he would drape the Kaaba one year, and the Quraysh agreed, and people say that he continued to drape the Kaaba until his death.
The Kaaba Kiswa in the Time of the Messenger and the Rightly Guided Caliphs
Before Makkah was taken, the Quraysh did not permit the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him) or Muslims to take part in the draping of the Kabah. Following Makkah’s conquest, the Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him) left the kiswah intact until an inadvertent fire occurred during a woman’s fumigation of the Kaaba. Then, the Ka`bah was covered with Yemeni cloth by the Messenger (peace and blessings be upon him). The Caliphs who were Rightly Guided draped it after him.
The Kiswah following the Righteous Caliph
The Kabah was first dressed twice a year by Caliph Muawiyah; thereafter, it was covered in silk by Yazeed ibn Muawiyah, Ibn Az-Zubayr, and Abdul-Malik ibn Marawan. It used to be customary to place the new kiswah on top of the old without removing the old one. This persisted until Mahdi, the Abbasid caliph, came to power. He realized that the Kabah itself might sustain harm from the accumulated kiswahs when he undertook the Hajj in 160 a.h. As a result, he issued a proclamation mandating that only one kiswah at a time drape the Kabah; this has been followed ever since.
Caliph Al-Ma’moon used to drape the holy Kaaba three times a year with red braced Kaaba cover on 8 Dhul-Hijjah, with white gabati on 1 Rajab, and with red brocade on 29 Ramadan. After that, the Abbasid An-Nasir started covering the Kaaba with a green colour Kaaba cover. But after some years, Caliph An-Nasir decided to change the colour of the Kiswah to black, and till now, the colour remains the same.
The variegated drape was introduced in 810 a.h, which was hung on the front of the holy Kaaba. But from 816 to 818 a.h, the hanging was stopped of this drape, but it started again in 819 a.h, and still, we continue to hang this on the front side of the Kaaba.
Kaaba cover in the current time
In 1346, a.h Highness King Abd Al-Aziz Al-Saud ordered to make a factory especially to manufacture Kaaba cover with the permission of the two holy mosques. In the same year the factory was founded, the Kaaba factory produced its first Kaaba Kiswa.
After that, kiswah was manufactured in the same factory for the next 10 years, but to enhance its working, King Faisal ordered the renewal of the factory, and the new factory was opened at Umm Al-Joud.
Description of the Kaaba kiswa
The Kiswah is manufactured from the black dyed pure natural silk cloth. The Kiswah is embroidered with gold and silver threads with the sentences ” La ilaha illa Allah; Muhammad Rasul Allah,” “Allahu Jalla Jalaluh,” and “Subhan Allah wa bihamdih,” with golden treads. The Kaaba Cover is made with 41 pieces of cloth, each 14 meters long and 95 centimeters wide. The belt was also 45 meters long and 95 centimeters wide and composed of 16 parts.
Surat Al-Ikhlas from the Quran is embroidered in the four circles of the Kaaba cover.
The Kiswah for the door of the holy Kaaba is made from the same black cloth, and it is 6.5 meters high and 3.5 meters wide. The borders and drapes are embroidered with silver threads covered with gold threads. The whole Kaaba Kiswa is lined with a thick cotton material cloth.
