-------- The Kiswah has a interesting
history through different eras. Some scholars argue that the first Kiswa
was made
by the Prophet Ishmael. It is mentioned by others that the first Kiswa
was made by Adnan bin Ad, a great great-
grandfather of the Prophet Mohamed (peace be upon him). But, most sources
agree that Tub'a. King of
Humayyur in Yemen was the first to start this tradition. After that, many
others draped the Kabah during the
pre-Islam period.
It is told, in the pre-Islam period, that Abu Rabia'h Bin Amro AI Makhzoumi
was a very rich man, and he said to
Quraish (the ruling tribe of Makkah) that he would drape the Kabah one
year, and Quraish would drape it in the
next year. Quraish agreed, and the story says that he continued to drape
the Kabah until his death.
Kiswah in the reign of Messenger (peace of Allah be upon him) and orthodox
caliphs
The Messenger (peace of Allah be upon him) and Muslims did not participate
in draping the Kabah before taking
of Makkah, as Quraish did not allow them to do so. When Makkah was taken,
The Messenger (Peace of Allah be
upon him) left the Kiswa as it is, until it was burned accidentally when
a women was fumigating the Kabah.
Messenger then draped the Kabah with Yemeni cloth. After him, the orthodox
caliphs draped it
Kiswah after the Orthodox caliphs until the Saudi reign
Caliph Muawiyah used to dress the Kabah twice a year, then Yazid Bin Muawiyah,
Ibn AI Zubair, and Abd AI
Malik Bin Murwan all dressed is with silk covering. At one time, it had
become a custom that the old Kiswah was
not removed, the new one being put on top of the old. This continued until
the reign of Mahdi, the Abbasid
Caliph. When he performed Hajj in 160 AH, he saw that the accumulated Kiswah
could cause damage to Kabah
itself. He therefore decreed that only one Kiswah should drape the Kabah
at any one time, and this had been
observed ever since.
The Caliph AI Mamoon, dressed the Kabah three times a year, with a red
braced Kiswah on the eighth of Zu AI
Hijjah, with white gabati on the first of Rajab, and with red brocade Kiswah
on the twenty-ninth of Ramadan. After
that, AI Nasir the Abbaside, dressed the Kabah in green. Caliph AI Nasir
decided after that to change the color
into black, and black it remains to this day
The variegated drape (sitarah), which is hanged on the front side of the
kaabah, was introduced in 810 AH.
Between 816 and 818, this hanging drape was stopped, then it began again
in 819 AH, and it is still being
hanged until now.
Kiswah in the Saudi Reign
His highness, King Abd AI Aziz Bin Saud, with concern for the custody of
the two holy Mosques, ordered the
building of a special factoy for manufacturing the Kiswah, and in the same
year, the Holy Kabah Kiswah factory
was founded, and the first Kiswah was produced.
The Kiswah continued to be made in Makkah for the next ten years. In order
to make this work better, King
Faisal ordered in the year 1382 AH the renewal of the Kiswah factory, and
in the year 1397 AH, the new
building was opened at Um AI Joud.
Description of the Kiswah of the Holy Kabah
The Kiswah is woven from pure natural silk, which is dyed black. The sentences
"La Ilah Ila Allah , Mohamed
Rasoul Allah". "Allah Jala Jalal'h", "Subhan Allah wa bihamdih", "Subhan
Allah A1 Azeem", "Ya hanan", "Ya
Manan" are improdered on the black silk in thread of gold. The Kiswah is
made up of 41 pieces. Each piece is
14 meters long and 95 cm wide. The wide belt, 45 meters long and 95 cm
wide, comprises 16 parts.
The "Ikhlas Sura" from the Holy Quran is embroidered in gold as circles
on the four corners.
These circles are surrounded with squares of Islamic decorations. Under
the belt, there are also 6 verses of
Holy Quran, each of them inside a separated form.
The drapes (Sitara) of the Kaabah door, which is called the Burqu'a, is
made of the same black silk material, and
it is 6.5 meter in height and 3.5 meters in width. The border and drapes
are embroidered with silver threads
covered with gold. The whole Kiswah is lined with a thick material of cotton.