What Is Kiswah? The Story Behind the Cloth of the Kaaba
The black cloth over the Kaaba is one of the most photographed objects on earth, and one of the least understood. Here is what it is, how it is made, and how to bring a little of its beauty home.
Every year, as the Islamic new year begins, the Kaaba changes its clothes. On the first of Muharram, craftsmen raise four new sides of black silk to the roof, unfold each one over the old, then loosen the ropes of the cloth beneath. By the time most of the world wakes up, the Kaaba is wearing something new.
Most of us know only the photograph: that black cube at the centre of a sea of white. Few of us know what goes into it, or that it took more than fifteen centuries to become what it is today.
Here is the story behind the cloth.
01. What is the Kiswah?
Kiswah simply means "covering" in Arabic. It is the cloth that drapes all four walls of the Kaaba, from roof to base, and it stands about 14 metres high.
It is made of four separate sides and a curtain for the door. About two-thirds of the way up runs the hizam, or belt: a band around 47 metres long and 95 centimetres deep, embroidered with verses of the Qur'an in gold and silver thread.
02. How is it made?
Today the Kiswah is made in Makkah, at the King Abdulaziz Complex for the Holy Kaaba Kiswa, where more than 200 craftsmen and administrators work on it through the year.
The figures change a little from year to year, but the Saudi Press Agency reported the covering for 1446 AH as needing about 1,000 kilograms of raw silk, dyed black at the complex itself, along with 120 kilograms of gold wire and 100 kilograms of silver wire.
The verses are written in Thuluth, the tall, flowing script of monumental Islamic calligraphy. They are printed onto the cloth, then embroidered over by hand. That is why the letters on the belt have the weight and swing of a pen stroke rather than the flatness of print.
03. Why does it change every year?
Partly, it is simple wear. The cloth spends a year in the desert sun, touched by the hands of pilgrims who pray beneath it.
It is also a matter of honour. For centuries, renewing the covering has been treated as a duty and a privilege by whoever served the Sanctuary. The old Kiswah does not go to waste: it is cut into pieces, some of which are later given or put on display.
04. A cloth older than Islam
According to historical accounts, the first person to fully clothe the Kaaba was a Yemeni king, Abu Karib As'ad of Himyar, in the early fifth century, with a striped red woollen cloth. After the conquest of Makkah, the Prophet ﷺ added a covering of Yemeni cloth. Under the early caliphs it was dressed in white Egyptian linen.
For much of its history, Egypt made the Kiswah and sent it to Makkah each year. Production began moving to Makkah in 1927 and moved there entirely in 1962, when Egypt stopped making it. The colours have changed over the centuries; the reverence has not.
05. Bringing it home: the Kiswatul Ka'ba collection
The Kiswah itself is not something you can buy. What we can offer is its beauty, made with care.
Our Kiswatul Ka'ba frames are embroidered on velvet in Bangladesh, after the designs of the original Kiswah. The thread stands proud of the cloth and catches the light the way the belt does in Makkah: gold on black, heavy and soft at once.
[TEAM QUOTE: Rashid Shahriar, Founder & Head of Designs, on how the designs were chosen and what he wanted the frames to feel like.]
Yaa Haiyu, Yaa Kaiyum
Al-Hayy and Al-Qayyum, the Ever-Living and the Sustainer of all, are two of the names of Allah that meet in Ayat al-Kursi (Al-Baqarah 2:255). Embroidered in gold on deep velvet, they belong on the wall you see first each morning. It is a quiet gift for parents just home from Umrah, or for a couple setting up their first home.
Shahadah
The testimony of faith, the first words of Islam, rendered in the manner of the Kiswah. It is the piece for an entrance hall, where it greets every guest before you do.
Explore the Kiswatul Ka'ba collection here
A last word
A pilgrim may stand before the Kiswah for a few days in a lifetime. A frame on the wall is seen every day. It is a small, daily reminder of the direction we all face.
Words by Rashid Shahriar, Founder & Head of Designs
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