Kiswah

For the town in Syria, see Al-Kiswah.
Kaaba Makkah (Mecca)
Kiswah as pictured on February 22, 2024.

The kiswa (Arabic: كسوة الكعبة, kiswat al-ka'bah) is the cloth that covers the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is draped annually, though the date of draping has changed over the years.[1] A procession traditionally accompanies the kiswa to Mecca, a tradition dating back to the 12th century. The term kiswa has multiple translations, with common ones being 'robe' or 'garment'. Due to the iconic designs and the quality of materials used in creating the kiswa, it is considered one of the most sacred objects in Islamic art, ritual, and worship.[2]

The annual practice of covering the Kaaba has pre-Islamic origins and was continued by Muhammad and his successors.[3] Historically, various types of cloth and textiles have been used as draping, but Egyptian produced kiswas would be popularized by early Islamic rulers.[4]

  1. ^ "How the manufacturing of the Kaaba cover, kiswa, changed over the centuries". Arab News. 2022-07-08. Retrieved 2022-12-05.
  2. ^ Kern, Karen M.; Rosenfield, Yael; Carò, Federico; Shibayama, Nobuko (2017-12-01). "The Sacred and the Modern: The History, Conservation, and Science of the Madina Sitara". Metropolitan Museum Journal. 52: 72–93. doi:10.1086/696548. ISSN 0077-8958. S2CID 194836803.
  3. ^ McGregor, Richard J. A. (2020). Islam and the devotional object : seeing religion in Egypt and Syria. Cambridge, United Kingdom: Cambridge University Press. pp. 18–53. ISBN 978-1-108-59423-3. OCLC 1128065777.
  4. ^ Mortel, Richard (1988). ""The Kiswa: Its Origins and Development from Pre-Islamic Times until the End of the Mamluk Period"". Al-'Usûr. 3 (2): 30–46.