Kiswat Al-Ka'bah (Kiswah)

Kiswat Al-Ka'bah (Kiswah)

Macca Macca

About :

Kiswat Al-Kaaba is a piece of black silk with Quranic verse inscriptions made from gold water that is used to cover the Kaaba and is changed once a year during the Hajj season, on the morning of Arafat day on the ninth of Dhu al-Hijjah.

It was created by the greatest artists in the Islamic world and is regarded as a tremendous honour in the Islamic world.

The wisdom of Kiswat Al-Ka'bah

The wisdom of the idea of draping the Kaaba is that it is considered one of the Islamic rituals, and it is to follow the Sunnah (teaching) of our Holy Prophet, and what the companions did after his departure. It was mentioned that in the ninth Hijri year, our Holy Prophet, after opening Mecca, draped the Kaaba in Yemen textiles in the Farewell Pilgrimage, and the expense was taken from the House of the Muslims ' money.

Also, when the messenger of Allah opened Mecca, he kept the old Kiswat (Drapes), which Al-Kaaba had been covered with it before the conquest, and he did not replace them, until the covers were burned accidentally when a woman wanted to steam them, after which the Prophet draped it with Yemeni clothes, and then Al-Rashidun followed the Prophet's Sunnah in the Kaaba draping, Omar and Abu Bakr using Coptic and Yemeni textiles.

Then Uthman ibn Affan draped the Kaaba using two drapes, one on top of the other, and this method was the first of its kind in the history of Islam. As for Ali, there were no stories that he had draped the Kaaba, and this is a result of his preoccupation with the sedition that had occurred during his reign, but after him, kings and sultans in different eras pledged to drape the Holy Kaaba.

Kiswat Al-Kaaba in Islam is legitimate and desirable because this act is a glorification and love for the sacred house of Allah, as mentioned in the Holy Qur'an: "whoever honours the sacred rites of Allah, for him, it is good in the Sight of his Lord. Lawful to you are cattle, except those mentioned to you: but shun the abomination of idols, and shun the word that is false"

The great Kaaba has been always draped since the laws of the prophets who preceded our Master Muhammad, and even after when Islam entered, and this has continued to this day. During The Hajj season, The drapes of Al-Kaaba are lifted, and this is to protect them from many people that cut the drapes with sharp knives to get small pieces of them for blessing.

History of Kiswat Al-Ka'bah

The idea of draping the Kaaba is a manifestation of praise, reverence, and interest in God's house and the history of Kiswat Al-Kaaba is part of the history of the Kaaba itself, as when both Ibrahim and Ismail raised the pillars of the Holy Kaaba, Ibrahim returned to the state of Palestine, and it was also mentioned that Adnan Ibn Aded, the great-grandfather of our Prophet Muhammad, was one of those who draped the Kaaba.

There is also another story, which is the predominant one, that (Abū Karib As’ad al-Kāmil Al-Himyarite) was the king of Yemen at that time, and was considered the first to fully drape it when he visited Mecca, and this was before Islam, and he was also the first to make a door and a key for the Kaaba, then he draped the Kaaba with Khasaf, which is a thick garment, then he covered it with Muafi, ,Mullah, and Wasilah.

After him, his successors draped the Kaaba with leather and Qubati (thin white clothing), and after that, many in the Jahiliyyah draped the Kaaba, and this was considered one of the religious duties, where the covering was placed on the Kaaba one on top of another, so if one of them was damaged, it was removed, buried and replaced, until things came to Qusayy ibn Kilab, the fourth grandfather of the prophet, and he organised it after he gathered his people and consulted on the matter.