Покров Каабы: История и Традиции Ки́свы

Cloth cover over the Kaaba in Mecca
the town in Syria

Kiswa (كسوة الكعبة, kiswat al ka'bah) is the cloth that covers the Kaaba in Mecca, Saudi Arabia. It is draped annually on the 9th day of the month of Dhu al Hijjah, the day pilgrims leave for the plains of Mount Arafat during the Hajj. 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. The annual practice of covering the Kaaba has pre Islamic origins and was continued by Muhammad and his successors. Historically, various types of cloth and textiles have been used as draping, but Egyptian produced kiswas would be popularized by early Islamic rulers.

The tradition of covering the Kaaba predates the emergence of Islam, with various Yemeni textiles composing the draping. Tubba' later covered the Kaaba in a striped red woolen garment, layering it atop the already existing hangings. The Quraysh (قُرَيْشٌ), the ruling confederation of tribes in Mecca, later organized funding for the kiswa using annually collected payments from each of the tribes who worshipped there. However, the Abbasid caliph Al Mahdi would establish the precedent of annually removing and replacing the old kiswa after realizing the accumulated weight from the old kiswas could structurally compromise the Kaaba following his pilgrimage to Mecca in 777 CE. The Amir al Hajj (commander of the hajj caravan), who was directly designated by the sultans of the Mamluk, and later, Ottoman Empires, transported the kiswa from Egypt to Mecca on an annual basis. Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt ordered the expenses for making the kiswa to be met by his state treasury in the early 19th century. Since then, Dar Al Khoronfosh, a workshop in Cairo’s Al Gamaleya district, had been selected for the task of making the kiswa, and continued this role throughout the reign of the Egyptian monarchy. After the take over of the Hijaz region, and from 1927 onward, its manufacture was partially moved to Mecca and then fully moved in 1962, when Egypt stopped manufacturing. The tradition of the kiswa being accompanied by a covering called the mahmal during the trip to Mecca is said to have started during the rule of Queen Shajar al Durr, however the practice was not widely accepted as tradition until the 15th century. It is unclear whether the mahmal carries the kiswa itself or simply accompanies the cloth to Mecca due to the lack of access to the processional covering,

Today the Kiswa’s design features the colors black, gold, and silver. Black silk linen comprises the entirety of the garment, displaying large unaccented sections and providing background to the portions with inscriptions. The gold and silver comprise the inscriptions and accents that embellish the garment. Rendered in the Thuluth calligraphy style, these characters overlap each other and protrude slightly from the kiswa itself. The Sura Ikhlas appears in circular medallions inscribed within squares at each of the four corners of the kiswa: Rukn al Hajjar al Aswad (Arabic: ركن الحجر الأسواد), Rukn al 'Iraqi (Arabic: الركن العراقي), Rukn al Yamani (Arabic: الركن اليميني), Rukn ush Shami (Arabic: الركن الشامي). These are beneath the hizam where longer Qur’anic verses appear. Artisans carefully interweave gold and silver wire to create these elements which appear brilliant on the black silk. Previous iterations have featured more colorful and varied design programs. However, kiswas dating earlier than the Ottoman period are rare due to natural degradation as well as a now defunct practice of cutting the kiswa and selling the pieces to pilgrims.