Kiswah

Kiswah (, "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. The term "kiswah" is Arabic for 'pall', the cloth draped over a casket.
Textiles of the Kaaba.
The textile covering of the Kaaba has multiple parts, which are the most sacred objects in Islamic art. The "kiswa" is the overall covering and the "hizam" is a belt circling it, about two thirds of the way up. The curtain over the door of the Kaaba is the "sitara", also known as a "burqu"'. There are other textiles inside, including the "Bab al-Tawba", a curtain over the door that leads to the roof. The earliest known "sitara" was made in 1544 in Egypt and the earliest Ottoman "hizam" was made for Selim II in the late 16th century. The basic designs of the "hizam" and "sitara" have continued to the present, although the inscriptions embroidered in gold and silver wire have become more ornate over time. These inscriptions include verses from the Quran and supplications to Allah, as well as the names of the rulers who commissioned the textiles. At 5.75 metres by 3.5 metres, the "sitara" is assembled by sewing together four separate textile panels; the "hizam" is similarly assembled by connecting four or eight panels. Another textile remade each year is the green silk bag which holds the key to the Kaaba: a tradition introduced in 1987. Along with these textiles, the workshops send ropes for attaching the "kiswa" to the Kaaba and spare silk in case the "kiswa" needs to be repaired. The textiles were manufactured all over the Islamic world in different eras, until a dedicated workshop was established in Mecca in 1927.
Current.
Every year, the old kiswa is removed, cut into small pieces, and given to certain individuals, visiting foreign Muslim dignitaries and organizations. Some of them sell their share as souvenirs of the Hajj. In earlier times, the Caliph Umar bin al-Khattab would cut it into pieces and distribute them among pilgrims who used them as shelter from the heat of Mecca.
The present cost of making the kiswa amounts to SAR 17,000,000 (~4,500,000 USD). The cover is and is made of of silk. The embroidery contains of gold threads. It consists of 47 pieces of cloth and each piece is long and wide. The kiswa is wrapped around the Kaaba and fixed to its base with copper rings. The manually designed embroidery of the Quranic verses is increasingly being aided by computers, increasing the speed of production.
History.
King Tubba Abu Karab As'ad of the Himyarite Kingdom, who is traditionally considered a convert to Judaism, clothed Kaaba for the first time, during the rule of the Jurhum tribe of Mecca.
The Kiswah in the reign of Muhammad.
Muhammad and the Muslims in Mecca did not participate in the draping of the Kaaba until the conquest of the city at 630 AD (7 AH), as the ruling tribe, Quraish, did not allow them to do so. When Mecca was taken by the Muslims, they decided to leave the Kiswah as it was until a woman lighting incense in the Kaaba accidentally set fire to the Kiswah. Muhammad then draped it with a white Yemeni cloth.
Under the Kings.
Many notable Kings have had their share of ruling over the Kiswah. Muawiyah I used to drape the Kaaba twice a year, along with the help of Abd-Allah ibn al-Zubayr, and Abd al-Malik. They brought the traditional silk covering into effect.
Al-Nasir, the Abbasid King, established the current practise of dressing the Kaaba with only one Kiswah at a time, superseding the former custom of allowing old Kiswah to accumulate one over the other. When Al-Nasir performed Hajj in 160 AH, he saw that the accumulated Kiswah could cause damage to the Kaaba itself, and therefore decreed that only one Kiswah should drape the Kaaba at any one time.
The King Al-Ma'mun, draped the Kaaba three times a year, each time with a different colour: red on the eighth of Dhu al-Hijjah, white "gabati" on the first of Rajab, and another red brocade on the twenty-ninth of Ramadan. Later on, Al-Nasir draped the Kaaba with green; both he and Al-Ma'mun disagreed on the frequent colour changes and switched to black, the only colour that has since been used for Kiswah. Black Kiswah supported by Tradition of Prophet to Mourning, some associated it with Battle of Karbala however saying of Prophet to wrap Kaaba with black cloth after 100 Years or before when events of Sorrow took start.
Location of manufacture.
From the time of the Ayyubids, precisely during the reign of as-Salih Ayyub, the Kiswah was manufactured in Egypt, with material sourced locally as well as from Sudan, India, and Iraq. 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 Kiswah from Egypt to Mecca on an annual basis. Muhammad Ali Pasha of Egypt ordered the expenses for making the Kiswah 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 Kiswah, 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.