Video | The ceremony of changing the covering of the Holy Kaaba at the beginning of the new Hijri year 1446 AH.

Weather of Arabia - The General Authority for the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque today changed the covering of the Holy Kaaba, as is the case annually, through a work team from the King Abdulaziz Complex for the Covering of the Holy Kaaba. The team consists of 159 makers, who work to implement the change process in an organized manner, as they are distributed on the sides and surface of the Kaaba according to their specializations. The process of change began with dismantling the old kiswah and installing the new one, then installing it in the corners and surface of the Kaaba.

The ceremony of changing the covering of the Kaaba at the beginning of the new Hijri year 1446 AH.
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- Trend Al Madina (@Trend_MD) July 7, 2024

The new Kaaba covering

The weight of the new cladding is 1,350 kilograms, its height is 14 meters, and it consists of four sides and a door curtain. Each of the four sides of the Kaaba was raised to the top, in preparation for spreading it on the old side, and securing it by tying the upper end, then lowering the lower end of the new side after loosening the ropes of the old side. I repeated this process for each side until the cladding was complete, then distributed the belt in a straight line to all four sides and sewed it.

After installing all the sides, the corners were sewn from the top of the cladding to the bottom. After that, the curtain was placed, which required time and mastery of work, as a hole was made in the black fabric in the area of the curtain, and then the curtain was installed from under the fabric by sewing the edges.

The outer covering is decorated with patterns woven with black threads in the “jaquard” manner, on which are written: “O God, oh God,” “There is no god but God, Muhammad is the Messenger of God,” “Glory be to God and praise be to Him,” “Glory be to God the Great,” “O Dayan, O Mannan.” These phrases are repeated on all the Kiswa cloth pieces.

The kiswa consumes about 1,000 kilograms of raw silk dyed black inside the complex, 120 kilograms of gold wire, and 100 kilograms of silver wire. The Kiswa belt consists of 16 pieces, in addition to seven pieces under the belt.

The kiswah includes 17 lamps bearing supplications such as: “O Most Merciful, O Most Merciful,” “Praise be to God, Lord of the Worlds,” “O Ever-Living, O Ever-Living,” and “God is Great.” Below the belt, there are four samdiyas from Surat Al-Ikhlas distributed on the sides of the Kaaba, five ornaments decorating the gutter of the Kaaba, the Black Stone, and the Yemeni Corner, and an embroidered chain above the Yemeni Corner, along with the outer curtain of the Kaaba’s door. After re-gilding the Kaaba, rings are installed to secure the kiswa on the Shazhrawan marble, numbering 60 gilded rings, to secure the kiswa consistently against various weather conditions.

About 200 makers and administrators work at the King Abdulaziz Complex for Kiswa of the Holy Kaaba, all of whom are trained and qualified citizens. The complex includes several departments such as: dyeing, automated weaving, hand weaving, printing, belting, goldsmithing, sewing, and cladding assembly, which contains the largest sewing machine in the world with a length of 16 meters, running on a computer system. Supporting departments include: laboratory, administrative services, quality, public and health relations for workers, and occupational safety.

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