Saudi Gazette report

MAKKAH — On behalf of Custodian of the Two Holy Mosques King Salman, Deputy Emir of Makkah Region and Deputy Chairman of the Permanent Committee for Hajj and Umrah Prince Saud bin Mishaal handed over the Holy Kaaba’s new cover (Kiswa) to Abdul Malik bin Taha Al-Shaibi, the senior keeper of the Grand Mosque.

The handover of the Kaaba Kiswa, the black cloth covering the Kaaba, is a significant annual tradition in Islam, marking the start of the new Islamic year and preceding the Hajj season. The Kiswa handover ceremony is a demonstration of the leadership's care and attention to the Kaaba, Islam's holiest shrine.

The handover documents were signed by Minister of Hajj and Umrah and Chairman of the Board of Directors of the General Authority for the Care of the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque Tawfiq Al-Rabiah, and Senior Keeper of the Grand Mosque Abdul Malik bin Taha Al-Shaibi.

The handover ceremony marks the upcoming replacement of the Holy Kaaba’s Kiswa on the first day of Muharram 1447 AH.

The new Kiswa was produced by the King Abdulaziz Complex for Holy Kaaba Kiswa using natural black-dyed silk, embroidered in gold and silver threads. The covering stands 14 meters high and features, in its upper third, a belt that is 95 centimeters wide and 47 meters long, composed of 16 pieces framed by Islamic decorative patterns. It is made up of five pieces of cloth, including the curtain that covers the Kaaba door, sewed together.

The handover ceremony is part of the preparations and procedures for replacing the Holy Kaaba’s Kiswa in the beginning of the year 1447 AH, reflecting the leadership’s care and attention to every stage from production to completion of the replacement.