Saudi Gazette report

MAKKAH — The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques has completed on Monday the annual customary procedure of raising the lower part of the cover (kiswa) of the Holy Kaaba by about three meters in accordance with the plan for the Hajj season of 2022.

The raised part of kiswa was covered with a white cotton cloth having a width of approximately two meters across all four sides.

Sheikh Abdul Rahman Al-Sudais, head of the Presidency, participated in the customary procedure in preparation for the annual Hajj season. He emphasized the importance of the great care and attention received by the Kaaba kiswa throughout the year from the wise leadership.

“This is an extension of the keenness of the Saudi government, ever since its establishment at the hands of King Abdul Aziz, on the care of the Two Holy Mosques as well as the Hajj and Umrah pilgrims and the facilities for them in general, and the Holy Kaaba in particular,” he said.

He emphasized that Saudi Arabia is doing everything that would facilitate the guests of God to perform their worship and rituals in ease and comfort.

The procedure of raising the Kaaba kiswa is carried out every year as a precautionary measure to prevent the pilgrims from damaging the kiswa as they tend to touch it during their tawaf (circumambulation around the Holy Kaaba).

Saudi specialist tailors from the King Abdulaziz Complex for the Kaaba Cover took part in the process of raising the kiswa, which is a piece of black silk with verses from the Holy Qur’an inscribed on it upward, to protect it from tampering.