Kaaba to be draped with a $5-million silk covering

I could have easily found a less expensive animal secretion to cover it with but this is good news not bad. 5 Million dollars will not go to support terror, it will not cause anyone useful to die. I say useful because many elderly Muslims do die every year attempting to visit the home of the moon god. Many more Muslims find themselves victims of crime (mostly Muslims on Muslim) making the trip. Not for the faint of heart I encourage all Muslims to make the trip not one but every year. Give the rest of us a break. – h/t TNR

From correspondents in Middle East, 12/13/07
The Kaaba, a cube-shaped structure honoured by Muslims as the house of Allah, will be covered soon with a new 670-kg black silk blanket as part of the annual preparations for the holy Muslim Haj (pilgrimage), reports said Thursday.

The Kaaba cover, referred to as a ‘kiswa’ in Arabic, is made of black silk and adorned with phrases in praise of Allah, ornamented with 150 kg of gold and silver thread.

The 14-metre-long cloth has a gilded 95-centimetre belt along the top containing verses from the Koran in Arabic calligraphy within an arabesque frame.

Costing about $5.36 million, the kiswa took a whole year to produce in a specialised factory.

Every year the old kiswa is removed, cut into small pieces and gifted to certain individuals, visiting foreign Muslim dignitaries and organisations.

The area around the Kaaba is considered sacred, as moving around it is an integral part of the ritual of the pilgrimage to Mecca (the Haj).

About 1.4 million pilgrims from all over the world have arrived in Saudi Arabia since Monday, consuming more than 42 million loaves of bread and almost three million litres of water from the revealed Zamzam well near the Kaaba.

The Haj officially starts on December 19th.

Explore posts in the same categories: Islamo-Nazis, Obsession