Page "Kiswah" Paragraph 2

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, 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.

The cover is 658m < sup > 2 </ sup > and is made of 670 kg of silk.

The embroidery contains 15 kg of gold threads.

It consists of 47 pieces of cloth and each piece is 14m long and 101 cm wide.

The kiswa is wrapped around the Kaaba and fixed to the ground with copper rings.

The manually designed embroidery of the Quranic verses are slowly being aided by computers, thus increasing the speed of finishing.