Baghdad: The Kiswa Makers

Date: mid-twelfth century

In his Nuzhat al-mushtāq fi ikhtirāq al-afāq, al-Idrisi (d. 1164) indicates that the Kaʿba dress was made of Iraqi silk. Twenty-seven cubits were used to cover the Kaʾba, buttons and loops were attached to it. Al-Idrisi also indicated that the caliph in Baghdad used to send the Kaʾba dress every year to replace the old one and that no one else could do that.