MECCA, SAUDI ARABIA, AFTER 1927

The end of the Ottoman Empire and the abolition of the caliphate left the custodianship of the Two Holy Shrines vacant. In 1927, King 'Abd al-'Aziz opened a factory in Mecca to make kiswa textiles (Venetia Porter, Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, London, 2012, p.265). This marked a significant departure, as until this point the various textiles which adorned the Ka'ba had been provided by an Egyptian dynasty since the late Abbasid period. There was little to mark this change in the outward appearance of the kiswa: fine calligraphic inscriptions in gold thread continued to proclaim the duty of every Muslim to participate in Hajj and to celebrate the prophets most associated with Mecca and Medina, such as Muhammad and Ibrahim. The present fragment comes from the smaller calligraphic cartouches which sit below the main hizam bands on the Ka'ba.