the kiswa being accompanied by a covering called the mahmal during the trip to Mecca is said to have started during the rule of Queen Shajar al-Durr, however the practice was not widely accepted as tradition until the 15th century. It is unclear whether the mahmal carries the kiswa itself or simply accompanies the cloth to Mecca due to the lack of access to the processional covering, however it is said that in modern times the mahmal carries the new kiswa to Mecca and then takes the old kiswa to Cairo after the Hajj is completed. Design and Textiles of the Kaaba Design Today the Kiswa’s design features the colors black, gold, and silver. Black silk linen comprises the entirety of the garment, displaying large unaccented sections and providing background to the portions with inscriptions. The gold and silver comprise the inscriptions and accents that embellish the garment. Rendered in the Thuluth calligraphy style, these characters overlap each other and protrude slightly from the kiswa itself. The Sura Ikhlas appears in circular medallions inscribed within squares at each of the four corners of the kiswa: Rukn al-Hajjar al-Aswad (Arabic: ركن الحجر الأسواد), Rukn al-'Iraqi (Arabic: الركن العراقي), Rukn al-Yamani (Arabic: الركن اليميني), Rukn ush-Shami (Arabic: الركن الشامي). These are beneath the hizam where longer Qur’anic verses appear. Artisans carefully interweave gold and silver wire to create these elements which appear brilliant on the black silk. Previous iterations have featured more colorful and varied design programs. However, kiswas dating earlier than the Ottoman period are rare due to natural degradation as well as a now defunct practice of cutting the kiswa and selling the pieces to pilgrims. Textiles The textile covering of the Kaaba has multiple parts including, the hizam (Arabic: حزام) and sitara (Arabic: سِتَارَة) or burqu''' (Arabic: برقع). The earliest known still-extant sitara was manufactured in Egypt and dates to 1544, and the earliest Ottoman hizam was made for Selim II in the late 16th century. The basic designs of the hizam and sitara have changed little over time, although the embroidery in gold and silver wire has become more ornate. All inscriptions on the kiswa, hizam, sitara, and supplemental textiles use the Thuluth (Arabic: ثُلُث) style of calligraphy. Between 1817 and 1927, the kiswa was manufactured at the Dar al-Kiswa, a dedicated workshop in Cairo, Egypt. In 1927 textile manufacturing moved to a workshop in Mecca. Kiswa The