It Is Then Said That El
Kaaba Yehrem, "The Kaaba Has Assumed The Ihram," Which Lasts Until The
Tenth Of Zul Hadje, The Day Of The Return Of The Pilgrims From Arafat To
Wady Muna, When The New Kesoua Is Put On.
During the first days, the new
covering is tucked up by cords fastened to the roof, so as to leave the
lower part of the building exposed:
Having remained thus for some days,
it is let down, and covers the whole structure, being then tied to
strong brass
[p.141] rings in the basis of the Kaaba. The removal of the old kesoua
was performed in a very indecorous manner; and a contest ensued among
the hadjys and people of Mekka, both young and old, about a few rags of
it. The hadjys even collect the dust which sticks to the walls of the
Kaaba, under the kesoua, and sell it, on their return, as a sacred
relic. At the moment the building is covered, and completely bare,
(uryan, as it is styled,) a crowd of women assemble round it, rejoicing
with cries called "Walwalou."
The black colour of the kesoua, covering a large cube in the midst of a
vast square, gives to the Kaaba, at first sight, a very singular and
imposing appearance; as it is not fastened down tightly, the slightest
breeze causes it to move in slow undulations, which are hailed with
prayers by the congregation assembled around the building, as a sign of
the presence of its guardian angels, whose wings, by their motion, are
supposed to be the cause of the waving of the covering. Seventy thousand
angels have the Kaaba in their holy care, and are ordered to transport
it to Paradise, when the trumpet of the last judgment shall be sounded.
The clothing of the Kaaba was an ancient custom of the Pagan Arabs. The
first kesoua, says El Azraky, was put on by Asad Toba, one of the
Hamyarite kings of Yemen: before Islam it had two coverings, one for
winter and the other for summer. In the early ages of Islam it was
sometimes white and sometimes red, and consisted of the richest brocade.
In subsequent times it was furnished by the different Sultans of
Baghdad, Egypt, or Yemen, according as their respective influence over
Mekka prevailed; for the clothing of the Kaaba appears to have always
been considered as a proof of sovereignty over the Hedjaz. Kalaoun,
Sultan of Egypt, assumed to himself and successors the exclusive right,
and from them the Sultans at Constantinople have inherited it. Kalaoun
appropriated the revenue of the two large villages Bysous and Sandabeir,
in Lower Egypt, to the expense of the kesoua; and Sultan Solyman Ibn
Selym subsequently added several others; but the Kaaba has long been
deprived of this resource. [Vide Kotobeddyn and Asamy]
[p.142] Round the Kaaba is a good pavement of marble, about eight inches
below the level of the great square; it was laid in A.H. 981, by order
of the Sultan, and describes an irregular oval; it is surrounded by
thirty-two slender gilt pillars, or rather poles, between every two of
which are suspended seven glass lamps, always lighted after sun-set.
Beyond the poles is a second pavement, about eight paces broad, somewhat
elevated above the first, but of coarser work; then another, six inches
higher, and eighteen paces broad, upon which stand several small
buildings; beyond this is the gravelled ground, so that two broad steps
may be said to lead from the square down to the Kaaba.
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