KISWA, COVER OF HOLYKAABA Even in the present day in Makkah the years old ritual is being practised with complete enthusiasm. The Holy Kaaba is covered with new kiswa (cover) every year on the 10th of Zil-Hijjah, which coincides with Hajj. Every year the old Kiswa is removed, cut into tiny pieces and gifted to particular individuals, visiting foreign Muslim organisations and dignitaries. Several of them sell their share as souvenirs of Hajj. Earlier Umar bin Al-Khattab (RA) would cut it in to pieces and distribute them among the pilgrims who used them as protection from the heat of Makkah. KISWA, COVER OF HOLY KAABA The current cost of making the kiswa amounts to SR 17 million. The cover is about 658 sq. metres long and is made of 670 kg of pure silk. For embroidery of 15 kilos of gold threads are used. It consists of about 47 pieces of cloth and each piece is 14 Metres long and 101 cm broad. The kiswa is wrapped around the Holy Kaaba and fixed to the ground with copper rings. Usually the pattern of kiswa has not changed. The material is made up of gold and a silk embroidered band is sewn about 3 fourth the distance from the bottom. The portion covering the door, which stands 2.13 metres over the ground on the north-east side wall, is covered separately with luxuriously embroidered Quranic verses (ayats), leaving an opening for the Hajr-e-Aswad (The black stone). The colour of Kiswa kept changing in the reigns of different Caliphs and rulers. In prior days the kiswa was changed on 10th of Muharram but slowly it was shifted to 10th of Zil-Hijjah. In olden days different clans of city Makkah would cover the Kaaba by turns yearly. Tribal leaders would also bring little drapes to cover the walls of Holy Kaaba. Caliphs Umar (RA) and Hazrat Uthman (RA) covered it with an Egyptian white coloured cloth, Qubati. Haroon Al-Rasheed used a white coloured Kiswa.The material would come from Baghdad, Yemen and Egypt depending on whose influence was greater in city Makkah. Viceroy of Egypt Mohammad Ali Pasha after splitting from the Turkey Empire, made making of the Kiswa the state duty. The Kiswa was brought by yearly caravan from Cairo. Nassir Abbasi (1160-1207) started using a green coloured Kiswa and later shifted to black, as then the black coloured kiswa has become the tradition. Previous the Kiswas were plain. Just in 1340 the embroidery border tradition was introduced by an Egyptian ruler Hassan. During World War I Turkey joined Germany and there were doubts that will it be likely to bring the Kiswa from Egypt. The cover and inner layer are done in one department. Designing of Quranic verses (Ayats) is being computerised. Computerised designing has gradually replaced manual designing and increased the pace of work. Lowcostumrah.co.uk is one of the authorized Hajj and Umrah travel agent based in UK offers a range of Authorized Travel Agent for Hajj and Umrah for 2018 from UK.