(RNS) — Convicted sex perpetrator Jeffrey Epstein purchased sacred cloth that after covered the Kaaba, in accordance to newly launched recordsdata that consist of emails detailing a shipment of three framed gadgets from Mecca to Florida.
The Kaaba Kiswah — or the dusky, gold-embroidered cloth that shrouds Islam’s holiest establish in Saudi Arabia — is a revered artifact that carries non secular which design for Muslims worldwide.
The emails, integrated in the most contemporary tranche of Epstein recordsdata unsealed Friday (Jan. 30) as phase of the Epstein Files Transparency Act, level to United Arab Emirates-based mostly mostly businesswoman Aziza al-Ahmadi working with a particular person named Abdullah al-Maari to put together the Kiswah shipment between February and March 2017.
“By the design the dusky piece turned into as soon as touched by minimal 10 million Muslims of assorted denominations, Sunni, Shia and others,” al-Ahmadi wrote to Epstein on March 22, 2017, virtually a decade after he first served time for sex crimes and two years before he turned into as soon as all over again arrested on federal prices of sex trafficking in July 2019.
The correspondence listed three gadgets with photography of the cloths and short explanations: one from interior the Kaaba, one from the exterior defending and a third conceal that had not been extinct. The gadgets were categorized as “artworks” and transported by the relate of British Airways Air Cargo, the emails level to.
It is miles unclear why Epstein turned into as soon as drawn to the Kiswah or how he extinct the cloth gadgets when they arrived at his personal island in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Saudi workers embroider Islamic calligraphy, the usage of either pure silver thread or gold-plated silver thread, for the duration of the closing stages in the preparation of a drape, or Kiswah, that covers the Kaaba, the cube-formed construction at the heart of the Mighty Mosque, at the Kiswah factory in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, June 3, 2025. (AP Photo/Amr Nabil)
Right here are 3 things to understand about the Kaaba and its decorative conceal:
1. The Kaaba turned into as soon as a holy establish before Islam.
Kaaba, which design cube in Arabic, is idea of as by Muslims to be the “rental of God” on Earth. Muslims mediate it turned into as soon as built by the Prophet Ibrahim (identified as Abraham in the Jewish custom) and his son Ismail (Ishmael) as a rental for monotheistic adore thousands of years in the past.
The Kaaba retained its sacred space over the years. Before Islam turned into as soon as founded, the Kaaba housed idols and attracted a vary of worshippers from Arab tribes across the Arabian Peninsula who visited for an annual pilgrimage.
The Kaaba turned into the focal level for Muslim adore and pilgrimage when the Prophet Muhammad and his Muslim followers returned to Mecca after exile, in accordance to Islamic custom.
All Muslims aspire to make the annual pilgrimage, or Hajj, to the Kaaba as soon as in their existence if they are bodily and financially in a place. Prayer 5 times a day in direction of the course of the Kaaba and the pilgrimage are two of the 5 pillars of Islam.
A Saudi man embroiders Islamic calligraphy, the usage of either pure silver threads or silver threads plated with gold, for the duration of the closing stages in the preparation of a drape, or Kiswah, that covers the Kaaba, the cube-formed construction at the heart of the Mighty Mosque, at the Kiswah factory in Mecca, Saudi Arabia, June 13, 2024. (AP Photo/Rafiq Maqbool)
2. The Kiswah conceal is designed by extremely trained craftsmen.
The creation of a novel Kiswah yearly is a fancy operation that entails bigger than 200 fabric artisans, 264 pounds of silver and gold thread, and 47 gadgets of silk imported from Italy, in accordance to Islamic art blog Bayt Al Fann.
Production of the sacred cloth took articulate in Egypt for centuries but turned into as soon as relocated to Saudi Arabia in the Twentieth century. The course of entails weaving, dyeing, printing designs and embroidering with silver and gold thread. The Kiswah, which covers over 7,000 square ft and is assembled from 47 panels, prices about $4.5 million to make.
The shade of the Kiswah extinct to be white for the duration of the Prophet Muhammad’s existence, nevertheless it modified colors over time to red, then inexperienced and as of at the present time, dusky, in accordance to Bayt Al Fann.
3. The Kaaba gets a novel conceal yearly.
Since Prophet Muhammad’s time, the cloth has been eliminated from the Kaaba and replaced with a novel one per annum round the originate of the pilgrimage.
The faded cloth, ceaselessly weighing 3,000 pounds, is handled as a extremely treasured artifact. It is miles sever relief and proficient to museums, dignitaries and Muslim international locations, in accordance to the Kiswah Islamic Retailer. The online retailer, which claims it sells authentic Kiswah covers, says the cloth is moreover ceaselessly made obtainable “to collectors or for buy by verified retailers.”
Muslims keep in mind the Kaaba a logo of the oneness of God and the replacement of the creative conceal yearly represents a renewal of faith.
Muslim pilgrims pray round the Kaaba at the Mighty Mosque, ahead of the annual Hajj pilgrimage in the Muslim holy city of Mecca, Saudi Arabia, on Aug. 16, 2018. (AP Photo/Dar Yasin)
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