Early last Saturday, Emir of Makkah, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and religious officials took up brooms and cloths perfumed with rosewater to wash the interior of the Ka'bah. Barefoot, they finished washing the Ka'bah by wiping the marble walls and floors of the small room with scented oils, re-enacting a tradition started by Prophet Muhammad (pbuh) almost 1,400 year ago. The ritual, carried out twice a year, offers a peek inside the interior of the structure known as the ‘the navel of the world'. The washing ceremony is carried out before the holy fasting month of Ramadan, which falls in early September this year, and a day before Eid Al-Adha, three months later. The only other time the Ka'bah is opened is when Muslim dignitaries – such as a head of state – request to go in. “The cleaning of the Ka'bah is an act of deep worship,” said Omar Al-Midwahi of Makkah, deputy editor of Al-Watan newspaper and a witness to several washings. “Words cannot describe the intensity of emotions a person experiences in the exact place where prophets have stood.” Muslims believe the Ka'bah was first built by Adam, then was rebuilt by Abraham and reflects a house in heaven - is mentioned several times in the Qur'an. Embedded in one side of the structure is an ancient, sacred black stone, which, according to tradition, was white when it came to earth and turned black under the burden of men's sins. The importance of the Ka'bah predates the rise of Islam. The structure, 77 square meters high and built with granite stones from the hills near Makkah, is believed to be a site of pilgrimage. Saturday's ceremony began right after dawn prayers, when members of the Al-Shaybi family who have been the Ka'bah's gatekeepers for centuries removed the key to the structure from a green cloth bag. They opened the door, which stands six-and-a-half feet above the ground and is accessed by a wooden staircase on wheels, and went in to prepare the cleaning material and utensils. Saleh Al-Shaybi, the deputy gatekeeper, told Okaz newspaper that it takes the equivalent of about 19 liters of rosewater mixed into about 179 liters of water to clean the interior. The water is brought from Zamzam, a holy well near the Ka'bah. He said the ritual usually takes an hour. Before leading his guests into the Ka'bah, Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and his guests circled the Ka'bah seven times. Some dignitaries then prayed over the area inside the Ka'bah where Prophet Muhammad was believed to have prayed soon after he conquered Makkah in January 630. Prince Khaled Al-Faisal and his guests – members of the royal family, representatives from the religious establishment and Muslim diplomats – picked up brooms to sweep the marble floors. They then took white pieces of cloth that had been soaked in the rosewater mixture to wipe the floors and halfway up the marble walls. The upper part of the walls are covered with green cloth embroidered with Qur'anic verses. According to a number of hadiths – when Muhammad (pbuh) went into the Ka'bah, he found it filled with statues and the walls were covered with pagan drawings, Al-Midwahi said. He and his followers proceeded to remove the statues and clean the walls, signaling the first time the Ka'bah's interior had been cleaned by Muslims, he added. The second washing takes place during the annual pilgrimage of Haj. The ritual will also include a ceremony to replace the Kiswa, the black silk cloth with gold-embroidered calligraphy covering the Ka'bah. The Kiswa is produced at a special factory built and run by the city of Makkah. Some 675 kilograms of silk and 149 kilograms of silver and gold thread are used to make the 630-square-meter Kiswa at a cost of 17 million riyals, according to press reports. The old kiswa is usually cut up into small pieces, which are given as gifts to dignitaries.
