Unveiling Mecca

Of the many intricate elements connected to the Kaâ??ba, one of the two most sacred sites in the Islamic faith, special attention is to be given to the kiswa, the velvet covering (predominantly black since the 13th century) with golden embroidery that is draped over the cubic structure. To attend properly to the matter of the kiswa, it is necessary to consider it from the perspective of the veil. Given the prominence of the veil (?ij?b) in the dress code of Arabs before and after the rise of the prophet Muhammadâ??originally, it seems, part of the attire for men as a sign of their being desert warriors and eventually transferred to Muslim women (apparently under the jurisdiction of â??Umar Ibn al-Khatt?b on the basis of certain verses in the Quran, especially s?ra 33) as an external mark of modesty, subservient social status, or self-effacing complicity in the renunciation of physical beauty, in order to demarcate the boundary between believers and non-believers and thereby maintain the ummat al-muâ??minin (the community of the faithful) and its symbolic orderâ??it should come as no surprise that the veil, and the acts of veiling (satr) and unveiling (kashf) related to it, have not only played a prominent role in Muslim devotion but also have served externally and internally as distinctive marks of Islamic culture. It is within this context that one must examine the kiswa, whose spiritual intent, and by extension the ritual meaning of the gesture of circumambulation (?aw?f), can be ascertained by heeding the paradoxical nature of the veil as the site of concomitant disclosure and concealment.