The government communication account in Saudi Arabia published a video clip of a worker in the manufacture and embroidery of the Kaaba covering talking about how he feels with his imminent retirement, after 39 years of work without a single day of absence.

In the video, Zaki recounts his memories and the feeling that accompanied him during his work, saying that he felt fresh in his heart at the first needle he worked in the Kaaba livery.

"The passion for receiving pilgrims has been with me throughout my years of work, and I was very happy in this work. Now I'm on the verge of retirement from the Kaaba livery factory."

Zaki stressed that he did not miss a single day of his work in the factory during his 39 years of employment, and pointed to the prominent effects in his fingers from working throughout those years in preparing the cladding.

The textile teacher noted the importance of hand embroidery in equipping the cladding, and said that the machines failed to produce comparable to the quality of the cladding supervised by the workers by hand.

"The first needle I worked on I felt a refreshment in my heart," weaving teacher Zaki and a 39-year journey in the Kaaba livery factory. #بسلام_آمنين pic.twitter.com/LLr5DTHVRE

— Government Communication (@CGCSaudi) July 3, 2023

The covering of the Kaaba throughout history

Historically, Arabs in the pre-Islamic era were racing to obtain the honor of covering the Kaaba, so it was covered with the well-to-do Arabs, their kings and commoners with everything possible, until Islam came.

The manufacture of the Kaaba covering began during the era of the Prophet (may Allah's peace and blessings be upon him) and the Rightly-Guided Caliphs from Yemeni fabrics until the era of Muawiyah bin Abi Sufyan, who was the first to perfume the Kaaba in the Hajj season, and added to that perfume it in the month of Rajab, and he covered the Kaaba twice a year: the first time on the day of Ashura and the second in preparation for Eid al-Fitr.

The covering of the Kaaba was made of the best Damascene fabrics and sent to Mecca from the Kiswa area in Damascus, hence the Kaaba livery was called, and soon until its industry moved to the Egyptian city of Tennis, where the luxurious silk cladding industry began and embroidery, and the caliphs dueled in it, where Harun al-Rashid clothed the Kaaba twice a year, so Al-Ma'mun increased it and covered it 3 times a year.

The first to cover the Kaaba with black silk was the Abbasid caliph al-Mahdi, who ordered that only one garment should be placed on it, after the covering was piling up on it until its construction almost collapsed.

After the weakness of the Abbasids, the responsibility shifted to the sultans of Egypt, especially during the Fatimids and then the Mamluks, and then transferred to the Ottomans, to return to the Egyptians during the state of Muhammad Ali Pasha, where the factory of the Kaaba Kiswa House was established in 1818 in the "Al-Kharnafash" neighborhood in Cairo, and it was carried from there annually to Mecca in a large celebration called "Al-Mahmal".

The cladding remained manufactured in Egypt until 1962, and was in green, red or white before the cladding became black with gilded embroidery.

Dozens of craftsmen (mostly between the ages of 40 and 50) work in the Kaaba Kiswa factory in Makkah, where the Kaaba is covered during the Hajj season every year, and the covering is woven from silk and cotton and decorated with verses from the Holy Quran written with golden threads.

The world's finest yarn weighs 670 kilograms, as well as 24-carat pure gold wires and threads weighing up to 120 kilograms, and silver up to 100 kilograms.

The cost of covering the Holy Kaaba exceeds 20 million Saudi riyals, equivalent to 5.3 million dollars, making it the most expensive garment in the world.