Man tries to sell fake piece of Kaaba cloth for SR 8 million

Gulf News

March 19, 2018

Manama, Mar 19: A broker is asking for SR 8 million to sell a piece of cloth he claims comes from the Kiswah—the embroidered black and gold cloth covering the Kaaba.

The broker did not say who was selling the piece of cloth, but added that it was old and belonged to Al Sheebi, the family looking after the Kaaba since pre-Islam times.

He insisted that the rare item was authentic and that he had an official licence from the Emirate of Makkah Province to sell it.

However, Abdul Malik Al Sheebi, a senior caretaker of the Kaaba, denied the claim and said that his family did not own a piece of the Kiswah, the silk and cotton cloth, Saudi daily Makkah reported on Sunday.

“Many people claim they have an authentic piece of the Kiswah and use my family’s name to gain the trust and confidence of those willing to buy it,” he said. “However, the pieces they put out for sale are often imitations made in India or Egypt. The original Kiswah belongs to the state and is preserved in special stores.”

Sultan Al Dossari, a spokesperson for the Emirate of Makkah, said they did not grant licences or permits to sell any part of the Kiswah.

The daily said that the ad posted by the broker was deleted after reporters contacted him.

Mohammad Bajuda, the manager of the Kiswah factory in Makkah, said their task was to produce the new cloth draping the Kaaba and that they hand over the old Kiswah to the competent committee for safeguarding.

“Unfortunately, there is a surge in the number of ads offering pieces of cloth that are imitations of the Kiswah,” he said.

Imitations of the Kiswah could be found mainly in Egypt, Turkey, Britain and France, the daily added.

According to Bajuda, 210 people worked in the factory for eight months to produce the Kiswah annually.

Before the factory was opened in 1927, the Kiswah was made in Egypt and materials were bought from Sudan, India, Egypt and Iraq.

Today the 658-square-meter covering is made of 670 kg of high-quality silk imported from Italy and Switzerland and 120 kg of pure gold and silver.

The role of Al Sheebi family in looking after the Kaaba was confirmed by Prophet Mohammad, Peace Be Upon Him, who left the key to the Kaaba with the family and stressed that no-one had the right to take it away from them.

According to the family rules, the eldest member is in charge of keeping and safeguarding the key.

The Kaaba is locate din the Grand Mosque of Makkah—the holiest site in Islam.

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Israel killing Palestinian children in Gaza every day despite ceasefire: UNICEF

News Network

November 22,2025

The Israeli regime’s forces have killed two Palestinian children in the Gaza Strip every day since the ceasefire began in early October, UNICEF has warned.

The UN children’s agency said on Friday that Israeli forces continue to attack Palestinians in Gaza even though the agreement was meant to stop the killing.

“Since 11 October, while the ceasefire has been in effect, at least 67 children have been killed in conflict-related incidents in the Gaza Strip. Dozens more have been injured. That is an average of almost two children killed every day since the ceasefire took effect,” UNICEF spokesperson Ricardo Pires said in Geneva, reminding that each number in the statistics represents a child whose life had ended violently.

“These are not statistics,” he said. “Each child had a story, a family, and a future that was stolen from them.”

Data from Palestinian factions, human rights groups, and government bodies recorded since the US-brokered ceasefire deal went into effect on October 10 show that Israeli forces have carried out numerous attacks, each constituting a separate ceasefire violation.

UNICEF teams say they repeatedly continue to witness heart-wrenching scenes of fearful Palestinian children sleeping outdoors with amputated limbs, while others live as orphans in flooded, makeshift shelters.

“I saw this myself in August. There is no safe place for them. The world cannot normalize their suffering,” Pires said, lamenting that the UN could “do a lot more if the aid that is really needed was entering faster.”

The UNICEF spokesperson warned that with the advent of winter, the risks for hundreds of thousands of displaced children will increase.

He warned, “The stakes are incredibly high” for children as winter acts as a threat multiplier, where children have no heating, no insulation, and few blankets. He said respiratory infections rise.

“Too many children have already paid the highest price,” Pires said. “Too many are still paying it, even under a ceasefire. The world promised them it would stop and that we would protect them.”

“Now we must act like it,” the UNICEF spokesperson added.

Since the Israeli regime launched its genocidal war against Palestinians in Gaza in October 2023, it has killed nearly 70,000 people in the territory, most of them women and children, and injured over 170,000 more, while reducing most of the structures in the enclave to rubble.

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