THE holy carpet was manufactured in Egypt and sent to Mecca every year in the Mahmal (palanquin) borne on the back of a camel in a procession to Mecca, on the occasion of the Hajj (the greater Muslim pilgrimage). The carpet covered the Kaaba (the sacred stone cube) in the Grand Mosque in Mecca.
The Mahmal procession took place annually over hundreds of years until com-paratively recently, when Saudi Arabia started manufacturing such a carpet in the 1960s. The procession took place in almost exactly the same manner every year, to the extent that the description given by Ibn Battouta during his travel in the 14th cen-tury could apply to the mid-20th century.
Ibn Battouta describes the Mahmal pro¬cession, as it starts from Cairo, as follows: It is a great festivity to witness the day of the Mahmal with the camel bearing the holy carpet. On that day, the procession is led by four religious leaders and the head of finance of the government accompanied by promi¬nent governmental figures. They all proceed to the main gate of the Citadel where the ruler Caliph el-Nasser lives. ‘The camel comes out with the holy carpet driven by the prince, who is in charge of the procession in that year (the Prince of the Hajj).
Date: 06-12-2009
The prince is escorted by a convoy of soldiers and water bearers on camels and surrounded by masses of men and women celebrating the parade. The whole group tours around the different streets of Cairo preceded by many singers. This usually happens during the lunar month of Ragab, a few months ahead of the pilgrimage sea-son warning the people to start getting pre¬pared for tile Hajj.
Ibn Battouta then describes the arrival of the holy carpet to Mecca. The carpet is car-ried to the top of the Kaaba on the first day of Bairam (Eid al-Adha, the Feast of the Sacrifice). On the third day of the Bairam, Hijazis (the people who live in the Higaz area) spread the carpet around the sides of the Ka’aba.
The carpet is normally made of black silk and has calligraphy in white near the top of the Kaaba. It says that: “Allah hath appointed the Kaaba, the Sacred House, a standard for mankindll (Sura 97 of the Qur’an “The Table Spread”), There are also different verses from the Qur’an on other parts of the carpet.
The caliph normally orders the ends of the carpet to be raised to avoid getting dam-aged by people. It is Caliph el-Nasser who finances the making and transport of the carpet and sends salaries to all the people working in Mecca such as the judges, the preachers, the sheikhs, the people who call for the prayers, and the workers. He sends as well a one-year supply of oil and wax.
That is how Ibn Battouta portrayed the Mahmal procession 700 years ago, until this tradition of making the holy carpet in Egypt stopped in the mid-sixties of last century; the portrayal was still unerringly the same.
