Since the late thirteenth century, ceremonial mahmals were used for the annual Hajj caravans to Mecca. These mahmals, however, were empty and no longer used as a method of transport. Instead, they were a symbol of the authority and the protective role played by the ruler of the Holy Places.
The Hajj mahmal was normally covered in a silk cloth that was embroidered in silver and gold-plated silver wire, with arabesques and scrollwork designs and inscriptions from the Qur`an. In particular, the name and date of the donor who commissioned the mahmal cover were usually embroidered in the front of the mahmal's pyramidically shaped roof. This band normally had Qur`anic verses.
See also: Ka`aba key bag
Sources:
- JOMIER, Jacques, ‘Mahmal,’ Encyclopaedia of Islam, VI.44b, Leiden: Brill (digital version).
- LANE, Edward, 1895. An Account of the Manners and Customs of the Modern Egyptians, London: John Murray.
- PETERS, F. E., 1994. The Hajj: the Muslim Pilgrimage to Mecca and the Holy Places, Princeton: Princeton University Press.
- PORTER, Venetia (ed), 2012. Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, London: The British Museum Press, p. 140, fig. 95.
- VOGELSANG-EASTWOOD, Gillian (2016). 'Snapshot: The Kiswa,' in: Gillian Vogelsang-Eastwood (ed.), Encyclopedia of Embroidery from the Arab World, London: Bloomsbury Academic, pp. 151-158.
British Museum online catalogue (retrieved 26 June 2016).
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