Jakarta (Indonesia Window) – The General Presidency for the Affairs of the Two Holy Mosques on Wednesday night (June 30) completed the annual customary raising of the lower part of the Holy Kaaba’s cover (kiswa) by about three meters in preparation for the upcoming hajj season.

The raised part of kiswa was replaced with a white cotton cloth having a width of approximately two meters across all four sides, Saudi Gazette reported.

The procedure is carried out every year as a precautionary measure to prevent the pilgrims from damaging the kiswa as they tend to touch it during their tawaf (circumambulation around the holy Kaaba seven times counter clockwise).

In the past, kiswa was raised, and the white color was used as an indication of announcing the heralding of the annual hajj season.

The presidency said that a total of 37 Saudi specialist tailors from the King Abdulaziz Complex for the Kaaba cover took part in the process of raising the kiswa, which is a piece of black silk with verses from the Holy Qur’an inscribed on it upward, to protect it from tampering.

Reporting by Indonesia Window