Kiswa

Categorized as Terms

Kiswa

Richard McGregor

Related Terms:

  • Bab (gate)
  • Ihram (state of ritual purity during the Hajj)
  • Kaʿba (the most sacred structure in Islam)
  • Mahmal (elaborately decorated litter sent to the pilgrimage to Mecca)

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Related Khamseen Videos:

Sabiha Göloğlu, “Touching Mecca & Medina: The Dalā’il al-Khayrāt and Devotional Practices,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 28 August 2020.

Richard McGregor, “Hajj Materials and Rites from Egypt,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 9 February 2021.

References:

Al-Azraqi, Ibn Ahmad. Akhbar Makka wa ma ja’a fi-ha min al-athar. 2 vols. Mecca: Dar al-Thaqafa, 1994.

Golombek, Lisa. “The Draped Universe of Islam.” In Content and Context of Visual Arts in the Islamic World, edited by Priscilla Parsons Soucek, 25–49. University Park: The Pennsylvania State University Press, 1988.

Tezkan, Hülya. Sacred Covers of Islam’s Holy Shrines, with Samples from Topkapi Palace. Istanbul: MASA, 2017.

McGregor, Richard. Islam and the Devotional Object: Seeing Religion in Egypt and Syria. New York: Cambridge University Press, 2020.

Al-Mojan, Mohammad. “The Textiles Made for the Prophet’s Mosque at Medina.” In The Hajj: Collected Essays, edited by Venetia Porter and Liana Saif, translated by Liana Saif, 184–94. London: The British Museum Press, 2013. 

Porter, Venetia. “Textiles of Mecca and Medina.” In Hajj: Journey to the Heart of Islam, edited by Venetia Porter, 256–265. London: British Museum Press, 2012.

Citation:

Richard McGregor, “Kiswa,” Khamseen: Islamic Art History Online, published 3 May 2022.

Richard McGregor is Professor and Chair of Religious Studies at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, TN. His primary field of research is medieval Egypt and Syria, with a focus on religious thought, ritual, and Sufism. His most recent book, Islam and the Devotional Object: Seeing Religion in Egypt and Syria (2020), explores the lives of a series of religious objects. He also works on the devotional gaze, the production and circulation of relics, and the biography of the Prophet Muhammad. He recently contributed the entry “Islamic Relics” to the Oxford Research Encyclopedia of Religion.