The Story of Abu Karib As’ad and the First Kiswah
Who Was King Abu Karib As’ad?
Abu Karib As’ad al-Kāmil — meaning “As’ad the Perfect” — was the Tubba’ (king) of the Himyarite Kingdom, the ancient civilization centered in what is now Yemen. He ruled from approximately 390 CE until 420 CE, beginning as co-regent with his father Malikikarib Yuha’min before assuming sole rule. His epithet al-Kāmil, “the Perfect,” speaks to the reverence in which later generations held him — a man whose life arc moved from conquest to devotion, from polytheism to monotheism, and ultimately to an act of piety that would echo through Islamic history for over a millennium.
The Kingdom of Himyar had flourished in southern Arabia from the first century BCE, its people originating from the ancient Sabaean civilization that had occupied the region since at least 1000 BCE. The Himyarites rose to prominence through a prosperous Red Sea trade route, eventually absorbing neighboring kingdoms and unifying southern Arabia under a single government for the first time, with their capital at Zafar
A King Marching North
The story of Abu Karib’s spiritual transformation begins not in a palace or a temple, but on the move — at the head of an army. According to traditional accounts, Abu Karib undertook a military expedition to eliminate the growing influence of Byzantium in his northern provinces. His forces reached Medina, which was then known as “Yathrib.” Not meeting any resistance, the Himyarites passed through the town, leaving one of the king’s sons behind as governor.
The Byzantines had ambitions over the Arabian Peninsula, which would have given them control of the lucrative spice trade. Abu Karib’s march northward was as much an economic and geopolitical move as a military one. But what awaited him in Yathrib would change the trajectory of his life entirely.
The Siege, the Illness, and the Rabbis
The Jews of Yathrib fought alongside their pagan Arab neighbors to protect their town. During the siege, Abu Karib fell ill. Two local Jewish scholars named Kaab and Assad took the opportunity to travel to his camp, and persuaded him to lift the siege.
The scholars also inspired the King an interest in Judaism, and he converted in 390 CE, persuading his army to do likewise. Kaab and Assad later returned with Abu Karib to his kingdom, where they were tasked with converting the population. While some historians report that the population converted wholesale, others suggest that roughly half maintained their older beliefs.
This conversion may have had both religious and strategic motivations. Judaism provided monotheistic prestige without imperial subjugation — unlike Christianity, which was tied to the Byzantine Empire, or Zoroastrianism, the state faith of Sassanian Persia, Judaism allowed the Himyarites to assert theological legitimacy and political independence simultaneously.
The Journey to Mecca and the Encounter with the Kaaba
It was during this northward campaign — or, according to some accounts, on a subsequent journey — that Abu Karib reached Mecca. According to Ibn Kathir, the Tubba’ Abu Karib was formerly a polytheist king who had intended to attack Medina, but was warned by the two Jewish rabbis that Medina would be the final place of migration for an upcoming Prophet. The Tubba’ then went to Makkah and almost proceeded to destroy the Kaaba, but was warned against doing so as well.
Moved by these encounters, and now a man of faith rather than a man merely of conquest, Abu Karib stood before the ancient structure of the Kaaba — then under the custodianship of the Jurhum tribe. What he did next would mark the beginning of one of Islam’s most enduring and sacred traditions.
The First Kiswah
According to Ibn Hisham, King Abu Karib As’ad of the Himyarite Kingdom clothed the Kaaba for the first time during the rule of the Jurhum tribe of Mecca in the early fifth century CE, after learning about it from two Jewish rabbis following his conversion to Judaism.
He is said to have hung the Kaaba with red-striped Ma’afir cloth — a special cloth woven in the Ta’izz district of Yemen. Historical sources describe him covering the Kaaba first with khasf, a thick cloth, then with Maafir cloth named after an ancient Yemeni city where it was manufactured, and finally with milaa and rabitah, a thin and delicate material. Abu Karib layered this covering atop the already existing hangings on the structure.
The gesture was not merely aesthetic — it was an act of reverence, a declaration that this house deserved honor, protection, and adornment.
A Tradition Is Born
After King Tubba, his successors treated covering the Kaaba as a religious duty. The act he initiated rippled outward through time. After King Tubba, the Kaaba was covered by many people who regarded it as a religious duty. Anybody who wanted to cover the Kaaba could do so with whatever type of fabric they wished. There were even times when the Kaaba was on the edge of collapsing under the excessive weight of the cloth piled on it.
The Quraysh — the ruling confederation of tribes in Mecca — later organized funding for the kiswah using annually collected payments from each of the tribes who worshipped there.
When Islam came, the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) and his companions did not initially participate in draping the Kaaba, as the Quraysh did not permit it. It is believed that Prophet Muhammad and Muslims of Makkah did not indulge in draping the Kaaba until 630 CE, when Muslims conquered Mecca. After this, a woman accidentally set fire to the kiswah while performing prayers. After this incident, the Prophet Muhammad covered the Kaaba with a cloth from Yemen.
The Evolving Colors of the Kiswah
From the moment the Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) first draped a new cloth over the Kaaba, the kiswah became a living canvas of Islamic history — its colors shifting with each era, each ruler, and each civilization that assumed custodianship of the sacred house.
The Prophet Muhammad (630 CE)
The Prophet Muhammad covered the Kaaba with white-and-red striped Yemeni cloth after the accidental burning of the old kiswah. The fabric — burud in Arabic — was a traditional Yemeni weave, bold in its stripes and rich in craft. It was humble, regional, and deeply sincere: the cloth of a prophet, not a palace.
The Rightly Guided Caliphs: Abu Bakr, Umar, and Uthman (632–656 CE)
Abu Bakr, Umar ibn Khattab, and Uthman ibn Affan covered the Kaaba with Qabbati — a finely woven, white, thin garment made in Egypt by Coptic craftsmen, hence its name. White dominated this era of the early caliphate — a color of purity and austerity, fitting the spirit of the Rashidun. Uthman ibn Affan was the first to cover the Kaaba with two cloths: the first with Yemeni brocade on the day of Tarwiyah, and the second with Egyptian Qabati on the 27th of Ramadan.
Abdullah ibn al-Zubayr (683–692 CE)
Ibn Al-Zubayr covered the Kaaba with red brocade — a dramatic departure from the white of his predecessors and a reflection of the more ornate sensibility of the late Umayyad period.
Muawiyah and the Umayyads (661–750 CE)
The Umayyad Caliph Muawiyah removed the old hangings and substituted them with silk and striped wool. Following this, he sent two kiswas annually — one made of qubati and the other of silk. During the reigns of Muawiyah ibn Abi Sufyan and Abdullah ibn Al-Zubayr, the kiswah was changed twice a year: the first with red brocade on the Day of Ashura, and the other with a qubati at the end of Ramadan. Silk had now entered the story of the Kaaba, elevating the kiswah from simple cloth to something altogether more magnificent.
The Abbasid Era and Caliph Al-Ma’mun (813–833 CE)
Caliph Al-Ma’moun introduced seasonal variations, dressing the Kaaba with red brocade on the 8th of Dhul Hijjah, white Qabati on the 1st of Rajab, and red brocade again on the 29th of Ramadan. The Kaaba was now changing color three times a year — a remarkable expression of both devotion and dynastic ambition. During the broader Abbasid era, the Kaaba was generally covered once with white cloth and once with red cloth.
The Seljuk Interlude
In a striking flash of color, the Seljuk Sultan covered the Kaaba with yellow brocade — the only time in recorded history the House of God wore gold-tinted yellow. It was a bold, if brief, chapter.
Caliph Al-Nasir and the Arrival of Black (1180–1225 CE)
There would be no further change in the kiswah’s colors until the Abbasid Caliph Al-Nasir, who ordered it to be royal green in color; however, one year before the end of his reign, it changed one last time into black, staying that way to this day.
The reasoning behind black’s permanence was both practical and profound. Black was chosen at the end of the Abbasid era because it was durable and could withstand being touched by the large numbers of visitors, pilgrims, and people from different cultures around the world — keeping its beauty far longer than lighter hues. White, for all its spiritual resonance, could not survive the hands of millions.
The Kiswah Today
The Kiswah is changed annually on the 9th of Dhul Hijjah, the day Hajj pilgrims leave for the plain of Arafat. It is made from approximately 650 kg of natural silk imported from Italy, embroidered with 120 kg of gold and silver threads. Over 200 people work on the Kiswah every year, and the process of embroidery takes around eight to ten months, at a cost of approximately $4.5 million.
The verses of the Quran that adorn the current kiswah — stitched in gold across a field of deep black silk — are a far cry from the red-striped woolen cloth that a Yemeni king draped over the ancient house more than sixteen centuries ago. Yet the spirit behind the gesture is the same: the impulse to honor the sacred, to clothe the divine, and to leave something of oneself at the threshold of God.
Legacy of Abu Karib As’ad
Abu Karib As’ad occupies a fascinating place in the pre-Islamic history of Arabia. Islamic historiographical traditions frame him as a pivotal figure of the Tubba’ archetype — symbolizing righteous pre-Islamic kingship — one who recognized divine unity, veiled the Kaaba in Mecca, and promoted monotheism upon his return to Yemen.
Whether one views his story through the lens of political calculation, genuine spiritual awakening, or the blending of both that so often characterizes history’s great figures, the legacy of Abu Karib As’ad is undeniable. He gave the Kaaba its first garment — and in doing so, initiated a tradition that continues to this day, weaving together faith, craftsmanship, and devotion in one of the world’s most recognizable and sacred acts of reverence.