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Key for the Ka’ba (‘cube’ in Arabic)
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- Title/name : Key for the Ka’ba (‘cube’ in Arabic)
- Date / period : AH 765/AD 1363–1364
- Materials and techniques : Copper alloy inlaid with silver decorations
- Dimensions : Length 34cm
- Conservation town : Cairo
- Conservation place : Museum of Islamic Art
- Inventory number : 15133
- Inscription :
In cursive script:
1.‘It is He who sent His Messenger with guidance and the true religion, to raise it above all other religions’ (Qur’an 48:28)
2.‘By order of Allah, there is no other God than Allah—Sha’ban ibn Husayn—in the year AH 765 [AD 1363–1364]’
3.‘One of the things made for Bayt al-Haram [the Ka’ba] during the reign of our lord, Sultan al-Malik al-Ashraf’.
The shaft of the key:
1. ‘We have granted thee a resounding victory, / May God forgive thee for your past and future sins, so that He can bestow more blessings upon thee and guide thee on the right path. / May God use all His power to assist thee. / It is He who sent down tranquillity to the hearts of the faithful to strengthen their faith’ (Qur’an 48:1–3)
2. ‘The first house of worship founded by men was the blessed temple of Bakka. / You will see the signs of this therein. There, for example, is the Station [maqam] of Abraham. Whoever enters therein is protected from all danger. Pilgrimage thereto is a duty men owe to God—those who can undertake the journey. / God has no need of the unfaithful, whoever they may be’ (Qur’an III, 90:92).
This key was made for Sultan al-Ashraf Nāṣir al-Dīn Sha’bān II (reigned 1363–1376). It is composed of four parts: a 3.6cm diameter ring attached to a moveable polyhedral shape, three small cuboids with two baluster-shaped separators, another 13cm-long cuboid, and finally, a cruciform-shaped element. The calligraphic decoration inlaid with silver covers all the rectangular surfaces; they consist of passages from the Qur’an and expressions of invocation evoking its destination. The key was actually made for the Ka’ba, the Mecca sanctuary, a centre of the hajj (pilgrimage), which all Muslims must make at least once in their lives. The Qur’anic inscriptions use the word Bakka for Mecca, and mention the holy place of Abraham, located next to the Ka’ba.
From the beginning of the Mamluk period (mid thirteenth century), Egyptian sultans—as protectors of the holy places—regularly made an offering of the kiswa (or al-burku‘), the black brocade cloth that covers the Ka’ba. The kiswa and the key are sacred: it was used during the Ka’ba opening ceremonies, at specific times of the year. The door of the Ka’ba was particularly important; during the pre-Islamic period, the pagans had established a function specifically connected with the door: the Sa’ne (guardian of the temple) or al-higaba (chamberlain). During the Muslim period the Bani Shaiban (Companions of the Prophet) family fulfilled this duty: they were responsible for opening the door all day from Monday to Friday and during the months of Rajab. The opening of the door continues today with the same ceremonies and rites.
The first to offer a key was a Yemeni king from the ancient tribe of Tab’. The Abbasid Caliph al-Mu’tasim offered a gilded padlock. During the Mamluk period, Baybars was the first to have a key made for the Ka’ba, probably for political reasons: this enabled him to establish Mamluk control over the holy places. J. Sourdel-Thomine notes that, under the Mamluks, the sending of the key often coincided with the first year of the reign (as is the case here), ‘as if the formal and solemn sending of this lock […] played a role in the inauguration of the new dynasty, glorified by the ritual observation of certain religious practices that had for a long time been reserved for the caliph’. The keys of the Ka’ba were often kept. The earliest known example dates from the year AH 555/1160. Most of these keys—there are at least twenty-one—are now in the Topkapi Museum (Istanbul). Many of them were transferred there after the victory over the Mamluks in 1517. There is another key in the Louvre Museum[1].
[1] Key signed with the name of Sultan al-Malik al-Nāṣir Faraj ibn Barqūq, beginning of the fifteenth century, Louvre Museum, Paris, OA 6738.
Atil, E., Renaissance of Islam: Art of the Mamluks, exhibition catalogue. Washington D.C., Smithonian Institution, Washington D.C., Smithonian Institution Press, 1981, No. 33 p. 100.
Sayour, S. ‘Clé de la Kaaba’, in Discover Islamic Art [online], < http://www.discoverislamicart.org/database_item.php?id=object;ISL;eg;Mus01;11;fr > [consulted on 27.10.08].
Soudel-Thomine, J., ‘Clefs et serrures de la Ka’ba, notes d’épigraphie arabe’, Revue des études islamiques, XXXIX, 1971, pp. 29–65, in part. No. 11a, p. 71.
Wensinck, A.J.; Jomier, J., ‘Ka’ba’ in Encyclopédie de l’Islam, Leyde, Paris, E.J. Brill, Maisonneuve et Larose S.A., 1978, pp. 330–337.
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