Following four years of work, finishing touches put to kiswa of zarih of Habib ibn Mazahir

The Maintenance Department of the Holy Shrine of Imam Hussein, peace be upon him, has put the finishing touches to the new kiswa—a piece of cloth that covers a tomb—for the zarih of Habib ibn Mazahir al-Asadi, peace be upon him, in cooperation with Pakistan-based Fatima al-Zahra Foundation.

The kiswa contains embroidered inscriptions and decorations with gold and silver threads that were hand-carved.

In a statement to Shia Waves Agency, Mahmoud Shaker, head of the department’s Handicrafts Section, said that the work on the kiswa of the shrine of Habib ibn Mazahir al-Asadi, peace be upon him, took four years.”

He pointed out that the kiswa contains a number of lines and inscriptions that were designed according to the prescribed dimensions and were done manually without the intervention of machines.

Mahmoud added that approximately 1,300 to 1,400 precious stones were used in on the kiswa, including zircon, agate, emerald, ruby, pearl, turquoise, and other precious stones.

He confirmed that the decorations and lines on this piece of cloth are made of gold threads (about 80%) and silver threads (about 20%), which were distributed with precise geometric dimensions.