The disclosure that pieces of the Kiswah, the sacred cloth covering the holy Kaaba, were shipped to Jeffrey Epstein should not be an investigative curiosity lost among court proceedings. It is a blasphemous scandal that exposes how power operates through violation. According to unsealed correspondence cited in recent reporting, multiple pieces of the Kiswah were transferred to Epstein through intermediaries with access to Saudi religious networks. This was not an innocent exchange of art or a cultural misunderstanding. It was a breach that implicates both Epstein and the authorities responsible for safeguarding Islam’s most sacred symbol.

The Kiswah is not a decorative textile or a historical relic. It covers the Kaaba, the spiritual axis of Islam and the focal point of Muslim prayer across the world. Its significance lies not in craftsmanship or rarity, but in inviolability. The cloth exists within a tightly regulated ritual order governed by restraint, sanctity, and collective trust. Once removed from that context and placed into private possession, it ceases to function as a sacred object and becomes a trophy.

Public commentary has attempted to neutralise this breach through euphemism. The transfer is described as a “gift,” an “art object,” or a collector’s item. It was emphasized that millions of pilgrims touched the Kiswah during tawaf, as though this tactile history justifies its removal. This framing is misleading. The Kiswah is not sacred because it is touched, but because it is bounded, because it belongs to a communal order that resists private ownership. Reducing........

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