Mahmal

A mahmal (Arabic: مَحْمَل, romanized: maḥmal) is a ceremonial passenger-less litter that was carried on a camel among caravans of pilgrims on the Hajj, the pilgrimage to Mecca which is a sacred duty in Islam.

[1] Before entry to the city, the simple textiles which had covered the mahmal on its journey across the desert or sea were replaced with the ornate, colourful kiswah.

[3] A mahmal returning from Mecca to its city of origin was regarded as carrying barakah (blessing) which could be transferred by touch.

As the procession returned to a city, parents brought out their children to touch the mahmal, and people briefly put their handkerchiefs inside it.

[4] In the Anis Al-Hujjaj (Pilgrim's companion), a detailed record of a Hajj undertaken in 1677, the Damascus mahmal is depicted containing a Quran on a stand.

[4] Swiss traveler John Lewis Burckhardt observed the Egyptian caravan in 1814 and wrote that a book of prayers, but not the Quran, would be carried in the mahmal.