Egypt 100 years ago: The Ceremony of the Holy Carpet (El Mahmal) “El Mahmal” or “The Holy Carpet.” The Ceremony of the Holy Carpet “Mahmal” When the Kaaba’s Kiswa came from Luxor Egypt For centuries, every year From the reign of Al-Zahir Bebrus until the era of King Fuad of Egypt in the 1920s, the passage of the Mahmal through hundreds of miles of barren desert was an integral part of Hajj. Residents of Luxor Cairo would be dazzled by the celebrations marking the Mahmal’s departure. Egyptians knew that the production and transportation of the Kiswa was an honor given only to them by a succession of sultans and caliphs. Research conducted by the University of Munich has traced the origin of the Mahmal to Shajarat Al-Durr, wife of As-Salih Ayyub, the last Egyptian sultan of the Ayyub dynasty (13th century).