The Ka’bah used to be opened when its covering was being changed during hajj season to allow as many pilgrims as possible to enter.
On the 28th of Dhul Qa’dah, the lower part of the Kiswa covering would be cut off to a height of eight feet, and a length of white calico was sewn on in its place (as depicted in the images).
This practice was done by Shaibi (Ka’bah keyholder) merely in order that he would sell a part of the kiswa to the hâjjis.
It was his custom to do this some ten days before the Pilgrimage, so that his agents would have plenty of time in which to sell the pieces of fabric. Were he to wait until the 9th of Dhul Hijjah, on which date the old covering use to be exchanged for the new, the hajjis, having completed their pilgrimage, would pay little attention to souvenir-buying, in their eagerness to return to their own countries.
During the ten days preceding the Hajj, vendors of little pieces of the old kiswa were to be seen squatting (a seller who operates a stall or sells goods on a temporary, unauthorised and unregistered basis) on the marble pavement outside Bâb Al Salâm.
