Saudi Arabia: MbS leads yearly Kaaba washing ceremony

Saudi strongman Mohammed bin Salman was on Tuesday at the helm of the yearly washing of the Kaaba, the holiest place in the world for Muslims.

The Saudi crown prince was joined by other officials such as Abdul-Rahman Al-Sudais, the general president of the affairs of Islam's two most-sacred mosques – the foremost of which is Mecca's Great Mosque, where the Kaaba is located.

Video of the ceremony posted to Twitter showed the Great Mosque empty but with a significant security presence, according to pan-Arab news website Arabi 21.

Bin Salman, widely considered Saudi Arabia's de facto ruler, cleaned the Kaaba on behalf of his aging father King Salman, the official Saudi Press Agency reported.

It said that the crown prince walked around the Kaaba and performed two Rakas, or sections, of prayer before the ceremony.

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The washing of the Kaaba is a tradition believed to have been started by the Prophet Mohammed and is performed on the floors and the walls in different ways, Saudi broadcaster Al Arabiya explained.

The Kaaba's interior walls are washed with a perfumed white cloth.

A combination of perfume and water from the Zamzam Well, located not far from the Kaaba inside the Great Mosque, is used by participants to wash the floor with palm leaves and their hands.