Devotion to the mantle of the Prophet has deep roots in Islamic memory. Traditions tell of the Prophet bestowing his cloak as a mark of honour and protection, most famously on the poet Ka'b ibn Zuhayr, whose ode is remembered as the "Poem of the Mantle" (al-Burda). The mantle preserved at Topkapi is understood to descend from the Prophet's household and to have been kept among the sacred objects held in Cairo under the Mamluk sultans.
When Selim I defeated the Mamluks in 1516-1517 and entered Cairo, the relics of the Prophet and of the early caliphs were transferred to Istanbul, and with them the responsibility of guardianship that underpinned the Ottoman claim to the caliphate. The mantle was enshrined at Topkapi in the Hirka-i Saadet chamber, refurbished under Suleiman the Magnificent, where it became the centre of a court ritual: on the fifteenth of Ramadan the sultan, the royal family and senior dignitaries would visit to honour it, and its casket was opened with great ceremony.
Since 31 August 1962 the Sacred Trusts, including the mantle, have been on public display at the Topkapi Palace Museum, and the tradition of continuous Quran recitation in the chamber has been maintained. The custodian institution presents the mantle as a relic of the Prophet held in trust across the centuries.