Overview

The Blessed Mantle (Turkish Hirka-i Saadet) is a black woollen cloak venerated in Islam as a garment worn by the Prophet Muhammad. It is the most honoured of the Sacred Trusts (Mukaddes Emanetler) kept in the Chamber of the Sacred Relics at Topkapi Palace in Istanbul. About two metres long, of black wool lined with a cream-coloured cloth, it is preserved folded within a nest of caskets and was for centuries the focus of an intense devotional ceremony maintained by the Ottoman court.

The mantle came to Istanbul in 1517, when the Ottoman sultan Selim I overthrew the Mamluk sultanate and the guardianship of Islam's holiest cities and their relics passed to the Ottomans. Keeping the mantle became emblematic of the sultan-caliph's role, and a continuous recitation of the Quran was kept up before it. Today the relics are displayed to the public at the palace museum. The mantle's connection to the Prophet is preserved by an old tradition of custody; it is presented here with that attribution stated as tradition, since the object has not been, and by its nature is unlikely to be, scientifically dated.