FAQ

Historically, throughout the Islamic world from Andalusia, North Africa, and Sub-Saharan Africa to Historic Syria, Iraq, Persia, and India the common veneration of the ‘traces’ (i.e. footprints and handprints) of the prophets and other holy persons became widespread. Moreover, talismanic objects were an essential feature of medieval Islamic villages, towns, and cities and many sites containing portable objects and talismanic designs associated with the Holy Ka'aba, prophets and holy men existed at places of worship, city gates, near sacred trees and springs. Teaching colleges for the religious sciences (madrasas) and mosques became repositories for sacred objects. Furthermore, the appearance of relics and relic replicas in mosques had caused a revival in these places of worship because crowds wanted to view the relic.

Relics are receptacles mainly receptacles for baraka but also serve the individual and collective memory. Muslim devotees yearn to preserve the memory of holy persons in objects which symbolized a tangible link between them and the holy person. Through the mere act of remembrance of holy persons and their miracles and memorializing the past, memory becomes a lived and shared experience. 

Of course, in Islam, the exemplar par excellence of sanctity is the Prophet Muhammad whom Muslims seek to emulate in their daily lives and objects associated with him were imbued with and came to embody the sacrality of his person. Prophet Muhammad became the object of veneration precisely because his teachings, sayings and silent affirmations were meticulously preserved by his Companions and transmitted to subsequent generations, who preserved and employed his relics seeking to derive blessings (baraka) from them even after his death.

The following are some narrations on Islamic relics:

The Umayyad caliph Muawiya (r. 41/661–60/680) who acquired the Prophet’s nail parings, said: 'The Prophet once clothed me with a shirt, which I put away, and one day when he pared his nails I took the parings and placed them in a bottle. When I die, clothe me in that shirt, and chop up and pulverize the parings; sprinkle them over my eyes and into my mouth, on the chance that God may have mercy on me through their baraka.'

Ibn Sirin said: ‘I said to Ubida [as-Salmani], ‘‘I have some of the hair of the Prophet, may peace be upon him, which I got from Anas or Anas’s family’’.’ He replied, ‘If I had a single one of those hairs, it would be dearer to me than this world and everything in it.'

Thumama related that Anas said, ‘Umm Sulaym used to spread a leather mat for the Prophet, peace be upon him, and he would have a midday nap on that mat at her home’. He said, ‘When he slept, [Umm Sulaym] would collect some of his sweat and hair and put it in a bottle and added it to perfume (sukk).’ [Thumama] said, ‘When Anas ibn Malik was dying, he told me to put some of that perfume in his embalming scent (hanut),  and that was done.’

Abu Jafar Ahmad b. Abd al-Majid said: I cut the pattern [of the Prophets sandal] for one of my students. [He came to me one day] and said: ‘Yesterday I saw a wonder from the baraka of this sandal. My wife was suffering from a pain which almost took her life. I placed the [image of the] sandal on the spot of her pain and said: O God, show me the blessing (baraka) of the owner of this sandal. God cured her instantly.

Relic replicas are exact copies of an original relic. As an example, Rumi's Garden has been blessed to receive an exact mold taken from an original Footprint our Beloved's ﷺ in the Ayup Sultan mosque in Turkey. From that mold, we proceeded to create casts. 

We state very clearly, within item descriptions, whether an item is a relic or a relic replica.

It's very hard for a regular Muslim to come across relics and relic replicas and if she/ he does, they are often extremely expensive. 

As an example, authentic kiswah are often given to diplomats and to people with connections either by Saudi royalty or The Kiswah Factory. When they are sold, they often cost thousands and prices are exaggerated by middle men. 

Furthermore, there is often the problem of verifying authenticity. Commonly, replicas are sold as authentic pieces to a well-meaning buyers. Even when sellers have may have good intentions in terms of selling authentic kiswah's, because the appropriate checks are not taken, they are unable to guarantee authenticity. 

It is with these two things in mind that Rumi's Garden aimed to tackle when it came to making relics and relic replicas available to the public.

We at Rumi’s Garden feel that this is a good opportunity for any Muslim to simply have something from our Beloved Prophet ﷺ or the Holy Kaaba at a fair price that is often much lower than prices set by middle men. We do this because we understand that these relics serve as a support for the remembrance of God. We are meticulous in doing our homework to ensure that each item sent to you is authentic and a reflection of the beautiful spirit of Islam. 

The simple answer is yes! We receive all relics and relic replicas from leading Islamic collectors from around the world with an expertise in the field. We have established a broad network of reliable sources and we do not carry any relics that are fake or inauthentic. We realize that there are sellers in the market who scam people for extortionate amounts of money for fake products and this is something we are attempting to fight. It is our job to provide you with only authentic relics and replicas that true copies of the original. 

Our process of authentication is the following:

• To begin with, we only receive relics from reliable collectors who specialize in collecting Islamic relics and replicas.
• We at Rumi's Garden personally examine the relics and replicas we receive. The sanad and background story of the relic/ replica is of interest to us.
• We communicate with experts in Islamic art and/ or textiles who contextualize the relics historically, via existing research and information, and compare it to the collectors sanad and backstory
• We communicate with experts who collect Islamic relics who compare the relics we have to their own collection and who can critically assess the relics. 
• We send the relic to the The Islamic Antiquities Museum of Kuwait so that they can further investigate the relic and provide an in depth examination. This often includes laboratory tests to examine material make-up.
• We take relics to a valuation services to be assessed monetarily.
• We get the blessings and approval of Mashayakh we are connected to, many of whom collect relics themselves.

If a relic or replica comes with a certificate of authentication, we clearly state it in the description and we always mention the source of the certificate.

The relics on Rumi's Garden are limited to what has always been accessible to Muslims living in Traditional Islamic societies.

Blessed Kiswah from the Holy Ka'aba and the Chamber of Prophet Muhammad in Medina al-Munawara

In the time of Sayidna Umar Ibn al-Khatab, a piece of the kiswah was given as a memorabilia to pilgrims after they had completed their Hajj. Of course, this is no longer the case and now only a select few have access to the kiswah. Others who attempt to buy them, often pay extortionate amounts of money and they make these purchases without being certain where the kiswah is sourced from. However, as a service to those who are lovers of Mecca and Medina, we, with the permission of our Mashayakh, have made the kiswah available for the regular Muslim so it may support his or her faith. Our selection includes small and larger sized cutouts to fit a variety of budgets.

Replica of the Prophets ﷺ  Blessed Footprint and Handprint

Historically, there is evidence that some mosques that were completely empty, but then received a Blessed Footprint or Handprint of our Beloved ﷺ, were revived since the congregation wanted to get a glimpse of something from his Blessed being ﷺ. This is due to the tremendous amount of baraka of the Blessed Footprint  and Handprint that would attract any believers. Till this day, many visit the Ayup Sultan mosque, The Shaykh Ahmed Al-Badawi mosque and others, to pay their respects to these Blessed relics. Now, this baraka can be in your home via the replicas we have sources. It is a great Blessed object for you and your loved ones to gather around and remember our Beloved ﷺ.

Carpets from around the Ka'aba and Masjid al Nabawi

Unfortunately, many of the carpets that are located around the Ka'aba area and in Masjid al Nabawi are often simply thrown away after they are deemed old or in unfit condition. Some collectors end up taking these carpets and then sell them at extortionate prices. We have been lucky to find collectors who source to us for reasonable prices to make these carpets available to you. Our selection includes prayer size rugs and small cutouts to fit a variety of budgets.

Yes! All our items have been used in the respective blessed places mentioned above and we do not supply, what some call 'extras', that weren't actually used in these sacred places.

The Islamic Antiquities Museum of Kuwait has a large database of information that enables them to contextualize Islamic antiques and textiles and therefore check authenticity. The process involves analyzing design, composite materials, age period, ownership history, and making comparisons with already existing items. They further collaborate with various institutes and experts in various fields from around the world. Furthermore, The Islamic Antiquities Museum of Kuwait specializes particularly in relics from the Haramain.

For each Blessed Kiswah sent out to our clients, we include a certified true copy (CTC) of a certificate of authentication for the Kiswah piece officially written by The Islamic Antiquities Museum of Kuwait. The CTC is an original provided by the museum and is not a photocopy made by Rumi's Garden. The CTC contains the certificate number and date for the larger Kiswah piece that was checked by The Islamic Antiquities Museum of Kuwait. 

To give an exact date for when a textile is made most often requires carbon dating which is an incredibly accurate process but consists of two major restrictions which is why it is avoided with most textiles unless much of the material exists and the material is not considered sacred.

1. In order to radiocarbon date a textile, a significant amount of material that is to undergo the process will be completely destroyed. We do not have the heart nor the conscious to do this to anything belonging to the House of God or our Beloved Prophet ﷺ especially considering that there are other methods that are available to assess authenticity.
2. Another restriction to radiocarbon dating occurs with textiles belonging to periods between 1640 AD – 1950 AD. Due to minimum sun activity during the Maunder Minimum and later effects from fossil fuel emissions during industrialization it is not possible to give definite radiocarbon ages within this time period. Thus, if kiswahs were woven at any time during this time period, radiocarbon measurements will give imprecise date results.

Due to the limitations of the material of both relic Kiswah and relic carpets, Rumi's Garden is unable to provide the same design as photos shown on the website. The photos are just a sample images. We are further unable to customize the design for specific orders. 

A burn test is the process of taking a thread from the Blessed Kiswah and putting a fire to it. The myth is that if it is made of silk/ cotton mix, it will turn to ash, and leave a natural smell. If it contains polyester or synthetic materials, it will clump up, turn into a ball, and smell like burnt plastic. This is a very crude way of testing the difference between synthetic materials and natural materials.

To begin with, Rumi’s Garden finds this method extremely disrespectful whether it is done to a relic or relic replica. All items, whether attributed to the God or the Prophet, and containing the Name Allah and Mohammed (ﷺ) should be treated with respect. For example, even with a replica, one never knows the intention of the maker of the replica. Maybe making a kiswah out of polyester, like the one in the Beloveds tomb in Medina, was the craftsman’s way of showing his love to our Prophet SAW. Why not respect that, especially when there are much more sophisticated ways of telling the difference between pure silk and synthetics? 

Furthermore, there are various natural materials that can be burnt, and will turn to ash and leave a natural smell. This test does not guarantee that the material is natural although it is a good indicator that the textile does not contain synthetics like polyester or nylon.

Besides a network of practical expertise, we at Rumi’s Garden, have sufficient knowledge about textiles. The burn test is of little interest to us. We further have contacts in the field, including The Islamic Antiquities Museum of Kuwait, who do the appropriate, respectful, full proof assessments to show what the actual material of a kiswah is made.

We absolutely do not source and never intend to source items such as the Blessed hair, teeth, clothing, blood, sweat and other intimate belongings of our Beloved Prophet ﷺ, his companions or the awliya. We find the sale of such relics to be obscene.

We also do not rent out relics as has shamefully been done by some collectors.

In the description of each relic, we mention if it comes with a certificate and where the certificate comes from; these may be in-house or external certs. Do not expect a certificate if the item description does not mention that it comes with a certificate.

Islamically speaking, a transaction requires the trust of two parties; the buyer and the seller. If you have doubts about a relic, please return it back to us within a 14 day period in the same condition as it was sent to you and we will refund the money. We would never ask of you to keep a relic that you doubt since this is both an injustice to you and the relic itself.

No. All our work is done online and we are unable to meet clients, at this point, due to a lack of workspace.

No, our prices are fixed.

What we do offer are payment plans for long term payments. Please contact us on pr@rumisgarden.co.uk so we can set the agreement up for you.

Rumi's Garden offers a variety of courier service options to choose from. Due to Corona virus, unforeseeable delays to processing and shipping times may occur. This is out of the control of Rumi's Garden.

Processing time for each order is 5 working days excluding weekends and national Spanish holidays.

By Spanish law, we are required to refund or replace damaged items or wrong orders returned to us within a period of 14 days from purchase. We also simply take items back if you are not happy with your purchase, within the 14 day period, as long as the items are in the same condition as when they were bought.

All returned items will be quality checked upon arrival at Rumi's Garden, and a refund will be issued upon satisfactory inspection. Please include certificates with return, if certificate is included in original purchase. A refund will not be made if certificate is not included.

Please email us at pr@rumisgarden.co.uk so we can provide you with a return address.

With your agreement, Rumi's Garden will use the contact information you provide to us to deliver your items and to contact you if there are any problems and concerns.

If you choose to opt in to our email list, we will to be in touch with you to provide updates on new items we, discounts and other useful information that we think may be of interest.

You can change your mind at any time, to unsubscribe to our emails, by clicking the unsubscribe link in the footer of any message you receive from us, or by contacting us at pr@rumisgarden.co.uk. We will treat your information with respect.

Rumi's Garden has no say when it comes to customs.

When ordering from www.RumisGarden.co.uk, you're responsible for assuring the product can be lawfully imported to the destination.

The recipient is the importer of record and must comply with all laws and regulations of the destination. Orders shipped outside of Spain may be subject to import taxes, customs duties and fees levied by the destination country. The recipient of an international shipment may be subject to such import taxes, customs duties and fees, which are levied once a shipment reaches the recipient's country. Additional charges for customs clearance must be fulfilled by the recipient; www.RumisGarden.co.uk has no control over these charges, nor can Rumi's Garden predict what they may be.

Customs policies vary widely; you should contact your local customs office for more information. When customs clearance procedures are required, it can cause delays beyond our original delivery estimates.

Customs offices in some countries or regions require the importer of record to provide a particular form of identification before releasing a shipment. You may be required to provide an identification number such as a Unique Identification Number, CPF, or Tax ID, or a proof of identity such as a copy of your passport.

it is extremely important that the information you provided Rumi's Garden with such as name, phone number, email and address are correct. If this information is provided, customs will usually process your item and the courier will deliver your package to you once the custom fee is paid, if they require payment.