Musannaf Ibn Abi Shaybah

It is narrated from Hazrat Muhammad bin Ishaq that an elderly woman of Mecca says: When Hazrat Ibn Affan was martyred, I was a fourteen-year-old girl. I saw the Kaaba in such a state that there was no covering on it except what people had put on it—a red cloth that people had thrown over it, and a white cloth, and a woolen sheet. And nothing else was put on it that would be considered a hanging covering (i.e., a proper covering made for the Kaaba). Indeed, I saw the House of Allah in such a state that there was no gold or silver on it. The narrator, Hazrat Muhammad, says that during the era of the two Shaykhs, no covering was put on the Kaaba. Indeed, Hazrat Umar bin Abdul Aziz put coverings from Maqri and Yemeni cloths on it.

When the covering was not placed on the Ka'bah, Ibn Umar (may Allah be pleased with them both) would remove the cloth or skin of his sacrificial animal before sacrificing it and deposit it in the treasury of the Ka'bah so that it could be placed on the Ka'bah. Then, when the covering began to be placed on the Ka'bah, he abandoned this practice.

It is narrated from Hazrat Laith that during the time of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings be upon him), coverings of leather and burlap were placed over the Kaaba.