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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/world/why-did-vikings-have-allah-on-clothes/ar-AAtk0Sj?ocid=spartanntp#image=AAtk0Sj_1|4
Pretty interesting stuff. I never imagined any Vikings as being Muslim even though I knew they had lots of contact.
Researchers in Sweden have found Arabic characters woven into burial costumes from Viking boat graves. The discovery raises new questions about the influence of Islam in Scandinavia, writes journalist Tharik Hussain.
They were kept in storage for more than 100 years, dismissed as typical examples of Viking Age funeral clothes.
But a new investigation into the garments - found in 9th and 10th Century graves - has thrown up groundbreaking insights into contact between the Viking and Muslim worlds.
Patterns woven with silk and silver thread have been found to spell the words "Allah" and "Ali".
Larsson says the tiny geometric designs - no more than 1.5cm (0.6in) high - resembled nothing she had come across in Scandinavia before.
"I couldn't quite make sense of them and then I remembered where I had seen similar designs - in Spain, on Moorish textiles."
Larsson then realized she was not looking at Viking patterns at all but ancient Arabic Kufic script.
There were two words that kept recurring. One of them she identified with the help of an Iranian colleague. It was the name "Ali" - the fourth caliph of Islam.
But the word next to Ali was more difficult to decipher.
"I suddenly saw that the word 'Allah' [God] had been written in mirrored lettering," she says.
"The possibility that some of those in the graves were Muslim cannot be completely ruled out," she says.
"We know from other Viking tomb excavations that DNA analysis has shown some of the people buried in them originated from places like Persia, where Islam was very dominant.
"However, it is more likely these findings show that Viking age burial customs were influenced by Islamic ideas such as eternal life in paradise after death."
Pretty interesting stuff. I never imagined any Vikings as being Muslim even though I knew they had lots of contact.