I just saw this on the BBC this morning and thought it would be interesting to share:

Why did Vikings have 'Allah' embroidered into funeral clothes? - BBC News
https://apple.news/AGevwvkfmQlOJ3AFJotm2Dg

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".
The breakthrough was made by textile archaeologist Annika Larsson of Uppsala University while re-examining the remnants of burial costumes from male and female boat and chamber graves originally excavated in Birka and Gamla Uppsala in Sweden in the late 19th and mid-20th centuries.
She became interested in the forgotten fragments after realising the material had come from central Asia, Persia and China.
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."
Unlocking a puzzle
Larsson then realised 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.
To unlock the puzzle, she enlarged the letters and examined them from all angles, including from behind.
"I suddenly saw that the word 'Allah' [God] had been written in mirrored lettering," she says.

More at the link: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41567391

Yeah, there are archaeological evidence the vikings had direct contact with arab-muslims no doubt(although researchers don't know the history how they link), the vikings might have contacted the Arabs through trading, war etc

According to the vikings funeral, they are buried with what they cherished, love, stole, achieved, gifts even with humans, slaves, the common funeral is ship grave and cremation.

These discoveries of finding Arabic text in viking grave might have been results of what they stole or trade in exchange, or someone they killed in war.

Cloths were sew for vikings so probably a Muslim sew the funeral cloth as Ahmed Ibn Fadlan account(if anyone has watched the 13th warrior movie) in his write up about the Vikings. Muslims here shouldn't turn it to a belief thing and think the vikings were Muslims because of this discovery, they are not, the vikings were pagans before the christianization.

The Parisian Muslims really contributed to the development and civilization in the ancient era.

tintingz:
Yeah, there are archaeological evidence the vikings had direct contact with arab-muslims no doubt(although researchers don't know the history how they link), the vikings might have contacted the Arabs through trading, war etc

According the vikings funeral, they are buried with what they cherished, love, stole, achieved, gifts even with humans, slaves, the common funeral is ship grave and cremation.

This discoveries of finding Arabic text in viking grave might have been results of what they stole or trade in exchange, or someone they killed in war.

Cloths were sew for vikings so probably a Muslim sew the funeral cloth as Ahmed Ibn Fadlan account(if anyone as watched the 13th warrior movie) in his write up about the Vikings. [s]Muslims here shouldn't turn it to a belief thing and think the vikings were Muslims because of this discovery, they are not, the vikings were pagans before the christianization.[/s]

The Parisian Muslims really contributed to the development and civilization in the ancient era.

Your posts are sweet atimes, but you end up spoiling it!

Demmzy15:
Your posts are sweet atimes, but you end up spoiling it!

# Why are you an emotional child, always an enemy of ANY submission? The moment you see a shocking statement, your heart boils and instead of giving a counter statement, you always choose "the emotional" cancellation Demmzy15.

Grow up, kid.

# Ògá tintingz, your assumption SEEMS right but it still remain an assumption with NO certainty. The particular Viking with his shrouded cloth having "Allah, and Ali" written on it, MIGHT be and MIGHT be not a Muslim.

* Whichever it is, its history.

Demmzy15:
Your posts are sweet atimes, but you end up spoiling it!

There might be Muslim settlers and some few vikings converting to Islam but they were not islamize like it was done in Spain, the Christian Baptists never met vikings all Muslims but mixed people with different beliefs.

So when I said the vikings were not Muslims I meant the whole north.

AlBaqir:


# Why are you an emotional child, always an enemy of ANY submission? The moment you see a shocking statement, your heart boils and instead of giving a counter statement, you always choose "the emotional" cancellation Demmzy15.

Grow up, kid.

# Ògá tintingz, your assumption SEEMS right but it still remain an assumption with NO certainty. The particular Viking with his shrouded cloth having "Allah, and Ali" written on it, MIGHT be and MIGHT be not a Muslim.

* Whichever it is, its history.

Yes, even the researchers, historians are not certain about their discoveries, but what we know for sure is the vikings had direct contact with Muslim world and some muslims may have settled, some vikings may have converted as there are some account some converted, but throughout history the vikings were pagans, in fact it is said that the Muslims and vikings interact in cultures.

tintingz:
Yes, even the researchers, historians are not certain about their discoveries, but what we know for sure is the vikings had direct contact with Muslim world and some muslims may have settled, some vikings may have converted as there are some account some converted, but throughout history the vikings were pagans, in fact it is said that the Muslims and vikings interact in cultures.

The fact remains that you were too quick and certain in your assumption. Even the researcher, Anika Larsson says:

"The possibility that some of those in the graves were
Muslim cannot be completely ruled out

"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."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41567391

tintingz:
There might be Muslim settlers and some few vikings converting to Islam but they were not islamize like it was done in Spain, the Christian Baptists never met vikings all Muslims but mixed people with different beliefs.

So when I said the vikings were not Muslims I meant the whole north.

I fully understand your post, it'll be ridiculous to even claim the vikings were fully Muslims.

AlBaqir:


The fact remains that you were too quick and certain in your assumption. Even the researcher, Anika Larsson says:

"The possibility that some of those in the graves were
Muslim cannot be completely ruled out

"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."
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-41567391

Read my post again, did I denied Muslims were not settlers and there were no Muslim vikings? Read my first post again, Ahmed Ibn Fadlan a traveler was even a settler in the north, who is well known for his account about the Vikings.

The Persians that were found in the grave might probably be slaves or sacrifices or just individual that died in the north, it is part of their funeral rite to bury humans with Vikings nobles.

It was common to leave gifts with the deceased. Both men and women received grave goods, even if the corpse was to be burnt on a pyre. A Norseman could also be buried with a loved one or house thrall, or cremated together on a funeral pyre. The amount and the value of the goods depended on which social group the dead person came from. It was important to bury the dead in the right way so that he could join the afterlife with the same social standing that he had had in life, and to avoid becoming a homeless soul that wandered eternally.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Norse_funeral

Demmzy15:
I fully understand your post, it'll be ridiculous to even claim the vikings were fully Muslims.

Exactly.

tintingz:
Yeah, there are archaeological evidence the vikings had direct contact with arab-muslims no doubt(although researchers don't know the history how they link), the vikings might have contacted the Arabs through trading, war etc

According to the vikings funeral, they are buried with what they cherished, love, stole, achieved, gifts even with humans, slaves, the common funeral is ship grave and cremation.

These discoveries of finding Arabic text in viking grave might have been results of what they stole or trade in exchange, or someone they killed in war.

Cloths were sew for vikings so probably a Muslim sew the funeral cloth as Ahmed Ibn Fadlan account(if anyone has watched the 13th warrior movie) in his write up about the Vikings. Muslims here shouldn't turn it to a belief thing and think the vikings were Muslims because of this discovery, THEY ARE NOT, the vikings were pagans before the christianization.

The Parisian Muslims really contributed to the development and civilization in the ancient era.

# Your comment above is CLEAR. There is nowhere you give possibility that some of them MIGHT HAD been Muslims.

tintingz:
There might be Muslim settlers and some few vikings converting to Islam but they were not islamize like it was done in Spain, the Christian Baptists never met vikings all Muslims but mixed people with different beliefs.

So when I said the vikings were not Muslims I meant the whole north.

# The above is where you were pressed to give the possibility.

AlBaqir:



# Your comment above is CLEAR. There is nowhere you give possibility that some of them MIGHT HAD been Muslims.



# The above is where you were pressed to give the possibility.

My mistake if my first post sound generalizing but it seems you want to stretch this discussion, my statement still stands, the vikings were not Muslims but pagans, I'm looking at the big picture here, the muslims were not the only people the vikings encountered, there is nowhere in the history vikings are known to be Muslims(Islamic nation) or worship Allah, their God is Odin and Valhalla their place of afterlife, I will like to know if there were mosque found by archaeologists.

The muslim account that even said some vikings coverted to Islam is confusing.

...They [the Vikings] highly valued pork. Even those who had converted to Islam aspired to it and were very fond of pork." - Amin Razi
http://www.1001inventions.com/vikings

How can people who have converted to Islam still eat pork that was prohibited by Allah?

It is seems the person that wrote this don't know the difference between borrowing culture and converting.

Read:

When there is tolerance for each other’s beliefs, customs, and religious practices, then each culture learns from each other and there is an exchange ideas. Whenever one culture mingles with another culture, that culture cannot help but to absorb some of the other’s culture, beliefs, and practices.

The Norse have long ‘mingled’ with the Muslim world and have had very long trade relationship.

Even here it confirms Muslim slaves were brought to the north.

During this time period, captured slaves from all parts of the known world were a common sight everywhere. Muslims slaves brought into the North lands would have been as common as any other slave or item traded.

This has summed everything up.

According to Norse Law, it was possible for a thrall (slave) to purchase their freedom and become a “freedman.” This made it very possible for Muslim thralls to become freed and able to live their lives amongst the Norse. Their descendants would eventually became freemen (Karls) and considered native Norse by the Norse around them. Muslims that were once slaves (thralls) that became fully assimilated into Norse culture.
This is very possible and very probable, as Norse law allowed for this.
http://spangenhelm.com/islamic-muslim-vikings/

This gave the question about the ring for/to Allah text on it.

The word reads as “il-La-La” which means “for” or “to Allah (God)”. Though the attire of the woman in the grave seems to be traditionally Scandinavian, her decomposed body made it hard for the researchers and archaeologists to determine her faith and ethnicity. Thus making people question - was it a war spoil? A gift? A part of her traditional attire? Or, was she a convert to Islam? We cannot confirm yet.
http://www.1001inventions.com/vikings

^^^This are not my words but the researchers discoveries, when I said vikings were not Muslims I meant they were not Islamic, can we say because some few Arabs were still pagans, Jews, Christians after the advent and reign of Islam makes the Arabs not Muslims?

Many Scandinavians had trade (and slave routes) through Northeast Europe that connected to Azerbaijan and subsequently Persia and the Islamic world. Most of the writings on Scandinavians at certain points in history is from scholars from the Islamic world. It's entirely likely that there was religious contact, but I doubt there was anything beyond some casual or adopted religious practice. There are no Cevems or Mosques in old Scandinavia.

In fact, many people in Azerbaijan and North Iran have some Irish ancestry in them due to the fact that Irish slaves were traded along the North-East caucasus.