Why did Vikings have 'Allah' on clothes?
Apparently they found the words Allah and Ali embroidered on grave goods from Viking burials in Scandinavia. It was in Kufic Arabic script.
It makes sense as Vikings ranged all the rivers of Russia and traded with the Arab world. Many served in Constantinople's Varangian Guard, but obviously such mercenaries would also take service with the Saracens.
It is odd to think of Islamic Vikings though. We know Christianity slowly penetrated Scandinavia until it converted, but obviously Islam may have done the same - at least in the form of individual Vikings perhaps returning as Muslims. Alternately, these may represent slaves taken or freedmen from the Islamic world; or perhaps just a copied patterning.
There is a chance that the marauding bands raiding and pillaging Europe, may have had an odd Muslim or two - the first Islamic terrorists striking Europe, as it were.
Apparently they found the words Allah and Ali embroidered on grave goods from Viking burials in Scandinavia. It was in Kufic Arabic script.
It makes sense as Vikings ranged all the rivers of Russia and traded with the Arab world. Many served in Constantinople's Varangian Guard, but obviously such mercenaries would also take service with the Saracens.
It is odd to think of Islamic Vikings though. We know Christianity slowly penetrated Scandinavia until it converted, but obviously Islam may have done the same - at least in the form of individual Vikings perhaps returning as Muslims. Alternately, these may represent slaves taken or freedmen from the Islamic world; or perhaps just a copied patterning.
There is a chance that the marauding bands raiding and pillaging Europe, may have had an odd Muslim or two - the first Islamic terrorists striking Europe, as it were.