"Arabic script on Viking clothes" Topic

An interesting article

link

but perhaps not too surprising after all.

Apparently Muslim immigrants in Scandinavia go way back.

Or the grave clothes were constructed from raided loot!

Jim

Too funny Winston…

Ibn Fadlan.

Not to be a sour note, but there seems to be some vested interest in the claims regarding influence, not to mention what appears to me to be potentially wishful interpretation of the pattern "looked at from all angles" "a mirrored script," etc.. Furthermore, the article's suggestion of Islamic influence on Scandinavian thought is both unsupported and feeble at best. Scandinavian myth had an afterlife long before any contact with Islam was even remotely possible, and certainly Christianity carried a Paradise element to Scandinavia much earlier than Islam could have.

My suspicion would be rather that these items were constructed of trade goods (or loot), with the Scandinavians having no knowledge of what any Arabic script might read or mean, if they even had an inkling that it was writing at all (assuming it actually is; all I see are some rough geometric shapes). So I for one will wait until these are examined by more experienced archeologists with stronger pedigrees than the ones presented in the article (which I also notied offered no alternative theories or critical examination of the claim, nor any contact with more established sources or experts in the field).

I'm going with questionable at best, if not completely bogus.

I'm with Parzival on this.
Even mirrored, I saw no similarities.

The human brain is geared toward seeing patterns – sometimes those patterns are interpreted based on what the owner of that brain wants to see. Cloud castles and Jesus on a pizza come to mind.

In all likelihood, if the researcher is correct, as with the ring mentioned the cloth was loot or trade goods.

I'm definitely not an Islamic scholar, but might the Name on clothing be considered blasphemous?

I just figured some Vikings picked up some cool duds through an extensive trade network.

I'm going with questionable at best, if not completely bogus.

Do you have any evidence for your counter claims?

Do you have any evidence for your counter claims?

The complete absence of any historical record of Islamic beliefs in Scandinavia? Does that count?

I offered lots of evidence in my post, actually, that rather easily refuted the claims being made. One was the belief in an afterlife in pagan Scandinavia, which far precedes the development of Islam, and ditto for the same in Christianity, which the Vikings encountered far more frequently. Not to mention that Viking culture, which featured heavy drinking, consumption of any meat on any kind of hoof, and a remarkably high status and level of freedom for women compared to Islamic cultures of the time (or even much later). Note also that when Christinaity took hold in Scandinavia, its alteration of the culture was swift and permanent, including the destruction of idols and pagan worship sites. This would also have been the result of any significant Islamic influence, extended to the destruction of Christian elements and sites. Yet this did not happen, and there are no records of Islamic influence on culture or Islam- based religious activity in the region, aside from this very dubious interpretation of patterns on scraps of cloth. So any contact with Islam was therefore brief and insignificant. As I said, more likely trade goods or loot than anything else, if they actually are of Islamic origin, which is highly doubtful.

the complete absence of any historical record of Islamic beliefs in Scandinavia? Does that count?

Be more specific. What do you meany by "Islamic beliefs in Scandinavia"?

I offered lots of evidence in my post, actually,

You had no citations in your post.

that rather easily refuted the claims being made.

Then refute them using peer-reviewed sources.

Not to mention that Viking culture, which featured heavy drinking, consumption of any meat on any kind of hoof, and a remarkably high status and level of freedom for women compared to Islamic cultures of the time (or even much later).

The Mongols drank heavily and consumed all kinds of meat. Many of them converted to Islam.

Note also that when Christinaity took hold in Scandinavia, its alteration of the culture was swift and permanent, including the destruction of idols and pagan worship sites. This would also have been the result of any significant Islamic influence,

Is the article claiming "significant" Islamic influence? If so, in your reading how does it define this term?

At any rate, Medieval Scandinavians certainly had significant contacts with Muslims during the Viking Age.