So they found some silken goods in Viking Age burials (9th-10th centuries) in Sweden, and some of these pieces had the name “Allah” woven into them in Arabic writing–so that must mean the Vikings were, well… Muslims (http://metro.co.uk/2017/10/12/were-vikings-muslim-new-research-finds-allah-woven-into-burial-clothes-6995713/). At least, so says a scholar who may have watched The Thirteenth Warrior a few more times than is good for her.
And just to state my bona fides, my specialty in college was the history of the Viking Age. So I know hooey when I see it, and this is hooey. It’s just part of academic leftids’ infatuation with Islam. I knew my education would come in handy someday, if I only waited long enough.
Some of the clothes also have little swastikas woven into them. If we keep looking into ancient Swedish graves, will we find Martin Bormann?
If ever any people left behind an abundant and reliable written record, it was the Scandinavians of the Viking Age. I mean, they wrote down everything! And somehow not a single mention of any “Muslim vikings” appears in any of the sagas, poems, histories, Eddas, or in the copious writings of the great 13th-century Icelandic historian, Snorri Sturlusson. That this curious cultural phenomenon should have eluded Snorri is a preposterous idea.
But when it comes to academics swooning over Islam, it’s “Preposterous ‘R’ Us.” This scholar, for example, speculates on the Scandinavian peoples of the Viking Age picking up “Islamic ideas such as eternal life in paradise after death.” Apparently this ignoramus never heard of Valhalla, never read Beowulf, and has picked up a very bad habit, so prevalent among self-anointed scholars nowadays, of talking through her hat.
The fact is, because the Vikings themselves sailed over as much of the world as they could, stuff from every place you could think of wound up in their possession–by looting, trading, or buying. Silk from the East was a luxury item that always sold well in the West. A silken blouse woven in Persia would have made a nice anniversary present for Helga in Uppsala.
But by now I have probably told you more than you wanted to know.
Finding “Allah” in a standard design — a Norse equivalent of the Greek key design — comes to us from the same people who found “Allah” in the swirl on a Burger King ice cream cup. If you looked very hard, you could probably find “Allah” in an old workbook of the Palmer method of handwriting. Or a Gregg shorthand manual. (Anyone remember those?)
What piffle.
Finding goods from faraway places in a Viking grave is like discovering Babe Ruth used to play for the Yankees.
I noticed that she is quoted as saying: “The possibility that some of those in the graves were Muslim cannot be completely ruled out.”
“We know from other Viking tomb excavations that some of the people buried in them originated from places like Persia, where Islam was very dominant.”
Then she tries to explain it with her own flight of fantasy. The headline is ludicrous, the quotes from her a bit more realistic, but as I see it, she is seeing what she wants to see.
This reminds me of the arguments used by conspiracy theorists whom are trying to prove that the moon landings were faked. The hand-pick some details they don’t understand, such as the flag standing out straight, and then build a theory to “prove” their case. The problem is, they can only do this by ignoring plausible and accurate explanations. For example, the flags planted on the moon had a horizontal rod extending from the top of the pole which kept the flag unfurled in the airless environment of the moon.
Ms. Larsson reminds me of today’s journalists who are so eager to get a scoop so they can be recognized for their work, when in reality they just want recognition – who cares if it makes sense or is true, just so the spotlight is on them.
Dead right!
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/allah-viking-burial-fabrics-false-kufic-inscription-clothes-name-woven-myth-islam-uppsala-sweden-a8003881.html
Spectacular! thank you.