9th century Viking era ring with 'For Allah' engraved unearthed in Sweden

Scientists have discovered an ancient 9th century Viking era ring in Sweden, which has the words 'For Allah' engraved upon it.

The pink-violet colored stone silver jewel was found during the 1872-1895 excavations of grave fields at the Viking age trading center of Birka, some 15.5 miles west of Stockholm.

It was amongst the jewelry, brooches and remains of clothes in a rectangular wooden coffin of woman, who's skeleton was completely decomposed and might have been buried arout 850 A.D, Discovery News reported.

The ring was cataloged at the Swedish History Museum in Stockholm as a signet ring consisting of gilded silver set with an amethyst inscribed with the word "Allah" in Arabic Kufic writing.

Sebastian Warmlander of Stockholm University said that they had other Arabic-style rings, but it was the only ring with an Arabic inscription found in Scandinavia.

The researchers studied the ring using a scanning electron microscope, and said that it consisted of a high quality (94.5 percent) non-gilded silver alloy, set with a stone of colored soda-lime glass with an Arabic inscription reading some version of the word Allah.

"Colored glass was an exotic material in Viking Age Scandinavia," Warmlander said.

The researchers interpreted the inscription as "il-la-lah," meaning "For/To Allah."

Alternative interpretations of the engraving are possible, and the letters could also be read as "INs...LLH" meaning "Inshallah" (God-willing).

The researchers also noted that the ring body was in mint condition, which meant that it had never been much used, and did not have many owners.

Either way, the ring constitutes evidence for direct interactions between the Vikings and the Islamic world, the researchers concluded.

The findings are reported in the journal Scanning.