'Conversion' to Islam in Early Medieval Europe

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Article ‘Conversion’ to Islam in Early Medieval Europe: Historical and Archaeological Perspectives on Arab and Northern Eurasian Interactions

Sara Ann Knutson 1,2,* and Caitlin Ellis 3,4

1 Anthropology Department, University of California, Berkeley, CA 94720, USA 2 Institute of History, University of Warsaw, 00-927 Warsaw, Poland 3 Department of History, Durham University, Durham DH1 3EX, UK; [email protected] 4 Centre for Medieval Studies, Stockholm University, SE-106 91 Stockholm, Sweden * Correspondence: [email protected]

Abstract: In recent years, the influence of Muslims and Islam on developments in medieval Europe has captured the attention of scholars and the general public alike. Nevertheless, ‘conversion’ to Islam remains a challenging subject for historical research and demands more transdisciplinary collaborations. This article examines early medieval interactions between Muslim Arabs and Northern and Eastern Europeans as a case study for whether some individuals in Northern Eurasia ‘converted’ to Islam. More importantly, we address some key examples and lines of evidence that demonstrate why the process of ‘conversion’ to Islam is not more visible in the historical and archaeological records of Northern Eurasia. We find that, despite the well-established evidence for economic exchanges between the Islamic World and Northern Eurasia, the historical and material records are much more complex, but not entirely silent, on the issue of religious change. We also conclude that religious Citation: Knutson, Sara Ann, and connectivity and exchanges, including with Islam, were common in early medieval Northern Eurasia, Caitlin Ellis. 2021. ‘Conversion’ to even if it is difficult in most cases to identify conclusive instances of ‘conversion’ to Islam. Islam in Early Medieval Europe: Historical and Archaeological Keywords: religious conversion; Caliphate; Ibn Fadlan; Vikings; Rus’; medieval Eurasia; early Perspectives on Arab and Northern medieval; material culture of religion; Islamic archaeology Eurasian Interactions. Religions 12: 544. https://doi.org/10.3390/ rel12070544

Academic Editor: Marina Montesano 1. Introduction: Islamic Conversion? The investigation of religious change in the past, including transforming belief struc- Received: 4 June 2021 tures, mentalities, and practices, presents a challenging research topic for historical research. Accepted: 12 July 2021 Religious conversion entails a complex process, one that can be influenced by cross-cultural Published: 16 July 2021 interactions, as was often the case during the latter part of the early medieval period (c. 700–1100 CE). The faiths of Christianity and Islam especially left a profound impact on Publisher’s Note: MDPI stays neutral medieval Europe. However, while the influence of Christianity and Christian conversion with regard to jurisdictional claims in throughout the European continent is widely studied and understood, the influence of published maps and institutional affil- Islam on European societies beyond Iberia was traditionally restricted to the Crusades. iations. This resulted in a focus on negative portrayals of Muslims in European literary sources without full consideration to how the Islamic faith does—and does not—leave medieval historical and material traces outside the Islamic World. However, in recent years, the study of the Scandinavian Vikings’ connections with the Islamic World and the prospect Copyright: © 2021 by the authors. that some might have even converted to Islam has captivated scholars, the media, and Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. the general public. This interest culminated in the late 2017 controversy of the so-called This article is an open access article “Viking Allah¯ textile.” Originally excavated in 1938 at Birka, Sweden, the material gener- distributed under the terms and ated international media attention for the suggestion that the textile featured the word conditions of the Creative Commons “Allah,”¯ which was disproven weeks later (Geijer 1938; Bäckström 2017; Mulder 2017). Attribution (CC BY) license (https:// The “Allah”¯ textile case cautioned researchers against simply wishful thinking for a more creativecommons.org/licenses/by/ diverse, multicultural past beyond what the surviving medieval evidence can reveal. That 4.0/).

Religions 2021, 12, 544. https://doi.org/10.3390/rel12070544 https://www.mdpi.com/journal/religions Religions 2021, 12, 544 2 of 21

said, scholars must take seriously how the medieval past informs people’s relationship to and understanding of the present. Many reasons exist for the public’s interest in evidence of interactions between Arabs from the Islamic World and Europeans, including emerging understandings of the ‘global’ dimension to the medieval period (Frankopan 2019) and of medieval European societies’ complicated notions of race and equally complex approaches to multiculturalism (Heng 2018; Kim 2019; Whitaker 2019). Many scholars and members of the public also recognize the urgency of addressing misappropriations of the medieval, not least the Vikings, in contemporary white supremacist (Ellis 2021b; Otaño Gracia 2019) and anti-immigration or Islamophobic movements (Frauman 2020; Hall 2020, pp. 135, 145–46). The relationships between Arabs and Scandinavian Vikings also resonate with modern Muslim populations in Europe, including immigrants from Arab countries and white European converts to Islam, who navigate the affinities and tensions behind multiculturalism, race and racialization, and Islamophobia (cf. Sealy 2021; Hass 2020). As much as we should acknowledge the meaningful resonances between the past and present, it is also important to recognize that the medieval era and the contemporary period are separate, historically contingent circumstances. Therefore, these historical moments should be treated independently in scholarly examinations. Evidence of interactions between medieval Europe and the Islamic World undoubt- edly reverberates with a number of academic disciplines and subfields. Such evidence underscores the important opportunities for and necessity of greater transdisciplinary collaborations, between archaeologists and historians and between specialists on medieval Europe and those on the Islamic World, to achieve improved, nuanced, and more holistic understandings of the past. Drawing inspiration from these academic and public discussions, we pose the question in this article: did medieval European individuals ever become Muslims and why is the process of conversion to Islam not more visible in the historical and archaeological records? Despite the wealth of scholarship on Classical Islam and its connections to medieval Christendom, the possibilities that non-Arab individuals converted to Islam remain understudied. Until recently, medieval scholarship devoted limited attention to wider historical processes across Eurasia—inattention that arguably resulted in misconceptions about Islam. Islamic specialists have criticized the stereotype that early Islam quickly proliferated through only violence and forced conversions, arguing that this mischaracterizes a highly complex phenomenon (Hermansen 2014, p. 2). In light of the vast geographic scope of the Islamic World (Dar al-Islam)—more than twice the size of early medieval Christendom– scholars have questioned why the study of Islam is not better known to researchers outside of Islamic studies (Petersen 2005, p. 101). An examination of conversion to Islam in medieval Europe from historical and archaeological perspectives is therefore crucial for helping to dismantle common misconceptions by addressing the influence of Islam and its local articulations outside the traditional boundaries of the Islamic World. This work requires placing the surviving historical sources and archaeological materials in transdisciplinary conversion where both forms of evidence are equally respected and subjected to source criticism. Informed by the Quranic Dar al-Islam, we will use the term “Islamic World” here to interrogate a socially constructed space in which Muslim adherents practiced their faith under Muslim governing body. During the Classical Age of Islam, this space included the Arabian Peninsula and the Levant, Persia, parts of Central Asia and the Caucasus, Sicily, North Africa, and Al-Andalus. Since Bulliet(1979) seminal study on religious conversion to Islam, scholars have evaluated some complications of this historical phenomenon. Firstly, Varisco(2007) questions the application of the term medieval to Islamic history.1 Indeed, medieval traditionally belongs to the historiography of Europe and is not necessarily historically intelligible to contemporaneous developments elsewhere. Arabic-speaking scholars sometimes trans- 2 late the European “Middle Ages” as al-qurun¯ al-mutawasi.ta (ù¢ñJÖ Ï@ àðQ ®Ë@ ), literally, the middle centuries, but this phrase remains anachronistic in the Islamic World, where the notion of a ‘middle’ age is not meaningful. The application of medieval to Islamic developments, Varisco argues, flattens the rich diversity of Islamic history, including of indigenous Religions 2021, 12, 544 3 of 21

peoples, tribal continuities, and Arabian developments. Varisco does not address the ap- preciable overlap between European and Arab history which might benefit from a common terminology—medieval or otherwise—that transcends disciplinary and regional confines. Bulliet, for instance, interpreted the medieval period as an era in which religion became a primary social identity—a broad historical process that the Islamic World and Europe shared. However, since Islamic history is far more than the aspects relevant to Europe, we will restrict the medieval label here to Europe. In adopting this usage of medieval, we aim to respectfully bridge bodies of scholarship and encourage continued research on interconnections between the European medieval period and the Classical Age of Islam. Second, religious conversion studies must recognize the overlaps and distinctions between religious, social, and cultural exchanges. The motivations behind an individual’s conversion are complex and multifaceted, often involving considerations and negotiations of social affiliations, economic life, recognition of religious authorities, political incentives, and spiritual practices and expectations (cf. Langewiesche 2020). Examining these processes in Africa, archaeologist Insoll(2003) suggested that Islam spread ‘in irregular pulses, and with far from uniform results’ (p. 397). He asserted that scholars cannot assume that a clear-cut distinction existed between African traditional religions and the shift to Islam before examining the documentary and archaeological evidence (Insoll 2003: 200). The transition from one belief system to another is not simply the fusion of two sets of beliefs, but a dynamic process involving the engagement of prior traditions with the adopted in- heritance of the new belief system’s traditions (Gilchrist 2008). Researchers must carefully consider the distinction between materials that express religious belief and those that more broadly function as cultural markers, not necessarily with religious intent (Carvajal López 2018). Historians and archaeologists therefore argue for the necessity of distinguishing between the cultural and religious dimensions of Islamic societies, to the extent possible. Hodgson(1974) advocated the term Islamicate to identify cultural aspects and Islamic for the religious, a now often- adopted terminological distinction. We will focus on religious expressions when possible while recognizing that religion and culture are not mutually exclusive and sometimes inextricable. Finally, Humphreys(1991) argued that ‘conversion to Islam ... remains one of the most poorly examined fields in Islamic studies’ (p. 274). While scholarship has grown significantly since then, the specific usage of the term conversion requires caution.3 Deriving from Latin, conversion was traditionally used in a Christian context. Today, most converts to Islam avoid the word conversion, instead describing their experience as ‘becoming Muslim,’ ‘embracing Islam,’ or ‘taking shahada¯ ,’ the declaration of their faith. The Arabic

language does not feature a word for conversion: the verb aslama ÕÎ@)), to submit, conveys the act of becoming Muslim. Van Nieuwkerk(2014) thus productively distinguishes conversion as an outsider’s terminology, whereas the aforementioned phrases indicate a Muslim perspective (pp. 667–86). Other researchers distinguish between conversion as an individual’s process of religious change and Islamization as a large-scale social process and the complex cumulative results of conversions over the longue durée (Peacock 2017; Ray 1976, p. 184). Acknowledging that conversion to Islam is an appropriated model, we also recognize that many scholars, including in Islamic studies, find conversion a useful model for religious change (cf. Gervers and Bizhazi 1990; Mako 2011; Sahner 2016; Tannous 2018; Ibrahim 2021; Brack 2021). We therefore will use this term in our discussions of Islam in order to engage with wider preexisting scholarship but will use ‘conversion’ in quotation marks to remind the reader of the term’s limitations. We also avoid treating religious change as an ‘all or nothing’ process. Scholarship on early medieval Scandinavia, for instance, has articulated how pagans and Christian converts maintained complex, sometimes syncretic, mentalities and worldviews (cf. Gräslund 2002; Gunnell 2013; Murphy 2018; Price 2019). Rather than treating conversion as the simple transition from one belief system to another, such research has reconfigured conversion as a complex, dynamic process involving the entanglement of previous beliefs and the adopted belief system. This updated approach has not been sufficiently applied to ‘conversion’ to Islam outside the Islamic World. Religions 2021, 12, 544 4 of 21

In the following sections, we will address why ‘conversion’ to Islam, however small- scale, is an important question for scholars to investigate and why this process is not more apparent in the historical and archaeological records. To do this, we will analyze some key examples of documentary sources and archaeological lines of evidence, rather than provide a comprehensive survey of the available possible evidence for ‘conversion’ to Islam. The point of this article is not to simply identify limitations in the evidence nor to overemphasize the possibility that some Northern Europeans embraced Islam. Instead, we suggest that a transdisciplinary paper that takes seriously how Islamic processes in Europe and Northern Eurasia were intentionally or unintentionally curated or removed from the historical and material records is long overdue and contributes an important, nuanced piece in our understandings of the medieval past. We ultimately ﬁnd that, despite the well-established evidence for exchanges between the Islamic World and Northern Eurasia, the historical and material records are much more complex, but not entirely silent, on the issue of ‘conversion’. We also conclude that religious connectivity and exchanges, including with Islam, were common in early medieval Northern Eurasia, even if it is difﬁcult in most cases to identify conclusive instances of ‘conversion’ to Islam.

2. Northern Eurasian Interactions with Muslims and Islam: A Case Study Six hundred years after the beginnings of Christianity, Islam emerged in the seventh- century Arabian Peninsula, based on the revelations of the prophet Muhammad. Following Muhammad’s death in 632 CE, Islam spread across the Arabian Peninsula and the Fertile Crescent through a succession of Islamic caliphal dynasties.4 Historians broadly identify early Muslims in these areas as individuals from polytheistic tribal societies or former monotheistic Christians, Jews, and Zoroastrians (Lapidus 2002). Early Islam became associ- ated with a conscious Arab ethnic identity as a consequence of the Umayyad requirement for the formal association with an Arab tribe or the adoption of the mawali¯ (úÍ@ñÓ) (non- Arab) status to become Muslim. During the Classical Age of Islam, the faith expanded into North Africa, Al-Andalus, Sicily, Central Asia and the Caucasus, East Africa, South Asia, and Southeast Asia. On a smaller scale, Muslim individuals from the Islamic World traveled throughout Eurasia during the eighth to eleventh centuries, including Ah. mad ibn Rusta (d. post 903 CE), Muhammad al-Idr¯ıs¯ı (1100–1165 CE), Muhammad ibn H. awqal (d. post 978 CE), Abu¯ H. amid¯ al-Garna˙ t.¯ı (c. 1080–1170), and Ah. mad ibn Fad. lan¯ (c. 879– 960). They describe their personal travel experiences and interactions with a variety of Eurasian peoples, including Han-Chinese, Slavic, Turkic, Scandinavian, and Continental European individuals (cf. De Goeje 2014b; Al-Idr¯ıs¯ı; Maqbul Ahmad 1992; Kramers 2014; Abu¯ Hamid¯ al-Gharnat¯ ¯ı 1925; Lunde and Stone 2012; Montgomery 2000). Their writings also incorporated geographical and anthropological knowledge of Eurasia from other Muslim merchants and explorers. Because of this vested interest in geography, diplomacy, and commercial activity across Eurasia, the Islamic World achieved advanced knowledge of non-Islamic societies and customs. It is therefore hardly surprising that Muslims came into contact with communities in Northern Eurasia, a region that consisted of spaces west of the Ural Mountains and north of the Caucasus, including the Volga River valley, the Baltic region, and Scandinavia. Medieval Northern Eurasia featured numerous semi-nomadic and sedentary communities, including the Pechenegs, Khazars, Volga Bulgars, Rus’, Slavic communities, and Scandinavians. We use Northern and Eastern European to refer to Scandinavian, Slavic, and Rus’ communities who interacted with Arab travelers throughout Northern Eurasia (cf. Knutson 2021, p. 8).5 We will mainly focus on Scandinavians and Rus’ engagements with Muslims and Islam, since the interactions of communities like the Bulgars, and later communities in the Golden Horde, with Islam is understood and accepted among specialists (cf. Zimonyi 1990; DeWeese 1994; Curta 2019; Brack 2021). From the eighth century, coinciding with the expansionary movement of the Caliphates, Northern Europeans, namely Scandinavians, launched colonization movements across the North Atlantic and other activities of mobility across Eurasia, developments that some scholars characterize as a diaspora (Abrams 2012; Religions 2021, 12, 544 5 of 21

Jesch 2015). These movements were less centralized, political, and religious in character than the Caliphal expansions, although in some cases no less violent (cf. Ellis 2021a). As traders and mercenaries, many Scandinavians maintained extended contact with Muslims in Al-Andalus, the Mediterranean, Byzantium, and Northern Eurasia. Northern Europeans in the Baltic and Volga River valley regions traded silver, furs, and slaves extensively with the Caliphate, building a close commercial partnership that reached its height in the tenth century. The exchanges between Northern and Eastern Europeans and Muslim Arabs provide an illuminating case study for examining ‘conversion’ to Islam for a couple of reasons. First, early medieval Northern Europeans launched itinerant activities across an unprece- dented geographic reach in Afro-Eurasia, often interacting with Muslims and the Islamic World. These exchanges exposed them to Islamic religious practices and beliefs. Second, Northern and Eastern Europe did not strictly follow Continental European developments. For instance, Scandinavians converted to Christianity considerably later than Continental Europeans and they appropriated Christian practices to their own cultural context, sometimes in ways that the Church did not always acknowledge (Knutson 2016). The substantial scholarship on Scandinavian pagan beliefs and conversion to Christianity may ﬁnd broad thematic parallels with research on the adoption of Islam among non-Arabs (mawali¯ ) in the Islamic World and their complex status within their new, broad religious community (Simonsohn 2013; Fierro 2010). This study intends to broaden current understandings of medieval interactions with Islam without subscribing to Eurocentric understandings of the Islamic past (Wood 2008; Lape 2005). Interactions between Northern Europeans and Arabs across Eurasia did not result in simply itinerant humans and materials; these vectors of interaction led to the negotiation of identities, ideas, and worldviews. Such exchanges demonstrate that religious connectivity between various communities in Northern Eurasia and beyond was undeniably part of the early medieval reality.

3. ‘Conversion’ to Islam: Documentary Perspectives This section considers the complexity of some important documentary evidence for Northern Europeans’ interactions with Islam and the processes that determine whether religious interactions became recorded. The most important sources on the topic are those that document the group known as the Rus’ and their extensive trade connections to the Caliphate. The Rus’ ruled around Kiev and along the Dnieper and Volga rivers from the late ninth century until the thirteenth-century Mongol invasions. They encountered Islam via interactions with Muslim Arabs and Bulgars, a Turkic group situated along the Volga River valley who ‘converted’ to Islam in the early tenth century. Hraundal(2014, p. 91) argues that the Rus’ should be broadly considered as two groups: the Kievan Rus’ and the Volga-Caspian Rus’. The former group has largely dominated historiography, partly due to their prevalence in the Russian Primary Chronicle, a text that glorifies the Kievan dynasty and credits Vladimir the Great (r. 980–1015) with converting the Kievan Rus’ to Christianity. In contrast to their Kievan contemporaries, the Volga-Caspian Rus’ are significantly less well documented and had greater contact with Islam, especially owing to their closer geographical proximity to the Caliphate. The surviving medieval texts therefore may overemphasize the Christian influence on the Rus’ at the expense of overlooking possible undocumented, or lost records of, cultural influences of Islam on the region, especially in association with the Volga-Caspian Rus’. This strategy is reminiscent of the way that the availability of written sources obscures England’s Christianizing influence on Scandinavia, in contrast to German influence (Abrams 1995). The Russian Primary Chronicle’s narrative is partial, inflating some foreign influences over others; these considerations may very well also apply to the understudied role of Islam on religious exchanges in medieval Europe. The Russian Primary Chronicle does provide insight into medieval interactions with Islamic beliefs, even if it is hardly flattering. The narrative describes an Islamic Bulgar mission to Vladimir the Great but claims that some of the Bulgars’ customs, including a description of sexual rewards in the afterlife, were too immodest to be recorded (Cross Religions 2021, 12, 544 6 of 21

and Sherbowitz-Wetzor 1953, p. 184). Vladimir also becomes discouraged by the Islamic practice of abstinence from pork and wine. This is part of the ‘Testing of the Faiths’ episode, in which Vladimir meets with representatives of Judaism, Islam, and Latin and Orthodox Christianity and chooses to adopt the latter. This account amounts to literary and theological rhetoric rather than an attempt at historical accuracy (Vodoff 1988, p. 68; Moss 2002, p. 18). In reality, Vladimir accepted Christianity as part of an advantageous marriage alliance with the Byzantine emperors. It therefore seems that Vladimir, and the Kievan Rus’, chose Christianity because Byzantium held the most significant political and cultural influence in the region, whereas the Islamic Caliphate lay beyond Byzantium. However, Christianity was not the only, nor obvious, religious influence in Northern Eurasia. Other religious-cultural influences in the Volga-Dnieper region included the Muslim Bulgars and the Jewish Khazars,6 whose power waned at the turn of the millennium. While the Rus’ and the Bulgars engaged in some conflicts, interactions with the Bulgars became integral to the Rus’ economy from 1000 CE onwards, after the decline of Khazaria (Curta 2019, p. 151). The Rus’ therefore maintained extensive economic exchanges with Muslim communities in Northern Eurasia that indirectly connected them to Muslim beliefs and practices through their commercial partners. This religious connectivity suggests that Islam, like Christianity, was in reality not so far detached from Rus’ daily life and interactions. The Russian Primary Chronicle account of Rus’ encounters with Islam remains highly suspect and biased against Muslims and Islam, prejudices that were common elsewhere in medieval European literature (cf. Adams 2015, 2019). The Christian context of early medieval Europe likely encouraged writers to avoid documenting historical interactions with Islam in Northern Eurasia. Surviving Arabic texts, however, provide alternative viewpoints. The late eleventh or early twelfth century text of Sharaf al-Zaman¯ T. ahir¯ al-Marwaz¯ı claims that the Rus’ sent for someone from Khwarazm¯ in Central Asia ‘to teach them the religious laws of Islam.’ The text elaborates that the Rus’ had previously converted to Christianity in 912 CE, but they found that ‘the faith blunted their swords, the door of their livelihood was closed to them, they returned to hardship and poverty,’ whereas under Islam, ‘it might be lawful for them to make raids and holy war, and so make a living by returning to some of their former practices’ (Minorsky 1942, p. 36). Portraying Christianity as having an effeminate, weakening impact is a trope similarly found in other Islamic works. According to this text, the Rus’ displayed an ‘eagerness to become Muslims’ and they embraced Islam as did their ruler, identified as Vladimir (Minorsky 1942, pp. 23, 36). Although this narrative differs greatly from the Russian Primary Chronicle, scholars suggest that Al-Marwaz¯ı must be referring to Vladimir the Great, as no other Rus’ rulers were named Vladimir during the period described in the text (Minorsky 1942, pp. 118–19). However, Al-Marwaz¯ı’s text remains unclear on this point and seems to use ‘Vladimir’ as a general term for Rus’ rulers. It is also possible that, due to internal political struggles, minor Rus’ princes fled from Kiev to Khwarazm¯ and once there, they may have wished to ‘convert’ to Islam; perhaps Al-Marwaz¯ı’s account is an oversimplification of these developments. Overall, Al-Marwaz¯ı and the Russian Primary Chronicle offer challenging accounts for assessing the historical validity of religious changes among the Rus’. By placing these accounts in conversation with each other, however, historians are able to better evaluate their biases and exaggerations while reflecting on our own contemporary expectations and assumptions. While different scholars may evaluate the trustworthiness of each source differently, these two texts, at the very least, suggest competing contacts and missions between Islam and Christianity in the Volga region. It seems that neither religion initially maintained an absolute dominance on the Rus’. Provided the limitations of these texts and the paucity of sources from the Rus’ them- selves, other contemporary Arabic writers provide important, often rare insights into their long-distance movements. The ninth-century Persian geographer Ibn Khurradadhbih¯ describes the Rus’ route to Byzantium, where the Rus’ claimed to be Christians in order to avoid paying higher taxes (Hraundal 2013, p. 63; De Goeje 2014a). This issue of paying higher taxes as a non-believer was also common in the Caliphate. The Prophet Muhammad Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 22

expectations and assumptions. While different scholars may evaluate the trustworthiness of each source differently, these two texts, at the very least, suggest competing contacts and missions between Islam and Christianity in the Volga region. It seems that neither religion initially maintained an absolute dominance on the Rus’. Provided the limitations of these texts and the paucity of sources from the Rus’ them- selves, other contemporary Arabic writers provide important, often rare insights into their long-distance movements. The ninth-century Persian geographer Ibn Khurrādadhbih de- Religions 2021, 12, 544 scribes the Rus’ route to Byzantium, where the Rus’ claimed to be Christians in order 7to of 21 avoid paying higher taxes (Hraundal 2013, p. 63; De Goeje 2014a). This issue of paying higher taxes as a non-believer was also common in the Caliphate. The Prophet Muham- mad mandated that people should not be forced to adopt Islam. However, those who did mandated that people should not be forced to adopt Islam. However, those who did not nothad had toto paypay a tax (Milwright (Milwright 2010,2010 ,p. p. 135). 135). Islam Islam recognized recognized the the legitimacy legitimacy of religions of religions thatthat had had received received Divine Divine Scri Scripturepture (Christianity, (Christianity, Judaism, Judaism, and and Zoroastrianism); Zoroastrianism); adherents adherents of theseof these faiths faiths were were given given the thestatus status of a of ‘protected a ‘protected group’ group’ (dhimm (dhimmī) and¯ı) and were were allowed allowed freedomfreedom of worship of worship in return in return for fora head a head tax tax(jizya (jizya). Ibn). Ibn Khurr Khurrādadhbih’sadadhbih’s¯ comment comment about about the theRus’ Rus’ pretenses pretenses as Christians as Christians for economic for economic motivations motivations therefore therefore raises raises the question the question of whetherof whether the Rus’ the applied Rus’ applied the same the principle same principle to Islam to in Islam their intrade their exchanges trade exchanges further east. further If takeneast. seriously, If taken seriously, this text casts this textdoubt casts on doubtthe genuine on the nature genuine of the nature Rus’ ofreligious the Rus’ inclina- religious tions,inclinations, revealing that revealing some thatindividuals some individuals were open wereto at least open nominally to at least changing nominally their changing of- ficialtheir religious official position religious in position certain incircumstance certain circumstances;s; it would itnot would be a notstretch be a to stretch suggest to suggestthat theythat did they the same did the in their same exchanges in their exchanges with the Muslim with the Volga-Bulgars, Muslim Volga-Bulgars, for instance, for as instance, with the asChristian with the Byzantines. Christian Byzantines.The sources Theare ultima sourcestely are silent ultimately on this silentmatter, on but this historians matter, but havehistorians noted that have in notedthe Volga that inRegion, the Volga the Region,Bulgars thepaid Bulgars taxes to paid the taxes Khazars to the and Khazars it is cer- and it tainlyis certainly possible possiblethat the thatBulgars’ the Bulgars’ ‘conversion’ ‘conversion’ to Islam to improved Islam improved their standing their standing with the with Khazars,the Khazars, the majority the majority of whom of followed whom followed a fellow a Abrahamic fellow Abrahamic faith, such faith, as suchJudaism, as Judaism, and someand of some whom of were whom also were Muslims also Muslims (Hraundal (Hraundal 2014, p. 201472). ,It p. is 72).likely It isthat likely some that of somethe Rus’ of the foundRus’ advantages found advantages for embracing for embracing Islam officially, Islam officially, if not also if not on also a more on a spiritual more spiritual level, level,in theirin exchanges their exchanges with Muslims with Muslims in the inVolga the Volga Region. Region. IbnIbn Khurr Khurrādadhbihadadhbih¯ importantly importantly documents documents Northern Northern Europeans Europeans who who traveled traveled to the to the ArabArab World, World, including including as as far far as as the the capital capital of of the ʿAbbasidā¯ sid Caliphate.Caliphate. HeHe describes describes the the Rus’ Rus’taking taking their their goods goods by by camel camel over over the the final final part part of theof the trade trade route route to Baghdadto Baghdad (Mikkelsen (Mik- kelsen2008 2008,, p. 543). p. 543). The The presence presence of of Northern Northern Europeans Europeans in in the the Caliphate Caliphate is is further further corrobo- cor- roboratedrated by by the the inscribed inscribed texts texts on on the the ‘Ingvar ‘Ingvar runestones,’ runestones,’ twenty-six twenty-six Swedish Swedish monuments monu- mentswhose whose inscriptions inscriptions refer refer to individuals to individuals who who participated participated in an in expedition an expedition to Serkland, to Serk- the land,‘Saracen the ‘Saracen lands’ (cf.lands’ Kromann (cf. Kromann and Roesdahl and Roesdahl 1996).7 1996).These7 sourcesThese sources reveal thatreveal Northern that NorthernEuropeans Europeans had contact had contact with Muslims with Muslims within thewithin Caliphate the Caliphate itself and itself therefore and therefore learned of learnedIslamic of practicesIslamic practices and customs. and customs. Most exchanges Most exchanges with Muslims, with Muslims, however, however, occurred oc- in the curredMediterranean in the Mediterranean and the Eastern and the European Eastern waterways.European waterways. Certainly,such Certainly, a long such journey a long to the journeyCaliphate to the wasCaliphate not strictly was not necessary strictly nece for Northernssary for Northern Europeans Euro to havepeans contact to have with contact Islam, withgiven Islam, that given prominent that prominent trading centers trading among centers the among Khazars the and Khazars Bulgars and attracted Bulgars Muslim at- tractedtravelers Muslim from travelers the Caliphate from the to theCaliphate Volga Region to the (VolgaHraundal Region 2014 (Hraundal, p. 77; Shepard 2014, 2018p. 77;). ShepardThe 2018). most emblematic source of the interaction between Northern and Eastern Euro- peansThe most and Arabsemblematic is Ah. madsource ibn of Fa thed. l an,¯intera anction envoy between from the Northern Caliphate and in Eastern Baghdad Euro- to the peansVolga and Bulgars Arabs is who Aḥmad wrote ibn a detailedFaḍlān, an eyewitness envoy from account the Caliphate of his journey in Baghdad in 922 to (Sezgin the Volga1987 Bulgars). Formally, who Ibnwrote Fadl aan’s ¯detailed mission eyewitness was to forge account diplomatic of his journey ties with in the 922 Muslim (Sezgin Bul- 1987).gars Formally, and to teach Ibn Fadl themān’s Islamic mission doctrine was to and forge law. diplomatic Scholars, however,ties with debatethe Muslim whether Bul- the garsembassy and to teach contained them additionalIslamic doctrine motives—some and law. Scholars, suggest thathowever, Ibn Fadl debatean¯ sought whether to spreadthe embassyIslam amongcontained the additional Bulgars (Mikkelsen motives—some 2008, p. suggest 543; Wikander that Ibn 1978 Fadl),ā whilen sought others to arguespread that Islameconomic among motivations,the Bulgars (Mikkelsen including the2008, Caliphate’s p. 543; Wikander desire to 1978), monopolize while others the Bulgar argue market,that economicwere the motivations, diplomatic embassy’sincluding the underlying Caliphate’s priority desire (Montgomery to monopolize 2015 the, p. Bulgar 117; Shaban market, 1981 , werepp. the 149–51). diplomatic Even ifembassy’s ‘conversion’ underlying were not thepriority stated (Montgomery aim, Ibn Fadlan’s ¯2015, account p. 117; nevertheless Shaban 1981,describes pp. 149–51). commercial Even if and ‘conversion’ intellectual were interactions not the stated that facilitatedaim, Ibn Fadl religiousān’s account exchanges. nev- Ibn erthelessFadlan¯ describes recounts commercial in his interaction and intellectual with the Volga-Bulgars interactions that that facilitated he saw ‘one religious household ex- of five thousand individuals, men and women. They had all converted to Islam and are changes. Ibn Fadlān recounts in his interaction with the Volga-Bulgars that he saw ‘one known as the Baranjar’¯ (Montgomery 2015, p. 233; cf. Lunde and Stone 2012, p. 39). While some scholars suggest that the ethnonym al-Baranjar¯ contains a Mongol etymology, this would be a markedly early date for a borrowing from Mongolian in this region. Others argue that al-Baranjar¯ may be an Arabic rendering of the Varangians (cf. Zimonyi 2015, p. 260; Wikander 1978, pp. 21, 57). If so, Ibn Fadlan’s¯ account identifies a group of Northern Europeans who embraced Islam (Mikkelsen 2008, p. 544; Adams and Heß 2015, pp. 9–10; Adams 2019, p. 94). Given the heterogeneous religious and cultural communities around the Volga, ‘conversions’ to Islam among such a group would not have been rare.8 It is also possible that Ibn Fadlan¯ actually witnessed a kin group or its leaders who had ‘converted’ to Islam while acceptance of the faith had not fully spread among the wider population.9 Religions 2021, 12, 544 8 of 21

His account later explains that this group ‘had built a wooden mosque to pray in but did not know how to read the Qur’an,’ and so he instructed them (Montgomery 2015, p. 233). Ibn Fadlan¯ also reports that he converted a man called Tal¯ ut¯ (the Qur’anic name for Saul), who wished to take the name Muhammad to honor Ibn Fadlan¯ (whose given name, Ahmad, was an epithet of the prophet Muhammad). Wikander rationalizes that Tal¯ ut¯ therefore cannot be part of the same Baranjar¯ group who ‘converted’ to Islam and he suggests that Ibn Fadlan¯ may have mistaken a temple of the Baranjar¯ for a mosque (Wikander 1978, p. 21). The latter statement, however, remains unconvincing: while Ibn Fadlan¯ might be forgiven some wishful thinking, if indeed it is that, for identifying al-Baranjar¯ as Muslims, it seems most likely that either the structure was indeed intended as a mosque or that he consciously made a false claim, rather than doing so out of ignorance. This latter explanation is not the most persuasive, since historians have long treated Ibn Fadlan’s¯ account as a valuable source. Ibn Fadlan’s¯ most famous section is his description of a Rus’ funeral. Scholars often previously treated this description as eyewitness testimony of Norse pagan religious practice, but researchers increasingly recognize that this ceremony cannot be understood within a monolithic cultural context. The ritual likely also contained Turkic and other local traditions (Hraundal 2014, pp. 90–91), demonstrating that heterogeneous cultures and religious practices informed Rus’ practices in the Volga region. Ibn Fadlan’s¯ documented interactions with the Rus’ reveal the receptivity of both parties to religious dialogue, if not explicitly religious ‘conversion’. Ibn Fadlan¯ describes a dialogue with a Rus’ individual who exclaims, ‘You Arabs are a lot of fools!’ to which he inquires, ‘Why is that?’ The individual responds, ‘Because you purposefully take your nearest and dearest and those whom you hold in the highest esteem and put them in the ground, where they are eaten by vermin and worms. We, on the other hand, cremate them there and then, so that they enter the Garden [of paradise] on the spot’ (Montgomery 2015, p. 253). This passage reveals differing religious mentalities between Ibn Fadlan¯ and the Rus’ individual, but also an exchange of differing religious practices. This scene suggests that religious dialogue could and did take place between the Rus’ and Muslim Arabs in the Volga region. It is not implausible that ‘conversions’ to Islam resulted from such religious connectivity, even if these processes rarely found their way, like much of Rus’ daily life, into historical texts. A smaller range of documentary sources on Northern European contacts with Islam can also be found in Continental Europe. Scandinavians had some contact with Islamic Al-Andalus from brief raiding activity. The ArabistL évi-Provençal(1950, p. 224) suggested that some Vikings who attacked Seville and Córdoba in 844 CE established settlements in southeast Seville, where they became cheesemakers and ‘converted’ to Islam, but he provided no sources for this suggestion of conversion.10 The ‘conversion’ of Northern Europeans to Islam in Al-Andalus therefore remains unsubstantiated. Other Arabic documentary evidence provides exceptional, but more reliable, evidence of Arabs who reached Northern Europe directly. In 845 CE, the Umayyad Emir of Córdoba sent Andalusian diplomat and poet Yah. ya¯ ibn H. akam al-Bakr¯ı al-Jayyan¯ ¯ı (c. 790–864) (known as Al-Ghazal,¯ ‘the Gazelle’) on a mission to the land of al-Majus,¯ loosely translated as ‘ﬁre-worshippers’ or pagans (Hermes 2014; Allen 1960; Christys 2012). This mission is recorded by Ibn Dih. ya al-Kalb¯ı (1150–1235), a thirteenth-century poet from Valencia. Based on the description of the religious afﬁliation of the people he interacted with there (claiming that they were once majus¯ but were now Christians) and small details of the landscape, most scholars suggest that Al-Ghazal¯ had traveled to Denmark and Norway (Mikkelsen 2008, p. 543; 11 Wikander 1978, pp. 15–17). Ibn Dih. ya mentions that Al-Ghazal¯ met the king of the majus,¯ whom El-Hajji argues was the Danish king Horik I (El-Hajji 1970, pp. 193–201). Ultimately, scholars remain divided on whether Al-Ghazal¯ ventured to Northern Europe or whether the account was Ibn Dih. ya’s creation, modelled on an earlier Arabic source accounting of Al-Ghazal’s¯ embassy to Byzantium (Pons-Sanz 2004, p. 23). While the source remains ambiguous and requires interpretations that rely on assumptions and speculations, Ibn Dih. ya’s text does not preclude the possibility of genuine diplomatic contacts between Iberia Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 22

expectations and assumptions. While different scholars may evaluate the trustworthiness of each source differently, these two texts, at the very least, suggest competing contacts and missions between Islam and Christianity in the Volga region. It seems that neither religion initially maintained an absolute dominance on the Rus’. Provided the limitations of these texts and the paucity of sources from the Rus’ them- selves, other contemporary Arabic writers provide important, often rare insights into their long-distance movements. The ninth-century Persian geographer Ibn Khurrādadhbih describes the Rus’ route to Byzantium, where the Rus’ claimed to be Christians in order to avoid paying higher taxes (Hraundal 2013, p. 63; De Goeje 2014a). This issue of paying higher taxes as a non-believer was also common in the Caliphate. The Prophet Muham- mad mandated that people should not be forced to adopt Islam. However, those who did not had to pay a tax (Milwright 2010, p. 135). Islam recognized the legitimacy of religions that had received Divine Scripture (Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism); adherents of these faiths were given the status of a ‘protected group’ (dhimmī) and were allowed freedom of worship in return for a head tax (jizya). Ibn Khurrādadhbih’s comment about the Rus’ pretenses as Christians for economic motivations therefore raises the question of whether the Rus’ applied the same principle to Islam in their trade exchanges further east. If taken seriously, this text casts doubt on the genuine nature of the Rus’ religious inclinations, revealing that some individuals were open to at least nominally changing their official religious position in certain circumstances; it would not be a stretch to suggest that they did the same in their exchanges with the Muslim Volga-Bulgars, for instance, as with the Christian Byzantines. The sources are ultimately silent on this matter, but historians have noted that in the Volga Region, the Bulgars paid taxes to the Khazars and it is certainly possible that the Bulgars’ ‘conversion’ to Islam improved their standing with the Religions 2021, 12, 544 9 of 21 Khazars, the majority of whom followed a fellow Abrahamic faith, such as Judaism, and some of whom were also Muslims (Hraundal 2014, p. 72). It is likely that some of the Rus’ found advantages for embracing Islam officially, if not also on a more spiritual level, in their exchanges with Muslimsand in Northernthe Volga Europe.Region. Other Arabic texts more reliably record the movements of travel- Ibn Khurrādadhbih importantlyers from documents the Islamic Northern World to NorthernEuropeans Europe, who traveled such as to tenth-century the Sephardic Jewish Arab World, including as fartraveler as the Ibrcapitalah¯ ¯ım of ibn the Ya ʿqAbbub¯ ā (912–966sid Caliphate. CE) (also He knowndescribes as Al-Tartuschi)the who traveled from Rus’ taking their goods by camelCórdoba over to the Scandinavia final part inof 965.the trade He describes route to theBaghdad Danish (Mik- town of Hedeby (in modern-day kelsen 2008, p. 543). The presenceSchleswig-Holstein) of Northern Europeans and the customs in the Caliphate of its inhabitants is further ( Curtocor- Abados 2017, pp. 123–27). roborated by the inscribed textsTherefore, on the despite ‘Ingvar the runestones,’ ambiguity twenty-six of Al-Ghaz al’sSwedish¯ mission, monu- Arabic sources corroborate the ments whose inscriptions refercontacts to individuals between thewho Islamic participated World andin an Northern expedition Europe. to Serk- Such circumstances would have land, the ‘Saracen lands’ (cf.promoted Kromann familiarity and Roesdahl with 1996). Islamic7 These beliefs sources and customs, reveal eventhat if the sources are silent on Northern Europeans had contactreligious with change. Muslims within the Caliphate itself and therefore learned of Islamic practices and customs. Most exchanges with Muslims, however, occurred in the Mediterranean 4.and ‘Conversion’ the Eastern toEu Islam:ropean Archaeological waterways. Certainly, Perspectives such a long journey to the Caliphate was not strictlyWe now nece examinessary for archaeological Northern Euro evidencepeans to for have ‘conversion’ contact to Islam and contemplate with Islam, given that prominentwhy this trading process centers does among not always the Khazars leave obvious and Bulgars material at- traces. Islamic archaeology tracted Muslim travelers frominforms the Caliphate this work, to enabling the Volga us Region to draw (Hraundal parallels between 2014, p. the 77; materials shaped by Muslim Shepard 2018). societies and similar objects that appear outside the Islamic World. Previous research on The most emblematic sourceScandinavian of the intera interactionsction between with Islam Northern often searchedand Eastern for ‘Arabic’ Euro- cultural signatures, namely peans and Arabs is Aḥmad Arabicibn Faḍ inscriptions,lān, an envoy on from materials the Caliphate found outside in Baghdad the Islamic to World.the However, in cases where Volga Bulgars who wrote aNorthern detailed Eurasianeyewitness communities account of his embraced journey Islam, in 922 this (Sezgin insufﬁcient approach overlooks 1987). Formally, Ibn Fadlān’smaterials mission thatwas mayto forge not appeardiplomatic to have ties originatedwith the Muslim in the CaliphateBul- but nevertheless offer gars and to teach them Islamicinsight doctrine into ‘conversion’and law. Scholars, to Islam. however, Instead, debate we examine whether Islamic the archaeological approaches embassy contained additionalto materialmotives—some expressions suggest of Islamic that Ibn practice Fadlān and sought critically to spread evaluate how the material culture Islam among the Bulgars (Mikkelsenfor Islam 2008, ﬁnds p. both 543; similar Wikander and different1978), while expressions others argue in locales that outside of the Islamic World. economic motivations, includingWe identify the Caliphate’s archaeological desire evidenceto monopolize typically the usedBulgar to market, interpret Islamic belief as a starting point and discuss how scholars can apply such evidence to religious exchanges in Northern were the diplomatic embassy’s underlying priority (Montgomery 2015, p. 117; Shaban Europe. 1981, pp. 149–51). Even if ‘conversion’ were not the stated aim, Ibn Fadlān’s account nev- Firstly, expressions of Islam on materials offer invaluable evidence for religious change ertheless describes commercial and intellectual interactions that facilitated religious ex- and Islamic culture (cf. Mahmood 1983; Blair 1998; Hoyland 2007; Siddiq 2018). Scholars changes. Ibn Fadlān recounts in his interaction with the Volga-Bulgars that he saw ‘one have studied early Islamic epigraphy (622–92 CE) and contemplate why material proclamations of Islam (shahada¯ ) are rare in early Islamic societies. Johns(2003) argues that political and ideological motivations led to the later adoption of material culture as a new medium for pronouncing Islamic rule and faith. The absence of evidence for early Islamic proclamations is therefore not necessarily evidence that people did not ‘convert’ to Islam or take shahada¯ . Some proclamations of Islam later appeared in funerary inscriptions, while other grave markers avoided inscriptions, especially those containing Qur’anic verses, for fear that they be stepped on or compromised (Petersen 2013, pp. 10–11). These insights on material proclamations of Islam (or lack thereof) can be applied to Northern Eurasia. Just as early Muslims in the Islamic World perhaps chose not to express their religious identities materially, Muslim converts in Northern Eurasia may have made similar decisions while also lacking the political and ideological incentives that early Muslim Arabs eventually found. Perhaps Northern Eurasian individuals who ‘converted’ to Islam had little reason to declare their faith on materials, particularly in societies that emphasized oral culture over written expressions (cf. Ong 1982; Stock 1996; Briggs and Bauman 1992; Knutson 2020). Shahada¯ inscriptions became prevalent in Islamicate coinage throughout early medieval Northern and Eastern Europe, where over 1000 deposits of silver Islamicate coinage are currently known (Kovalev and Kaelin 2007). These silver dirhams (see Figure1) typically include Arabic shahada¯ inscriptions, sometimes Qur’anic verses, and the name of the ruler responsible for the mint. In the Islamic World, these coins offered overlapping meanings and references to Islam and caliphal sovereignty (Bacharach 2010). However, across Eurasia, from the Islamic World to Northern Europe, this coinage was primarily intended to foster economic exchanges. Although long-distance trade coincides with ‘conversion’ to Islam in other regions, the evidence for ‘broadening economic horizons’ does not necessarily equate with the ‘broadening of religious ones’ (Insoll 2003, p. 398). Thus, while medieval trade has been studied based on the global distribution of Islamicate Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 10 of 22

Shahāda inscriptions became prevalent in Islamicate coinage throughout early medieval Northern and Eastern Europe, where over 1000 deposits of silver Islamicate coinage are currently known (Kovalev and Kaelin 2007). These silver dirhams (see Figure 1) typically include Arabic shahāda inscriptions, sometimes Qur’anic verses, and the name of the ruler responsible for the mint. In the Islamic World, these coins offered overlapping meanings and references to Islam and caliphal sovereignty (Bacharach 2010). However, across Eurasia, from the Islamic World to Northern Europe, this coinage was primarily intended

Religions 2021, 12, 544 to foster economic exchanges. Although long-distance trade coincides with ‘conversion’10 of 21 to Islam in other regions, the evidence for ‘broadening economic horizons’ does not nec- Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 22 essarily equate with the ‘broadening of religious ones’ (Insoll 2003, p. 398). Thus, while medieval trade has been studied based on the global distribution of Islamicate artifacts, artifacts,trade alone trade cannot alone indicate cannot indicatereligious religious ‘conversion’. ‘conversion’. This evidence This evidence does, however, does, however, reveal expectations and assumptions. While different scholarsrevealthe maybreadth the evaluate breadth of economic ofthe economic trustworthiness exchanges exchanges with with the the Islamic Islamic World World that that indirectly connectedconnected of each source differently, these two texts, at the veryNorthernNorthern least, andsuggestand EasternEastern competing EuropeansEuropeans contacts toto MuslimsMuslims whowho craftedcrafted suchsuch materialsmaterials forfor trade.trade. TheseThese and missions between Islam and Christianity in theindirectindirect Volga networks networksregion. It of ofseems religiousreligious that connectivity connectivityneither suggestsuggest somesome awarenessawareness inin NorthernNorthern andand East-East- religion initially maintained an absolute dominanceernern on EuropeEuropethe Rus’. ofof thethe IslamicIslamic WorldWorld andand itsits faith,faith, eveneven ifif thethe religiousreligious andand culturalcultural meaningsmeanings Provided the limitations of these texts and the paucitybehindbehind theofthe sources materialsmaterials from changechange the Rus’ acrossacross them- geographicgeographic space.space. selves, other contemporary Arabic writers provide important, often rare insights into their long-distance movements. The ninth-century Persian geographer Ibn Khurrādadhbih describes the Rus’ route to Byzantium, where the Rus’ claimed to be Christians in order to avoid paying higher taxes (Hraundal 2013, p. 63; De Goeje 2014a). This issue of paying higher taxes as a non-believer was also common in the Caliphate. The Prophet Muham- mad mandated that people should not be forced to adopt Islam. However, those who did not had to pay a tax (Milwright 2010, p. 135). Islam recognized the legitimacy of religions that had received Divine Scripture (Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism); adherents of these faiths were given the status of a ‘protected group’ (dhimmī) and were allowed freedom of worship in return for a head tax (jizya). Ibn Khurrādadhbih’s comment about the Rus’ pretenses as Christians for economic motivations therefore raises the question of whether the Rus’ applied the same principle to Islam in their trade exchanges further east. If taken seriously, this text casts doubt on the genuine nature of the Rus’ religious inclinations, revealing that some individuals were open toFigure at least 1. Abbnominallyāsid dirham. changing Mint: theiral-Ma ḥof-dī, AH 162 (778/9 CE). Madīnat al-Salām (Baghdad). ©Clas- Figure 1. Abbasid¯ dirham. Mint: al-Mah. d¯ı, AH 162 (778/9 CE). Mad¯ınat al-Salam¯ (Baghdad). ficial religious position in certain circumstances; it would not be a stretch to suggest that ©Classicalsical Numismatic Numismatic Group, Group, Creative Creative Commons Commons License License CC BY-SA CC BY-SA 2.5). 2.5). they did the same in their exchanges with the Muslim Volga-Bulgars, for instance, as with the Christian Byzantines. The sources are ultimately silentOtherOther on IslamicateIslamicatethis matter, objectsobjects but historians foundfound throughoutthroughout EuropeEurope alsoalso containcontain ArabicArabic inscriptions,inscriptions, have noted that in the Volga Region, the Bulgars paidincludingincluding taxes to jewelryjewelry the Khazars inscribedinscribed and with with it is the thecer-Bismall Bismallah¯āh,, glassware, glassware, and and bronze bronze materials materials ( Petersen(Petersen tainly possible that the Bulgars’ ‘conversion’ to Islam20082008; improved; Mikkelsen Mikkelsen their 1998 1998). standing). In In the the Islamic withIslamic the World, World, Arabic Arabic holds holds a speciala special status status as theas the language language of Khazars, the majority of whom followed a fellow Abrahamictheof the Qur’an, Qur’an, faith, but but it such is it unclear is as unclear Judaism, how how much and much the associationthe association between between Arabic Arabic and Islamand Islam translated trans- some of whom were also Muslims (Hraundal 2014, outsidep.lated 72). outsideIt the is likely Caliphate. the that Caliphate. some The presenceof Thethe Rus’presence of Arabic of inscriptionsArabic inscriptions on materials on materials therefore doestherefore not found advantages for embracing Islam officially, ifmean doesnot also not that meanon medieval a more that medieval spiritual individuals indivilevel, always dualsin understood always understood the script theonly scriptas aonly proxy as afor proxy Islam. for their exchanges with Muslims in the Volga Region.The Islam. best The example best example of this observationof this observation is the presence is the presence of imitation of imitation coins.The coins. ‘Offa The dinar,’ ‘Offa Ibn Khurrādadhbih importantly documents Northernstruckdinar,’ inEuropeansstruck eighth-century in eighth-century who traveled England Englandto the for Offa, for kingOffa, ofking Mercia, of Mercia, is a closelyis a closely copied copied dinar dinar of Arab World, including as far as the capital of the ʿofAbb ʿAbbasidā¯ sidā sid caliphCaliphate. caliph Al-Man Al-ManHes. urdescribes¯ (Figureṣūr (Figure 2the). On 2). the On reverse, the reverse, the coin the contains coin contains the typical theshah typicalada¯ Rus’ taking their goods by camel over the final partinshah of Arabic theāda tradein and Arabic route on the and to obverse, Baghdadon the obverse, the (Mik- inscription the inscriptionOFFA REX. OFFAThe REX. Arabic The legend Arabic on legend this side on kelsen 2008, p. 543). The presence of Northern Europeansisthis upside side in is downthe upside Caliphate relative down is to relative further the Latin to cor- the inscription, Latin inscription, suggesting suggesting that the that Arabic the meaningArabic mean- was roborated by the inscribed texts on the ‘Ingvar runestones,’losting was on the lost twenty-six creator on the ( creatorNaismith Swedish (Naismith 2005 monu-, p. 2005, 197; cf. p. Lowick197; cf. Lowick 1973). Scholars1973). Scholars have hypothesized have hypoth- ments whose inscriptions refer to individuals who asparticipatedesized to why as to the whyin coin an the expedition was coin made, was to made, including Serk- includin thatg King that King Offa ‘converted’Offa ‘converted’ to Islam; to Islam; however, how- land, the ‘Saracen lands’ (cf. Kromann and Roesdahlmoreever, 1996). likelymore7 isTheselikely that Islamicateissources that Islamicate reveal coinage that coinag was thee mostwas the widely most respected widely respected currency incurrency medieval in Northern Europeans had contact with Muslims withinEuropemedieval the (PetersenCaliphate Europe 2008 (Petersen itself, p. and 1081). 2008 therefore By, p. comparison, 1081). By comparison, some imitation some coins imitation have beencoins uncovered have been learned of Islamic practices and customs. Most exchangesalongsideuncovered with authentic alongside Muslims, Islamicate authentic however, Islamicate coinage oc- in coin silverage deposits in silver throughoutdeposits throughout Northern Northern Europe, curred in the Mediterranean and the Eastern EuropeanincludingEurope, waterways. including the ‘Khazar Certainly, the Moses ‘Khazar such coin,’ Mosesa long (Figure coin,’3) which(Figure contains 3) which the contains Arabic inscriptionthe Arabic ‘Mosesinscrip- journey to the Caliphate was not strictly necessary foristion Northern the ‘Moses messenger Eurois thepeans ofmessenger God’. to have This of contact God’. text is This an emendation text is an emendation of the shah ofada¯ theverse shah,ā‘Mohammedda verse, ‘Mo- with Islam, given that prominent trading centers ishammedamong the messenger the is theKhazars messenger of God’ and (BulgarsÖstergren of God’ at- (Östergren 2020). Researchers 2020). Researchers assume this assume imitation this coinimitation was tracted Muslim travelers from the Caliphate to thefashioned coinVolga was Region fashioned in the (Hraundal Khazar in the Khaganate Khazar 2014, p. Khaganate 77; in proclamation in proclamation of Judaism. of TheJudaism. ‘Moses The coin’ ‘Moses presents coin’ Shepard 2018). apresents rare example a rare from example outside from the Caliphateoutside the in whichCaliphate the creatorin which understood the creator Arabic understood enough The most emblematic source of the interactionto between modify Northern the typical and text. Eastern The coinEuro- also signals, in this case, that the Arabic script was peans and Arabs is Aḥmad ibn Faḍlān, an envoy fromnot a the proxy Caliphate for the adoptionin Baghdad of Islam.to the Instead, the use of Arabic to express an alternative religious preference signals the widespread respect for Islamicate coinage and that the Volga Bulgars who wrote a detailed eyewitness account of his journey in 922 (Sezgin 1987). Formally, Ibn Fadlān’s mission was to forge creatordiplomatic wished ties towith position the Muslim Khazaria Bul- as part of this broader, trans-Eurasian commercial gars and to teach them Islamic doctrine and law. Scholars,network. however, debate whether the embassy contained additional motives—some suggest that Ibn Fadlān sought to spread Islam among the Bulgars (Mikkelsen 2008, p. 543; Wikander 1978), while others argue that economic motivations, including the Caliphate’s desire to monopolize the Bulgar market, were the diplomatic embassy’s underlying priority (Montgomery 2015, p. 117; Shaban 1981, pp. 149–51). Even if ‘conversion’ were not the stated aim, Ibn Fadlān’s account nevertheless describes commercial and intellectual interactions that facilitated religious exchanges. Ibn Fadlān recounts in his interaction with the Volga-Bulgars that he saw ‘one

Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 11 of 22

Arabic enough to modify the typical text. The coin also signals, in this case, that the Arabic Arabicscript was enough not ato proxy modify for the the typical adoption text. of The Isla coinm. Instead,also signals, the use in this of Arabiccase, that to expressthe Arabic an Religions 2021, 12, 544 scriptalternative was not religious a proxy preference for the adoption signals the of Islawidespreadm. Instead, respect the use for of Islamicate Arabic to coinage express11 of and an 21 alternativethat the creator religious wished preference to position signals Khazaria the widespread as part of respectthis broader, for Islamicate trans-Eurasian coinage com- and thatmercial the network.creator wished to position Khazaria as part of this broader, trans-Eurasian commercial network.

FigureFigure 2.2.Offa Offa imitationimitation DinarDinar ofof OffaOffa© © TrusteesTrustees ofof thetheBritish BritishMuseum Museum(CC (CCBY-NC-SA BY-NC-SA 4.0 4.0 license). license). Figure 2. Offa imitation Dinar of Offa © Trustees of the British Museum (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0 license).

Figure 3. The Khazar ‘Moses’ Coin, from the Spillings Hoard, Gotland Museum © W. Carter (CC BY-SA 4.0 license). FigureFigure 3.3. TheThe KhazarKhazar ‘Moses’‘Moses’ Coin,Coin, fromfrom thethe SpillingsSpillings Hoard,Hoard, GotlandGotland MuseumMuseum ©© W.W. CarterCarter (CC(CC BY-SABY-SA 4.04.0 license).license). Arabic-inscribed materials demonstrate that Arabic and its Islamic associations were not alwaysArabic-inscribedArabic-inscribed viewed negatively materialsmaterials but demonstratedemonstrate rather embraced, thatthat ArabicArabic even andand wh itsitsen IslamicIslamic such materials associationsassociations were werewere not notnotintended alwaysalways to viewed viewedsignal negativelyIslamic negatively religio but butus rather rather affiliation. embraced, embraced, That even said, even when the wh Islamicateen such such materials materials coinage’s were were inscrip- not not in- tendedintendedtions sometimes to signalto signal Islamic contained Islamic religious religio religious affiliation.us affiliation. meaning That in That said,Northern said, the Islamicatethe Europe. Islamicate Dirhams coinage’s coinage’s could inscriptions inscrip- be con- sometimestionssidered sometimes ‘minor contained missionary contained religious objects’religious meaning to meaning those in Northern who in couldNorthern Europe. read Europe. the Dirhams Arabic. Dirhams could While be could most considered be North- con- ‘minorsideredern Europeans missionary ‘minor missionaryprobably objects’ could objects’ to those not to do who those so couldproficiently, who could read theread they Arabic. the still Arabic. conceivably While While most most understood Northern North- Europeansernthe inscriptions’Europeans probably probably general could significance, could not donot so do as proficiently, so eviden proficiently,ced theyby the they still presence conceivablystill conceivably of religious understood understood (pagan theand inscriptions’theChristian) inscriptions’ graffiti general general on significance,some significance, dirhams, as evidencedaslikely eviden intendedced by by the tothe presenceneutralize presence of ofthe religious religious coins’ original (pagan (pagan and reli-and Christian)Christian)gious messages graffitigraffiti (Jarman onon some 2021, dirhams,dirhams, p. 121; likelycf. Mikkelsen intended intended 2002). to to neutralize neutralize In some Islamic the the coins’ coins’ traditions, original original Mus- reli- re- ligiousgiouslims usedmessages messages amulets (Jarman (Jarman and 2021, talismans,2021 p., p.121; 121; cf.like cf.Mikkelsen theMikkelsen khamsa 2002). 2002(the In). some‘Hand In some Islamic of IslamicFatima’) traditions, traditions, to Mus-repel Muslimslims used used amulets amulets and and talismans, talismans, like like thethe khamsakhamsa(the (the ‘Hand ‘Hand of Fatima’)of Fatima’) to repel to repel mis- fortune and to direct positive energies like love and devotion (Gruber 2016; Santa-Cruz 2013, p. 133). Archaeologists have found such materials in the Islamic World, including beneath home entrances (Ennahid 2002). Scholars have argued that Islamicate coins in burial contexts might have similarly functioned as talismans (von Erdmann and Stickel Religions 2021, 12, 544 12 of 21

1855, p. 615). This research’s applications for ‘conversion’ to Islam remains understudied for Islamicate coinage found in Northern European burials, but Duczko(1998) has suggested the possibility that Scandinavians used dirhams as amulets and ascribed magical properties to the Kufic script (p. 110). Arabic inscriptions consequently contained multifaceted, wide-ranging meanings to different individuals in different contexts. As a final example, archaeologists uncovered a glass ring with the Arabic inscription ‘for Allah’¯ in a ninth-century woman’s grave at Birka, Sweden (Figure4) and similar ‘All ah’-inscribed¯ rings have been uncovered in the Volga Region (Duczko 1998). The ring shows little signs of wear, suggesting fairly direct movement from the Caliphate to Scandinavia (Wärmländer et al. 2015). While some researchers question the Kufic-style inscription and whether it might be a pseudo-Arabic imitation, most argue for the ring’s Arabic authenticity and that the object was an exotic item (Jarman 2021, p. 118). This latter interpretation unsatisfactorily downplays the object as a status marker without fully recognizing the complexities behind the decision to bury an individual with an ‘Allah’-inscribed¯ ring in a predominantly non-Muslim society. Some Scandinavians appear to have been able to read (or at least recognize the meaning of) key Arabic words well enough to imitate them on their own manufactured materials, such as bronze weights (Figure5). This is evident by the imitation of the Arabic bakh (t'.), meaning ‘excellent, good’12 and its placement alongside pseudo-Arabic inscriptions on Scandinavian weights, reflecting a desire for the object to appear trustworthy and genuine (Fernstål 2007/2008). It would thus be less of a stretch to assume that some Scandinavians recognized the Arabic ‘Allah’—and¯ even for those who could not, the possession of the inscribed ring still reflects a desire to display a connection to a highly regarded Islamic, Arabic visual culture. The decision to carry, and be buried with, an ‘Allah’-inscribed¯ ring reveals undeniable agency, especially as a way to enhance one’s self-image and impart an intended impression to others (Fernstål 2007/2008, p. 66). The question remains, if the ring’s owner adopted Islam. The object cannot provide definitive evidence, but this should not be immediately dismissed as an impossible suggestion. The woman was buried, not cremated according to Scandinavian pagan traditions (cf. Richards 2003; Nordberg 2012; Lund 2013), which may indicate her adherence to an Abrahamic faith. At the very least, the ring—an object of Islamicate origins or designed to appear as such—reveals receptivity to Islamic culture and to Muslims. Perhaps its owner used it as a signal of amicability or respect to Muslim Arabs who traveled to Birka,13 either as a fellow Muslim, a dhimm¯ı (likely Christian), or a pagan wishing to establish good relations with the travelers. This Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEWring, like other Arabic and pseudo-Arabic inscriptions, therefore cannot be13 classifiedof 22 as merely ‘exotic’, but requires careful consideration to its complex, multifaceted meanings.

FigureFigure 4. KuficKuﬁc “All “Allāh”ah”¯ Finger Finger ring ring ©Gabriel©Gabriel Hildebrand, Hildebrand, Swedish Swedish History History Museum Museum (CC BY 2.5 (CC SE BY 2.5 SE license). license).

Figure 5. Iron weight with bronze casing and Arabic-like inscription ©Christer Åhlin, Swedish His- tory Museum (CC BY 2.5 SE license).

Muslim burials offer another important source for religious ‘conversion’. The dis- turbance of human remains buried in the Islamic faith is prohibited, especially for archaeological excavation (Insoll 2003, p. 17). However, historical Islamic prescriptions for fu- and their regional variations may ,( ﻓﻘﻪ ,nerary rites, based on Muslim religious law (fiqh provide insight into how past Muslim bodies were treated (cf. Petersen 2013).14 Deceased Muslims were typically expected to be buried simply, without grave goods, and soon after or burial clothes and laid in the (ﺍﻟﻜﻔﻦ ,death. They were often covered in a shroud (kafan ground directly, positioned on their right side with the head, or sometimes the feet, facing were often reserved for only one (ﺍﻟﻘﺒﺮ ,towards Mecca. Muslim graves (qabr ,(ﻗﺒﻠﺔ) the qibla person and are expected to be shallow so that the deceased can hear the call to prayer. From the seventh century, some Muslim burials were commemorated with a grave marker, especially to signal Muslim identity in regions that were gradually ‘converting’ to Islam (Milwright 2010, pp. 131–32). Deceased Muslims were generally buried outside urban areas and spaces occupied by the living, as was similarly the case for burials that

Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 13 of 22

Religions 2021, 12, 544 13 of 21 Figure 4. Kufic “Allāh” Finger ring ©Gabriel Hildebrand, Swedish History Museum (CC BY 2.5 SE license).

FigureFigure 5.5. IronIron weight weight with with bronze bronze casi casingng and and Arabic-like Arabic-like inscription inscription ©Christer©Christer Åhlin, Åhlin, Swedish Swedish His- Historytory Museum Museum (CC (CC BY BY2.5 2.5SE SElicense). license).

MuslimMuslim burialsburials offer offer another another important important source source for for religious religious ‘conversion’. ‘conversion’. The The distur- dis- banceturbance of human of human remains remains buried buried in the in Islamicthe Islamic faith faith is prohibited, is prohibited, especially especially for archaeolog- for archae- icalological excavation excavation (Insoll (Insoll 2003, 2003, p. 17). p. However, 17). However, historical historical Islamic Islamic prescriptions prescriptions for funerary for fu- their), and regional their variationsregional variations may provide may ﻓﻘﻪ ),(fiqh, and rites,nerary based rites, on based Muslim on Muslim religious religious law (fiqh, lawé®¯ provide insight into how past Muslim bodies were treated (cf. Petersen 2013).14 Deceased insight into how past Muslim bodies were treated (cf. Petersen 2013).14 Deceased Muslims Muslims were typically expected to be buried simply, without grave goods, and soon after were typically expected to be buried simply, without grave goods, and soon after death. or burial clothes and laid in the (ﺍﻟﻜﻔﻦ ,death. They were often covered in a shroud (kafan They were often covered in a shroud (kafan, ) or burial clothes and laid in the ground ground directly, positioned on their right sideá®ºË@ with the head, or sometimes the feet, facing directly, positioned on their right side with the head, or sometimes the feet, facing the qibla were often reserved for only one (ﺍﻟﻘﺒﺮ ,towards Mecca. Muslim graves (qabr ,(ﻗﺒﻠﺔ) the qibla ( ), towards Mecca. Muslim graves (qabr, ) were often reserved for only one person personéÊJ.¯ and are expected to be shallow so Qthat.®Ë@ the deceased can hear the call to prayer. andFrom are the expected seventh to becentury, shallow some so that Muslim the deceased burials canwere hear commemorated the call to prayer. with From a grave the seventhmarker, century, especially some to Muslimsignal Muslim burials wereidentity commemorated in regions that with were a grave gradually marker, ‘converting’ especially toto signalIslam Muslim(Milwright identity 2010, in pp. regions 131–32). that Deceas were graduallyed Muslims ‘converting’ were generally to Islam buried (Milwright outside 2010urban, pp. areas 131–32). and spaces Deceased occupied Muslims by were the living, generally as was buried similarly outside the urban case areas for burials and spaces that occupied by the living, as was similarly the case for burials that followed Islamic rites in early medieval France (Gleize et al. 2016). Bioarchaeological studies have examined Muslim burials, most notably in Islamic Iberia, as some burials are unintentionally discovered in urban development; this research nevertheless reveals the necessity of greater discussion on the ethics of studying Muslim human remains. Current studies suggest that Muslim burial positions were highly uniform in Islamic Iberia, with most heads oriented towards Mecca (Inskip 2018, p. 264). In identifying some broad trends in funerary prescriptions and bioarchaeological evidence, researchers must recognize that local traditions greatly influenced Muslim funerary practices and their regional adaptations. This discussion reveals how and why Muslim burials are not better attested archaeologically. Firstly, the prescribed Muslim funerary rites of placing the body in the ground directly (such as without a coffin) and in a shallow grave (where remains may be disturbed by later urban development) are not favorable to preservation. Indeed, Qur’anic teachings emphasize the return to dust from which humans were made—any process intended to preserve the body is discouraged. Nor can researchers expect to find grave goods to identify a ‘Muslim’ burial. Therefore, any evidence of Muslim burials in Northern Europe, assuming they followed typical ‘Islamic’ funerary rites, may have disappeared from the archaeological record. Secondly, high regional variation in Muslim funerary practices makes identification of Muslim burials difficult. Funerary rites vary according to different Religions 2021, 12, 544 14 of 21

Islamic legal traditions and ideologies, such as the adoption of Malik¯ ¯ı jurisprudence in Al-Andalus. Scholars have also considered the differences between rural and urban adop- tions and articulations of Islam. While Bulliet(1994) suggested that rural individuals were slower to ‘convert,’ if at all, to Islam, Inskip(2018) suggests that perhaps Islamic rules were reinterpreted in more remote locations according to regional and local customs and possibly along ethnic lines. She further argues that the presence of traditional Islamic practices in burials in Al-Andalus may reflect the strong Arab influence in the region (Inskip 2018, p. 267). We may infer that the burials of Muslim Northern Eurasian individuals were likely more ambiguous and less strictly adherent to traditional Islamic practices. After all, the Rus’ state, for instance, lacked the intensity of Arab political and social influence as in Al- Andalus that could have resulted in stricter observance of typical Islamic funerary practices. Muslim Rus’ individuals therefore likely would have reinterpreted Islamic customs in their local context. This means that a Muslim Rus’ burial may look similar to a Christian one, based on a shared, heterogenous cultural context, leading the unsuspecting researcher to misidentify the interred humans’ religious identities (cf. Milwright 2010, p. 131). Similarly, a Rus’ individual could have identified as Muslim but still have been cremated according to local practices. We therefore cannot expect Muslim burials to necessarily leave similar material traces across different regions. This is especially the case in comparing burials in Al-Andalus or the Caliphate and in Northern Eurasian locales that had less consistent contact with traditional Islamic customs and Arab influence. Many other materials provide evidence for Islamic practices. The prohibited consump- tion of pork and alcohol were (and remain) common Islamic dietary practices that appear archaeologically as faunal evidence for pig remains or in isotopic analyses of individuals’ diet (cf. Lape 2005; Inskip 2018, p. 263). Prayer (s.alah,¯ èC ) remains among the most important Islamic practices, as one of the five pillars of Islam. Prayer can be attested archaeologically through bone morphology, as the practice requires kneeling, prostration, and bending the ankles and toes. These habitual movements impact the surfaces of joints, changes that were detected in Muslim burials in Islamic Iberia (Inskip 2013). ‘Conversion’ to Islam can consequentially inspire changes in human behavior that leave traces on the body. Despite the possibilities for osteological analysis, researchers cannot assume that all Muslims in the past always adopted these prescribed practices; thus, the absence of these traces in human remains does not automatically negate the possibility that they identified as Muslim. Additionally, the ethics behind examining Muslim human remains has encouraged archaeologists to seek other material traces of prayer, including the orga- nization of space and architecture. As the locus for communal prayer, the mosque is one such important space. Ibn Fadlan¯ described the presence of mosques in Volga Bulgaria, as previously mentioned, and archaeological research has helped corroborate these claims (cf. Khalikov 1976; Hurvitz et al. 2020). Russian archaeologists excavated traces of a wooden and stone mosque in the Bulgar city of Biliar. The structure was oriented towards Mecca and contained substantial prayer hall space. Some archaeologists suggest that the structure was built in 922 in connection with Ibn Fadlan’s¯ embassy, although others suggest later construction dates (Khuzin et al. 2017 and references within). Next to the mosque, archaeologists discovered a free-standing stone minaret and a cemetery of approximately fifty Muslims. The Biliar mosque thus offers important evidence for some early medieval spaces that facilitated Islamic practice even when they were constructed with local traditions in mind, such as the placement of a dog skeleton beneath the Biliar minaret’s foundation (Khalikov 1977). The mosque’s location within the commercial area of Biliar, like similar mosque structures found in Bolgar and Kazan, suggests that visiting merchants’ exposure to Islam in these ancient commercial centers ‘was a function of the ever-increasing volume of trade’ in Volga Bulgaria (Curta 2019, p. 149). In other words, commercial connectivity in Volga Bulgaria appears to have been related to religious ones (Mako 2011, p. 207). While it seems easier to accept that Muslims from Central Asia and the Caliphate likely exposed the Volga Bulgars to Islam, it also seems likely that Rus’ traders at these commercial centers in Volga Bulgaria would also have been exposed to Islamic practices. Religions 2021, 12, 544 15 of 21

While the Biliar mosque offers an important example of the relationship between commercial exchanges and religious connectivities in ancient Eurasia, in many other cases, the archaeological identification of mosques is more difficult. Mosques constructed from wood, like those Ibn Fadlan¯ describes, rarely survive archaeologically. In other cases, traces of mosque structures may not always appear recognizable as such. In early Islamic Arabia and the Fertile Crescent, rural mosques ranged from large stone buildings to small open-air structures (Milwright 2010, p. 124). Therefore, it is possible that some structures in Northern Eurasia may not be easily identifiable as mosques, especially when preexisting structures from other faiths and traditions were appropriated for Islamic practice, examples of which exist across Eurasia. Finally, perhaps mosques were only rarely constructed among Muslim communities in Northern Eurasia, but this need not necessarily mean that they did not adhere to Islam.

5. Discussion and Concluding Thoughts We have examined some key examples and lines of evidence for the interactions between Muslim Arabs and Northern and Eastern Europeans in an effort to nuance the current understandings of ‘conversion’ to, and exchanges with, Islam during the European early medieval period. We also discussed why the process of ‘conversion’ to Islam is not more apparent in the historical and archaeological records. Historians face the enduring problem that early medieval Northern and Eastern Europeans often left few documents of their own. The surviving texts are rarely unambiguous, often due to issues of terminology and reliability. Arabic identifications of the Rus’ and Scandinavians unfortunately do not perfectly align with European sources, but some Arabic texts identify some religious change, even if it is no longer possible to identify the exact group in question. Christianity- promoting sources contain their own religious biases and either avoid discussing Islam, much less identifying any European individual’s ‘conversion’ to Islam, or they deride the religion. Comparing Christianity- and Islam-favoring sources reveal that these faiths maintained competing contacts and missions; Christianity was not always the clearly dominant religious influence among the Rus’. The texts highlight circumstances that led to contacts, sometimes long term, between communities in Northern Eurasia and Muslims from the Islamic World. Many Northern and Eastern Europeans were therefore familiar with Islamic practices and sometimes engaged Muslims in religious dialogue. The Rus’ sometimes adopted religions as a result of commercial incentives and this was likely the case for Islam as for Christianity. Archaeologically, ‘conversion’ to Islam does not leave material traces in the same ways as Christian conversion. Muslims did not always declare their faith on materials and Muslims in Northern Eurasia additionally lacked political incentives to do so. While archaeological evidence demonstrates that some Scandinavians had some Arabic reading and writing abilities, Arabic was not always a proxy for Islam. However, certain inscribed materials reflect a desire to be connected with a highly respected Islamic culture, if not also religious exchange. While the local identification of Islamic practices is difficult, evidence of a mosque, minaret, and Muslim burials in Volga-Bulgaria suggests that some Northern and Eastern Europeans had access to Islamic spaces and practices. Many archaeological materials with direct or indirect links to the Islamic World contained multiple, complex meanings to Northern and Eastern Europeans, including but not limited to ‘conversion’. The historical and archaeological evidence, therefore, cannot be taken at face value and reveals on closer inspection that Northern Eurasian communities were often receptive to other belief-systems and religious exchanges. Based on the available source materials, Northern and Eastern Europeans were unlikely to be more resistant to ‘converting’ to Islam than Christianity. Scholarly overskepticism about ‘conversion’ to Islam therefore reveals more about our twenty-first century notions about religious exchanges than the early medieval past itself (cf. Coope 1993). This research requires reflexivity, a self-awareness of our biased position in relation to past individuals who had their own expectations and values. As researchers, we must be comfortable working with ambiguity and uncertainty in order Religions 2021, 12, 544 16 of 21

to study minority social identities and practices. While Muslim identities and practices likely were among the minority in some communities in Northern Eurasia, this presents a rather different statement than assertions that the only non-Christian residents in medieval Scandinavia were the Sámi (Adams 2019, p. 94) while Muslim traders simply passed through Scandinavia or that Northern Europeans “left the Muslim world alone,” simply interacting as mercenaries or merchants (Clements 2005, p. 10). We argue that religious connectivity does not operate so simply and externally. Rather, cross-cultural exchanges with Muslims and Islam influenced Northern and Eastern Europeans in a variety of cultural and religious ways. Another issue is that many scholars restrict the ‘European’ identity to the Rus’ and reduce the role of the Khazars or Volga-Bulgars to peripheral interactions beyond core medieval European developments. Perhaps for this reason, scholars find it more conceptually difficult to consider that some Northern Eurasians, like the Rus’, may have ‘converted’ to Islam. We suggest that more nuanced understandings of Islam will enable future researchers to ask more complex questions, such as how European contact with Islam eventually became more focused on crusading and pilgrimage to the Holy Land in the later medieval period. At the very least, the historical and archaeological evidence together suggest that the early medieval European reality was different, namely that religious connectivity to Islamic belief and practice was much more part of the Northern Europeans’ reality and experience than scholarship often acknowledges. This study also reveals the limitations of explanatory models for medieval engagements with Islam that rely on hybridization, an analytical framework that implies the mixture of distinct or ‘pure’ essences, something that northern pagan beliefs, Christianity, and Islam never were. For this reason, some Islamic scholars describe pluralized “Islams” or identify the development of Islamic practices into highly regionalized forms and traditions (Varisco 2005; Inskip 2018). Instead of hybridization or essentialist thinking, scholars must properly acknowledge ambiguity, overlap, and nuance in the historical and material records, including avoiding treating religious change as an ‘all or nothing’ process. It is entirely possible that some medieval individuals ‘converted’ to Islam and then reverted back to their prior religious practices or engaged only a limited range of Islamic practices in ways that Muslims in the Caliphate would have found strange or even reprehensible. However, this observation should not dissuade researchers from discussing ‘conversion’ to Islam as if it did not happen at all or was not properly ‘Islamic’ in character. We argue that discussions of religious conversion as part of a wider, complex process of exchanges and connectivities—without relying on judgments of the validity of past individuals’ religious beliefs and practice—is more productive and helps the fields of medieval and religious studies to achieve improved, more holistic perspectives of the past. In this paper, we often articulated religious connectivity as exposure to or ‘exchanges’ with Muslims and Islamic practices. While not necessarily religious conversion, exposure and ‘exchange’ importantly identify past individuals becoming aware of people and beliefs other than their own, often through travel and commercial exchanges, and who perhaps later communicate this knowledge back home. While commercial activity between the Islamic World and Northern Eurasia might have been more historically and archaeologically visible than religious activity, this is generally the case: religious beliefs are intangible, commercial exchanges rarely are so. Nevertheless, the historical and material records are hardly silent on the complex matter of Islamic religious connectivity—and sometimes perhaps even religious ‘conversion’—during the medieval period.

Author Contributions: S.A.K. Formal Analysis, Methodology, Investigation, Writing, Review, Edit- ing, Visualization, Project Supervision. C.E. Conceptualization, Formal Analysis, Investigation, Writing, Review, Editing, Funding Acquisition. Both authors have read and agreed to the published version of the manuscript. Funding: This research received no external funding. Institutional Review Board Statement: Not applicable. Informed Consent Statement: Not applicable. Religions 2021, 12, x FOR PEER REVIEW 7 of 22

Religions 2021, 12, 544 17 of 21 expectations and assumptions. While different scholars may evaluate the trustworthiness of each source differently, these two texts, at the very least, suggest competing contacts and missions between Islam and Christianity in the Volga region. It seems that neither religion Acknowledgments:initially maintainedThe an authors absolute wish dominance to thank the on audience the Rus’. members of the Ewa Wipszycka Late ProvidedAntique the Seminar limitations (University of these of Warsaw) texts and and the Dariusz paucity Kołodziejczyk of sources (Universityfrom the Rus’ of Warsaw) them- for their selves, otherrespective contemporary feedback and Arabic comments writers on thisprovide project. important, Thanks to often Trent Tombleyrare insights (University into their of California- long-distanceBerkeley) movements. for providing The hisninth-ce expertisentury on Persian Islamic burials.geographer Thank Ibn you Khurr to Abdulmounemādadhbih de- Alowis, Kariman Mango, Afaf Al-Khoshman (Columbia University) and Thaer T. Al-Kadi (Jordan University scribes the Rus’ route to Byzantium, where the Rus’ claimed to be Christians in order to of Science and Technology) for their respective assistance with a Classical Arabic translation. Finally, avoid payingwe would higher like totaxes thank (Hraundal two anonymous 2013, reviewersp. 63; De forGoeje their 2014a). productive This comments issue of andpaying feedback. higher taxes as a non-believer was also common in the Caliphate. The Prophet Muham- mad mandatedConflicts that of Interest: people Theshould authors not declarebe forc noed conflictto adopt of Islam. interest. However, those who did not had to pay a tax (Milwright 2010, p. 135). Islam recognized the legitimacy of religions Notes that had received Divine Scripture (Christianity, Judaism, and Zoroastrianism); adherents 1 This is not to discountof these the important faiths were research given that the uses status the term of a ‘medieval ‘protected Islam,’ group’ including (dhimm Saundersī) and were(2002 );allowed von Grunebaum (1953); and Chamberlainfreedom(2002 of). worship in return for a head tax (jizya). Ibn Khurrādadhbih’s comment about 2 All Arabic translationsthe Rus’ and transliterationspretenses as Christians are Sara Ann for Knutson’s, economic unless motivations otherwise therefore indicated. raises the question of 3 For an overview ofwhether theoretical the approaches Rus’ applied to Islamic the same conversion, principle see to Rambo Islam(1999 in their). trade exchanges further east. 4 This section is intendedIf taken as a seriously, broad, generalist this text overview casts doubt of early on Islamic the genuine developments nature for of non-specialists. the Rus’ religious The reader inclina- should note that the history of earlytions, Islam revealing and Muslim that some ‘converts’ individuals is much more were complicated open to at than least what nominally can be properly changing discussed their of- in the space of this article. ficial religious position in certain circumstances; it would not be a stretch to suggest that 5 Attempts at more precise ethnic identifications of the Rus’ as predominantly ‘Scandinavian’ or ‘Slavic’ have long been entangled they did the same in their exchanges with the Muslim Volga-Bulgars, for instance, as with in the Normanist Controversy. However, recent scholarship recognizes that the Rus’ were most likely a complex community consisting of heterogeneousthe Christian ethnicities Byzantines. (Androshchuk The sources 2008; Hraundal are ultima 2014tely, p. 66)silent and on we this will similarlymatter, but use Northernhistorians and Eastern European to avoid thehave Normanist noted that debate. in the Volga Region, the Bulgars paid taxes to the Khazars and it is cer- 6 While the Khazarstainly are remembered possible that for their the conversionBulgars’ ‘conversion’ to Judaism (see to Curta Islam 2019 improved, pp. 141–44), their some standing were Muslim.with the 7 Researchers have alsoKhazars, examined the majority a runestone of [G116]whom atfollowed Kräklingbo, a fe Gotlandllow Abrahamic which contains faith, thesuch damaged as Judaism, inscription: and ‘...ansi : eftir : mutifu : sunsome sin :of asy whom : sa-...’ were (this also in memory Muslims of (Hraundal , his2014, son p.... 72).). TheIt is malelikely name that Mutifusome ofmight the Rus’ equate to the Arabic name Mustafafound. Perhaps advantagesMutifu was for an embracing Arab settler Islam on Gotland officially, or a Scandinavian if not also on who a intentionallymore spiritual had level, an unusual in Norse name that soundedtheir Arabic; exchanges but in either with case, Muslims the name in cannotthe Volga alone Region. indicate religious change. Cf. Ferguson(2009, p. 127) and Jacobsson(2004, pp. 122–23).Ibn Khurrādadhbih importantly documents Northern Europeans who traveled to the 8 In his mid tenth-centuryArab textWorld,Mur ujincluding¯ al-Dhahab as wa-Ma’ far asadin¯ the al-Jawhar capital, Al-Masof the ʿudAbb¯ ¯ı (896–956āsid Caliphate. CE) independently He describes corroborates the that the Rus’ lived alongsideRus’ taking people their from allgoods religions by camel in the over city Itil the (Khazaria), final part and of the that trade Muslims route also to served Baghdad as judges (Mik- alongside representatives ofkelsen Judaism, 2008, Christianity, p. 543). The and presence pagan belief, of Northe as wellrn as Europeans soldiers for in the the Khazar Caliphate ruler (isHraundal further cor-2014, p. 72; Montgomery 2010,roborated pp. 162–63; by Muhanna the inscribed 1991). texts on the ‘Ingvar runestones,’ twenty-six Swedish monu- 9 Curta(2019, pp. 149–50),ments however, whose inscriptions suggests that refer the al-Baranj to individualsar¯ had been who Muslim participated for some in time, an expedition like Almysh, to the Serk- first Muslim ruler of Bulgaria, wholand, had the adopted ‘Saracen Islam lands’ at least (cf. fifteen Kromann years before and Roesdahl Ibn Fadlan’s¯ 1996). visit.7 These sources reveal that 10 Ibn Hab¯ıb (d. 853) wroteNorthern that “one Europeans must not had eat the contact cheese with of the MuslimsMajus¯ .” Arabic within sources the Caliphate frequently useditselfMaj andus¯ (‘fire-worshippers’)therefore to describe Vikings,learned but the termof Islamic contains practices a broader and semantic customs. range andMost could exchanges simply connote with Muslims, non-Muslims however, or pagans oc- (Christys 2015, pp. 20–21). For a good discussion of this historiography, see Farrugia(2020, pp. 90–94). A post-medieval suggestion of curred in the Mediterranean and the Eastern European waterways. Certainly, such a long adoption of Islam is found in the sixteenth-century Persian geographer Am¯ın Raz¯ı, regarding the Rus’ who reportedly “highly valued pork. Evenjourney those who to hadthe Caliphate convertedto was Islam not aspired strictly to nece it andssary were for very Northern fond of Euro pork”peans (Wikander to have 1978 contact, p. 73). with Islam, given that prominent trading centers among the Khazars and Bulgars at- 11 However, other researchers have suggested the possibility that Al-Ghazal’s¯ destination was Ireland (Allen 1960; cf. Pons-Sanz 2004, pp. 6, 13–15 andtracted references Muslim therein). travelers from the Caliphate to the Volga Region (Hraundal 2014, p. 77; Shepard 2018). 12 Bakh-bakh ( ' ') is the proper Arabic phrase used to connote a value judgment such as ‘excellent’ or ‘blessed.’ Islamicate coinage t . t . The most emblematic source of the interaction between Northern and Eastern Euro- also sometimes contained this inscribed phrase (cf. von Erdmann and Stickel 1855). Scandinavians must have thus known of this ḥ ḍ practice of inscribingpeansbakh-bakh and Arabsto affirm is anA object’smad ibn value Fa butlān, perhaps an envoy did notfrom fully the understand Caliphate that in Baghdad the full phrase to the is typically needed to convey theVolga intended Bulgars meaning who in wrote Arabic, a especiallydetailed sinceeyewitness Arabic coins account also sometimesof his journey use the in shortened 922 (Sezginbakh, likely for space considerations.1987). Formally, Ibn Fadlān’s mission was to forge diplomatic ties with the Muslim Bul- 13 See Mikkelsen(1998gars, p. 46) and and to citations teach them within Islamic for the suggestiondoctrine and that law. Muslims Scholars, trading however, in Birka needed debate a whetherMullah present the to lead the prayers and speakembassy for them contained in front of additional the king. motives—some suggest that Ibn Fadlān sought to spread 14 This discussion onIslam Islamic among burial prescriptionsthe Bulgars (Mikkelsen is intended as 2008, a broad, p. 543; generalist Wikander overview 1978), for while non-specialists. others argue In reality, that Islamic burial traditions variedeconomic considerably motivations, across different including regions, the Caliphate’s Islamic legal desire traditions, to monopolize and over time; the thus, Bulgar there market, are limitations to identifying historicalwere Muslim the diplomatic burials solely embassy’s based on textual underlying Islamic prescriptions.priority (Montgomery 2015, p. 117; Shaban 1981, pp. 149–51). Even if ‘conversion’ were not the stated aim, Ibn Fadlān’s account nev- References ertheless describes commercial and intellectual interactions that facilitated religious ex- Abrams, Lesley. 1995. Thechanges. Anglo-Saxons Ibn Fadl andān the recounts Christianization in his interaction of Scandinavia. withAnglo-Saxon the Volga-Bulgars England 24: that 213–49. he saw [CrossRef ‘one ] Abrams, Lesley. 2012. Diaspora and Identity in the Viking Age. Early Medieval Europe 20: 17–38. [CrossRef] Abu¯ Hamid¯ al-Gharnat¯ ¯ı. 1925. Tuh. fat al-albab¯ wa-nukhbat al-a’jab,¯ ed. Gabriel Ferrand. Journal Asiatique 2: 1–48, 193–304.

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Ibn Rusta’s Kitab¯ al-a laq¯ al-naf¯ısa and Kitkelsenab¯ al-buld 2008,an¯ byp. al-Ya543).q ubThe¯ ¯ı. Leiden:presence Brill. of Northern Europeans in the Caliphate is further cor- DeWeese, Devin. 1994. Islamization and Native Religion in the Golden Horde:roborated Baba Tükles by the and inscribed Conversion texts to Islam on inthe Historical ‘Ingvar and runestones,’ Epic twenty-six Swedish monu- Tradition . University Park: Pennsylvania State University Press. ments whose inscriptions refer to individuals who participated in an expedition to Serk- Duczko, Wladyslaw. 1998. Viking Age Scandinavia and Islam: An Archaeologist’s View. In Byzantium and Islam in Scandinavia. Edited land, the ‘Saracen lands’ (cf. Kromann and Roesdahl 1996).7 These sources reveal that by Elisabeth Piltz. Uppsala: Uppsala Universitet, pp. 107–15. El-Hajji, Abudurrahman Ali. 1970. Andalusian Diplomatic Relations withNorthern Western Europe Europeans during the had Umayyad contact Period with (A.H. Muslims 138-366/A.D. within the Caliphate itself and therefore 755-976): An Historical Survey. Beirut: Dar al-Irshad. learned of Islamic practices and customs. Most exchanges with Muslims, however, oc- Ellis, Caitlin. 2021a. Remembering the Vikings: Violence, institutionalcurred memory in and the the Mediterranean instruments of and history. the EasternHistory Compass European19: waterways. Certainly, such a long 1–14. journey to the Caliphate was not strictly necessary for Northern Europeans to have contact Ellis, Caitlin. 2021b. Remembering the Vikings: Ancestry, cultural memorywith and Islam, geographical given that variation. prominentHistory Compasstrading 19:centers 1–15. among the Khazars and Bulgars at- Ennahid, Said. 2002. Access regulation in Islamic urbanism: The case oftracted medieval Muslim Fès’. The travelers Journal offrom North the African Caliphate Studies to7: 119–34.the Volga Region (Hraundal 2014, p. 77; [CrossRef] Shepard 2018). Farrugia, Karl. 2020. 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