Recommendable! However, this again is very typical flawed and ideological Western research!
Does history not show that it was mutual for both sides to claim the other side were pagans and observed polytheism etc.?
Was polytheism not present before Muhammad introduced Islam in the 7th century CE? How long did take to ban/displace polytheism from the Muslim countries? Centuries?
Was it not although true that at this time, the Muslims were trying to invade Europe from multiple directions. Is it not normal for war propaganda to portray the enemy in the worst possible form?
What about reliable information at that time about foreign regions, societies, religion, and people? Very limited.
"In other European countries, quite a lot of research has been conducted on how Islam and Muslims are portrayed in medieval literature. Now, for the first time, we have an insight into how Muslims are mentioned in Norse literature.
He has examined how Norse texts from early Christian times, from 1050 to 1350, portrayed, imagined, and constructed the image of Muslims and Islam. A main finding is that Muslims were referred to as an ancient enemy that posed a threat to Christian civilisation.
Referred to as Pagans
One recurring notion in the texts is that Muslims were pagans. ...
“The texts state that they worshiped multiple gods ...
There were two main reasons Norwegians came into contact with Muslims ...
“One was that they were crusaders, like Sigurd the Crusader, who fought against Muslims on the Iberian Peninsula. The other point of contact was that several served as mercenaries for the Byzantine army.” ...
A common thread in ... findings on how Muslims and Islam are portrayed is that they are misrepresentations [???]. Muslims become fictional figures in Western texts. ..."
