Islamic Text Found in a swordhandle

[Raja Muda]

Hi Dajak,

Thanks for the enlarged pictures of the tangkal azimat. I believe it contains snatches from Quranic verses. But what I find most interesting is the second piece from the top, as the inscription below the two stars are the names of the Seven Sleepers, whom I believe figures in the Quranic chapter Surah Al-Kahfi, as well as Byzantinian Christian traditions.

As the story goes, they were a group of young men who were persecuted for their early Christian? beliefs and escaped to a cave. They fell asleep and awoke a few hundred years later, though they thought they've just spent a night in the cave. One of the members went to the nearest town to purchase food and amazed the locals since the money he carried was stamped with the face of a long dead monarch, who persecuted the monotheist believers a few hundred years ago.

I'm not sure what the magical/spiritual significance the story holds for the sword. Maybe someone can make the connections.