Given that pre-and early Islamic Arab and Sassanian swords were straight and double-edged, it is highly likely that similar Mamluk as well as Ethiopian/Sudanese swords got their origin from them , rather than from European crusaders. Himyarite kingdom in Yemen was tightly connected with Aksum ( both as trading partners and as enemies) and was destroyed by the Ethiopian Aksum in 525 C.E., well before Muhammad. Both were in tight contact with the Byzantium whose swords might have been adopted or, at least, added some influence.
Still, do the stories of trophy crusaders swords sold to Sudan by the victorious Muslims contain a grain of truth? Perhaps.
" That was in another country, and besides, the wench is dead".....
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