Another suggestion would be to show a calligrapher … the average Muslim even Arabs can only read basic Arabic script … calligraphers can unravel words better, because they use the rules of art to make certain characters fit in a limited space that would otherwise not be obvious to a person like me. Sort of only when it is made obvious to us we see it … before that it is like a puzzle.
They can tell you for sure whether it is a symbol or a textual inscrption or if it is Arabic in the first place.
When I first started this research I thought the marking was a number and spent hours looking at coins from the region without success. I then decided to seek help from Arabic speakers, which brought me here : ) I think your suggestion to find a caligrapher is well thoughtout. If that does not help, I will need to spend time on symbolic markings in the region. I agree, I don’t believe the mark was made at the birth of the sword, but was stamped when entering an armory. I have seen other swords with a stamp in the exact same location, but not the same marking. I’ll continue with the research
