Archery in Islam

Archery holds a special place in Islam, being 1 of the three sports endorsed by the Prophet Muhammad:

Archery
Horseback Riding
Swimming

It is therefore no surprise that archery played an important role for hunting, war, and the simple sport of friendly competition.

For example during the Battle of Jamal, which took place at Basra, Iraq on 7 November 656, archery and camel riding played a very important role. Elephant howdahs also played a role in the battle.

The Battle of Jamal

Quotes about Archery in Islam

"The Prophet (peace be upon him) once passed by a group of his Companions who were competing in archery. He encouraged them, saying, “Shoot, and I am with you.” "

"The Prophet Muhammad said: “Learn the shooting of arrows, and do not be averse to it, for the areas between the two targets holds a garden of the gardens of paradise.” "

"O Khalid, let me tell you what I heard the Messenger of Allah say. He said: “Allah admits three people into Paradise because of one arrow. The one who makes it, doing so with the intention of good, the one who shoots it and the one who hands it over to the archer. So go out and train in archery and in horseback riding. And I prefer you train in archery. Entertainment is appropriate in only three forms: Training your horse, spending time with your wife, and archery. And whoever learns archery and then abandons it has rejected a blessing from Allah” "

"The Prophet (peace be on him) said, “Practice archery; that is good for you.” "

"The Messenger of Allah passed next to boys playing a game of archery. He said: “Shoot children of Ismael, your father was a great archer. Shoot and I will join so and so” and he joined one of the teams. The Messenger of Allah then said: “Why did you stop?” They said: “How can we do so when you are with them?” He said: “Go ahead and shoot, I am with all of you!” "

"I saw Jabir bin Abdullah and Jabir bin Umair al Ansari target shooting while one of them got bored and sat down. The other told him: I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Everything that is not remembrance of Allah is in vain except four things: Your walking between your targets, training your horse, playing with your wife, and swimming practice” "

"Amr bin Absah Radiya-allahu anhu said we were laying siege to al Taif and I heard the Messenger of Allah say: “Whoever shoots an arrow in the sake of Allah will be rewarded like one who has freed a slave” Amr said I shot 16 arrows on that day."

"Utbah bin Abd al Sulami Radiya-allahu anhu narrated: The Messenger of Allah told his companions: “Stand up and fight!” So a man stood up and shot an arrow. The Messenger of Allah said: “This man is granted Paradise” "

"Faqeem al Lakhmi Radiya-allahu anhu told Uqbah bin Amer Radiya-allahu anhu: “You are running between these two targets and you are at this old age!” Uqbah(RA) said: “If it wasn’t for some words I heard from the Messenger of Allah I wouldn’t have gone through this” The narrator asked what those words were, he Radiya-allahu anhu said: “Whoever learns target shooting and then abandons it is not one of us – or he said, “has committed a sin” "

The Heart of Robin Hood, Toronto Theatre Production

Mirvish is currently selling tickets for "The Heart of Robin Hood", a swashbuckling / archery stage production which takes a new twist at the legend of Robin Hood.

Tip - This is a good theatre production to take your significant other with you, so get your tickets for Valentine's Day right now. Expect a good dose of singing and romance.

It isn't all archery either by the looks of the YouTube video from the Manitoba production [further below].

But now that "The Heart of Robin Hood" is visiting Toronto it is our turn to enjoy the show.

Ticket prices vary between $45 and $105 per seat, and is on stage in Toronto from December 23rd 2014 to March 1st 2015.

Northern India Steel Bow

The photos below were found on the website ashokaarts.com, which sells antique archery equipment, swords, antique firearms, etc.

High tensile steel bows became popular in the Middle East and India during the 18th and 19th century, but later went out of favour as firearms became more popular. The beauty of steel bows however is that they are often inlaid with decorative designs.

Indian Bamboo Bows in Modern Archery

For close to 45 years now, the Archery Association of India (AAI) has been promoting bamboo bows (also known as Indian round competition) by conducting National championships at senior, junior and sub-junior levels - and restricting archers to using bamboo bows only. This tactic has helped popularize archery among common people in India and even earned some of them jobs in various institutions, such as Services, Railways, Central Reserve Police Force, Assam Rifles and Indo-Tibetan Border Police (ITBP).

While modern recurve and compound bows dominate international archery, the presence of traditional bamboo bows in domestic Indian events raises interest by allowing bamboo bows to be used competitively in India. Bamboo bows put archers on an even playing ground, they're very cheap, and so the only competitive factor remaining is the skill of the archer's themselves.

This cheapness factor has become the biggest contribution of bamboo bows by taking archery to the masses. Most of the aspiring archers in India come from humble backgrounds and start with bamboo bows as they are much cheaper than the professional recurve or compound bows. Bamboo arrows are also considerably cheaper.

"One gets a bamboo bow for about Rs. 1000. A recurve bow is at least 10 times costlier than that and a basic compound bow starts at Rs. 30,000," says Rupesh Kar, a judge and a joint secretary with the AAI. "The bamboo arrows cost only Rs. 30-35 per piece, while a recurve or compound arrow starts at Rs. 300."

Historically bamboo bows were manufactured mostly in the North East but now they are being made in several states including Delhi, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh and Kolkata.

Rupesh Kar points out that traditional bamboo bows are still popular in many South Asian countries, such as Pakistan, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka.

"We used to have a South Asian championship of bamboo bows, but it’s been a while since it was last held. The Europeans also use bamboo bows but they use laminated parts, which make the bow very close to the recurve bows. Here, we do not want our bows to shed their traditional form," says Kar.

Virendra Sachdeva, the AAI treasurer and the Delhi Archery Association president, says he has never seen any dip in the interest among bamboo bow archers.

"This time, we have 317 archers and officials participating in these Nationals here."

"Several other Asian countries also have the tradition of bamboo bows, but most of them are in laminated form. We would love to have a continental competition of these bows, but the main challenge is standardizing the equipment," added Sachdeva.

They may remain unsung but the bamboo bow archers have a reason to pursue their passion. Having archery as a skill is a desirable hobby to put on their resume because archery requires discipline and good aim, making them ideal candidates for the police forces and military.

‘Shoot’ and land a job is their motivation. Sticking to tradition is certainly paying off when it comes to finding work.

Byron Ferguson shooting at Flying Saucers

Want to get really good at shooting at moving targets?

Well first you need something for 'shooting' discs into the air so that you can shoot at them. Basically what you need is a catapult that launches flying saucers. Similar to the video below of Byron Ferguson shooting at Flying Saucers with a longbow.

The trick therefore is to first have some woodworking skills combined with mechanical skills to build such a catapult for shooting the discs into the air. Once you have that, then having the moving targets to shoot at becomes much easier.

Practice makes perfect. Remember when shooting at moving targets you need to aim further below and to the side in order to time the descent of the target and actually hit it, otherwise you will likely miss completely.