Abū Bakr said:

It was put to Abū ʿAbd Allāh, “May a daraʿah (riding cloak) have a slit?”

He replied, “Khalid ibn Maʿdān owned a daraʿah with a front slit about a cubit long.”

They then asked, “May it also be slit at the back?”

He answered, “I do not know. I have heard about a front slit, but I have not heard anything regarding a slit at the back.”

He added, “Even so, such a slit would give the rider more room and be of practical benefit.”

He went on, “Some people cite as proof in this matter the verse, ‘And prepare against them whatever force you can’ (al-Anfāl 8:60).”

Al-Athram reports: I said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh, “Some people invoke this verse in support of the Persian bow. I also told him, ‘The people of Khurāsān claim that the Arab bow is of no use to them, and that effective striking comes only from the Persian bow.’”

He replied, “How can that be? The lands were conquered with the Arab bow!”

Al-Athram continues: I said to Abū ʿAbd Allāh, “Yet I have seen the frontier troops who hardly choose anything over the Persian bow.”

He said, “All I have ever seen in Syria is a man with an Arab bow slung over his shoulder.”

Al-Athram also narrated, on the authority of Ḥafṣ ibn ʿUmar, who said: “Rajāʾ ibn Marjā…"