ʿAbd Allāh ibn Bishr narrated to me—through Abū Rāshid al-Ḥubrānī and Abū al-Ḥajjāj al-Saksakī—from ʿAlī who said: “While the Messenger of Allah, peace and blessings be upon him, was leaning on one of his Arab bows, he noticed a man carrying a Persian bow. He said, ‘Cast it aside, for it is accursed. Rather, keep to Arab bows and to spears made of cane, for by means of them Allah supports the religion and grants you authority in the land.’
Our scholars have expounded at length on the Persian bow and similar weapons, but this is not the place to delve into it. I have mentioned the report only to show that, whenever something is not part of the Muslims’ own practice but comes instead from the Persians or others, they tend to hesitate and disagree about it—even when its usefulness is obvious—because two evidences seem to clash: the evidence that calls for clinging to the original practice, and the evidence
(1) All extant manuscripts read “Ibn Bishr,” with a dotted sh (shin); the same form appears in Sunan Ibn Majah 2:939. Most biographical sources, however, give the name as “Ibn Busur,” with an undotted s (sin). He is ʿAbd Allah ibn Busur al-Saksaki al-Hibarani al-Himsi, Abu Saʿid, who later resided in Basra. A fifth-generation narrator, he is weak; Yahya ibn Saʿid al-Qattan, al-Nasaʾi, Abu Hatim, and al-Darqutni all judged him unreliable. See al-Jarh wa-l-Taʿdil 5:12, no. 57; Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 5:159–60, no. 272.
(2) He is Abu Rashid al-Hibarani al-Himyari al-Himsi; his given name was Akhdar—some say Nuʿman. A leading tabiʿi, al-ʿIjli said of him: “A trustworthy Syrian tabiʿi; in his day no one in Damascus surpassed him.” Ibn Hajar records the same judgment in the Tahdhib. See Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 12:91–92, no. 402, s.v. “al-Kuna.”
(3) I have found no biographical notice for him.
(4) The printed edition reads fa-hiya.
(5) MSS B and Ṭ read bi-qasi, whereas An reads bi-nafsi.
(6) Reported by Ibn Majah, Sunan, Book of Jihad, chapter on Greeting, no. 2810 (2:939). Ibn Majah’s chain contains ʿAbd Allah ibn Busur, who is weak, and Ashʿath ibn Saʿid, who is abandoned (matruk). See Tahdhib al-Tahdhib 5:129–60.
(7) The word huwa is omitted in MSS C and D.