hit the target; whichever arrow travels the farthest is declared the victor.

Those who forbid attaching prize money to this contest are the disciples of Aḥmad and al-Shāfiʿī (1).

Anyone who permits prize money in footraces, swimming, or wrestling must—by the same logic—permit it here, and with even greater reason (2). Archery, after all, has two objectives: accuracy and distance (3). Distance is therefore one of its recognized aims, and winning on that basis is of the same genre as winning with horses or camels.

In any case, this form of competition is more deserving of permissibility than all the other scenarios that scholars have analogised to the prophetic text. The plain wording of the ḥadīth supports it, for it establishes competitive racing with the arrow just as it does with the camel and the horse. This entails that wagering on distance with arrows stands on the same footing as wagering with the other two. To claim that the ḥadīth affirms only accuracy but not competition to reach the farthest goal is unfounded; its indication of both aims is clearer than limiting it to accuracy alone. Allah knows best.

Section: The Basis of These Opinions (4)

These bases are of two kinds: textual and conceptual.

The textual basis is to restrict oneself to what the text affirmed after issuing a general negation, which is