are universal and embrace every form, so no one may claim that they are restricted to a particular type without a sound basis.

As for the reported prohibition: if its transmission is authentic (1), it pertained to a specific moment in history—when the Arabs themselves made up the army of Islam. Their bows were Arab, their speech was Arabic, their implements were Arabic (2), and their cavalry training was Arabic. At that time, shooting with other kinds of bows or speaking in another language amounted to imitating the unbelievers among the non-Arabs.

In our own era, however, the bows used by the Muslim armies are Persian or Turkish, and their speech, equipment, and horsemanship are likewise non-Arabic (3)(4). Were these things deemed reprehensible (5) and the soldiers prevented from using them, both worldly and religious affairs would be ruined, the enterprise of jihad would grind to a halt, and the disbelievers would dominate the Muslims. That is utter falsehood.

If the report is indeed sound (6), then the Prophet ﷺ pronounced a curse upon those bows and ordered them to be discarded at a time when neither the Persians nor the Turks had yet accepted Islam; thus they were then a mark of the pagans and idolaters. Alternatively, he may have forbidden a particular man to carry such a bow because he did not know how to use it, would have forced himself to shoot with it, and would have departed from his own custom and that of the Muslims of the day. Hence he said, “And you must…" (7)