– The sinew corresponds to the veins that weave through every limb of an animal;
– The glue within it is like the blood by which all the parts are joined together.

Now, since man has a back and a belly, they likewise gave the bow a back and a belly (1). You can observe that it bends from the side of its belly just as a person bends, and if its back is broken it snaps instantly—and so it is with man.

Abu Jaʿfar Muḥammad ibn Jarīr al-Ṭabarī relates in his History (3) that Gabriel brought the bow down to Adam, making him the first to shoot with it.

It is authentically established in the Ṣaḥīḥ (4) that Ishmael, son of Abraham the Close Friend of the Most Merciful, was an archer.

On the Day of Uḥud the Prophet —may Allah bless him and grant him peace—kept shooting until the upper limb (siyya) of his bow splintered (5).

It has also been reported that he, peace and blessings be upon him, possessed three bows (6): a backed bow called