and because the shaft lies only halfway along the track, the bow’s power is drained away from the arrow and is spent entirely inside the groove. Master archers who specialize in this kind of shooting have measured how much energy actually reaches the arrow and found it to be a mere quarter of the original force. What, then, can you expect from one-quarter of the power—together with all that risk and uncertainty?!

It is enough (1) to prove my superiority that the first man ever to shoot with you was Nimrod son of Canaan, as has already been mentioned, whereas the first to shoot with me was Adam, the father of humankind. Al-Ṭabarī (d. 310 AH) relates in his History (2) that when God commanded Adam, after He had brought him down to the earth (3) from Paradise, to till the soil, Adam sowed crops. God then sent two birds that kept eating the seedlings and scratching out the seeds. Adam complained to Allah, so Gabriel was sent down to him (4) carrying a bow, a string, and two arrows. Adam asked, as the bow was handed to him, “Gabriel, what is this?” He replied, “This is a strength from Allah.” Then he gave him the string, saying, “This is a firmness from Allah,” and finally the two arrows. Adam again asked, “What are these?” Gabriel answered, “This is the scourge of Allah.” He taught him how to shoot; Adam loosed the two arrows at the birds, killed them, and was delighted.

The knowledge of archery then passed to Abraham the Close Friend, and after him to his son Ishmael. It is authentically established in the Ṣaḥīḥ (7) that the Prophet, peace and blessings be upon him, once said to a group from the tribe of Aslam, “Shoot….”