and its cavalry—namely, the Companions, may Allah be pleased with them. To their martial horsemanship they added the chivalry of faith and certitude, a fervent rivalry for martyrdom, and the readiness to lay down their very lives out of love for Allah Most High and in pursuit of His good pleasure. Thus no nation on earth was ever able to stand against them; never did they wage war on a people (1) without conquering them, humiliating them, and seizing them by the forelock (2). When these causes weakened among those who came after them—because they became dispersed and no longer combined—feebleness and weakness overtook them in exact proportion to what they had abandoned of those causes. Allah is the One whose help is sought.

Section: On the number of the fundamentals of archery, its branches, and what must be learned (3)

The archers of all nations concur that archery rests on five fundamentals, which one of them versified as follows:
Archery is the finest counsel the Messenger ever gave;
The bravest of men is he who glories in the bow.
Its pillars are five: first comes the grasp,
Then stringing, drawing, releasing, and sighting.

Others reduced them to four and summed them up in the words: