16
O inquirer into archery’s fundamentals: they are four—
binding, gripping, releasing, and sighting.
He failed to list the draw, so the draw (1) was supplied for him, for it is one of the pillars.
Others said: its fundamentals (2) are four, its branches nine, and its perfection two qualities, making a total of fifteen traits. Whoever masters their knowledge and their practice (3) has perfected the science of archery.
We shall now set them forth.
The first fundamental is gripping the bow (4).
The second is binding the string.
The third is sighting.
The fourth is releasing.
As for the branches:
The first (5) is drawing the bow smoothly and evenly.
(1) Absent from MS Z.
(2) MS Z reads: “And another said: indeed its foundational principles …”.
(3) From MS Z.
(4) See the author’s discussion on p. 432 and thereafter.
(5) MS H reads: “As for the subsidiary point: it is the madd (vowel-lengthening).”
يا سائِلِي عَنْ أُصولِ الرَّمْيِ أَرْبَعَةٌ … العَقْدُ والقَبْضُ والإِطْلاقُ والنَّظَرُ
ولم يعدَّ منها المدَّ، فاستُدْرِك عليه المدُّ (١)؛ فإنه من الأركان.
وقال آخرون: أصولُه (٢) أرْبعة، وفروعه تسعة، وكماله خصلتان، فالمجموع خمسة عشر خصلة، من استكمل عِلْمَها وعَمَلَها (٣) استكمل عِلْم الرمي.
ونحن نبيِّنُها.
فالأصل الأول: القبض على القوس (٤).
والثاني: العقد.
والثالث: النظر.
والرابع: الإطلاق.
وأما الفروع:
الأول (٥): المدُّ على استواءٍ وتَرَفُّقٍ.
(١) ليس في (ظ).
(٢) في (ظ) (وقال آخر: إنَّ أصوله).
(٣) من (ظ).
(٤) انظر كلام المؤلف عليها في (ص/ ٤٣٢) فما بعده.
(٥) في (ح) (وأما الفرع: فالمدُّ).