And in Sahih Muslim (1) there is also a report from ʿUqbah, who said: I heard the Messenger of Allah ﷺ recite, “And prepare against them whatever power you can muster.” He then added, “Indeed, power is in archery; indeed, power is in archery; indeed, power is in archery (2).”
Likewise, in Sahih al-Bukhari (3) it is related from Salamah ibn al-Akwaʿ that the Messenger of Allah ﷺ came upon a group competing with their arrows and said, “Shoot, O sons (4) of Ishmael, for your father was an archer. Shoot, and I am with the tribe of so-and-so.” One of the two teams then held back their hands, so he asked, “What is the matter with you that you do not shoot?” They replied, “How can we shoot when you are with them?” He said, “Shoot, for I am with all of you.”
= 2:501–502. The remainder of the transmitters in the chain are reliable; therefore, from this route the hadith possesses a hasan isnad.
Its wording is as follows: “Allah will admit to Paradise, by a single arrow, three people: the one who manufactures it, seeking thereby what is good; the one who shoots it; and the one who passes it to the archer. Practise archery and riding, and for you to shoot is dearer to me than for you to ride. Nothing counts as lawful pastime except three: a man’s training of his horse, his playing with his wife, and his shooting with his bow and arrows. Whoever abandons archery after learning it, out of disinterest, has shown ingratitude for a blessing.” This is the wording reported by al-Walid ibn Muzid and others.
As for the first version, the transmission from Yahya ibn Abi Kathir varies—although the recension of Hisham al-Dastuwaʾi is stronger. The disagreement concerns whether Hisham said, “Abu Salam narrated,” “I was told from Abu Salam,” “He said to us, Abu Salam narrated,” or simply “from Abu Salam.” Yahya ibn Abi Kathir’s material from Abu Salam comes from a written source; thus it is a wijdah (found text).
(1) No. 1917.
(2) The clause “Ala inna al-quwwata ar-ramy (Truly, strength lies in archery)” is omitted in Ms. H.
(3) See above, p. 16.
(4) In Mss. H and Mt the wording is binafar (“for a number of people”) instead of ala qawm (“against a people”), while Ms. Z reads ya bani (“O my son”) in place of bani (“my sons”).