Unfamiliar Terms
• mā ḍummira (what has been conditioned): passive form. A “conditioned” horse is one that has been well-fed until it puts on weight and strength, after which its fodder is gradually reduced so that it becomes lean, light, and swift, able to gallop hard and move energetically.
• al-Ḥafya: a locality outside Madinah.
• Thaniyat al-Wadāʿ: so called because travellers leaving Madinah would be escorted there by those bidding them farewell. A thaniyah is a pass through a mountain.
• Zurayq: a clan of the Anṣār.
• Five miles: the Arab mile is roughly two kilometres minus one-sixth; this was discussed earlier under the entry on the iḥrām stations.

Overall Meaning
The Prophet ﷺ was ever ready for jihad and took every practical means, acting on the divine command: “Prepare against them whatever force you can, and war-horses tethered, so that you may terrify the enemy of Allah and your own enemy” (Q 8:60). He would condition the horses and train his Companions to race them, so that they might master riding, advance and retreat upon them, and learn the distances a horse can cover when conditioned and when not. Thus the animals became trained and the Companions alert and proficient. He set the course for conditioned horses at nearly six miles and for unconditioned, heavier horses at one mile. ʿAbd Allah ibn ʿUmar—may Allah be pleased with them both—was among the young Companions schooled in the arts of war.

Lessons Drawn from the Ḥadīth

1. It is legitimate to practise and learn military skills and war sciences in preparation for confronting the enemy. These vary with the times: every era has its own weapons, instruments of combat, machinery, and training methods.
2. A race may be conducted with a stake or without. Both forms are permissible. Although taking a stake resembles gambling, the great public benefit involved makes it lawful, for the legal maxim states: When the benefit decisively outweighs the harm, the harm is pardoned on account of that benefit.
3. The ruling is not confined to horse-racing. Any competition over equipment or mounts that aid in fighting the enemy is permitted when a stake is involved, based on the ḥadīth, “No prize may be taken except in a blade, a hoof, or a foreleg” (i.e., in archery, camel-racing, and horse-racing). This is the position of the majority of scholars. Shaykh al-Islām Ibn Taymiyyah added the disciplines of knowledge to this list, permitting wagers on them as well, because they, too, are a form of jihad—citing Abū Bakr’s wager with the idolaters as evidence.
4. Competitions of this sort constitute praiseworthy exercise: they invigorate and strengthen the body and assist in jihad and combat. They are legislated and beloved acts when the intention is righteous—unlike the distractions with which