Archery is the aspect of Islamic military technology that has received the most attention from historians because it played such a significant role in Islamic military history. It certainly enjoys an elevated status in ḥadīth and was sometimes regarded as an almost mystical activity. However, it is important to note that Islamic archery traditions were not synonymous with horse archery. Archery amongst the early Muslim Arabs was an infantry affair and largely remained so until after the ʿAbbāsid takeover of the caliphate in the mid-second/eighth century. Furthermore, this