The ''Kitāb fī maʿrifat ʿilm ramy al-sihām'' (), called the ''Maʿrifa'' for short, is an

Arabic Arabic (, , or , ) is a Central Semitic languages, Central Semitic language of the Afroasiatic languages, Afroasiatic language family spoken primarily in the Arab world. The International Organization for Standardization (ISO) assigns lang ...

treatise on

archery Archery is the sport, practice, or skill of using a Bow and arrow, bow to shooting, shoot arrows.Paterson ''Encyclopaedia of Archery'' p. 17 The word comes from the Latin ''arcus'', meaning bow. Historically, archery has been used for hunting ...

written by Ḥusayn al-Yūnīnī around 1320. It was intended for those entering the archers' guild in the

Mamluk Sultanate The Mamluk Sultanate (), also known as Mamluk Egypt or the Mamluk Empire, was a state that ruled Egypt, the Levant and the Hejaz from the mid-13th to early 16th centuries, with Cairo as its capital. It was ruled by a military caste of mamluks ...

. It is preserved in three

manuscript A manuscript (abbreviated MS for singular and MSS for plural) was, traditionally, any document written by hand or typewritten, as opposed to mechanically printed or reproduced in some indirect or automated way. More recently, the term has ...

Manuscripts

The known manuscripts of the ''Maʿrifa'' are: *Dublin, Chester Beatty Library, MS 3158:1 *Gotha, Forschungsbibliothek, MS Orient. A 1340 *Leiden, Bibliothek der Rijksuniversiteit, MS Or. 955 In addition to these three, there is a fourth possible copy. There was a manuscript in

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containing a work entitled ''al-Qaṣīda al-Yūnāniyya fī al-ramy ʿan al-qaws'', which may be the ''Maʿrifa''.

Author

The author of the ''Maʿrifa'' was al-Ḥusayn ibn ʿAbd al-Raḥmān ibn Muḥammad ibn al-Shaykh ʿAbd Allāh ibn ʿUthmān ibn Abi al-Qasim ibn Muḥammad ibn Jaʿfar al-Yūnīnī Abu Muḥammad al-Baʿlī al-Rāmī. This is his name as it appears in Ibn Ḥajar's 14th-century biographical dictionary ''al-Durar al-kāmina''. The '' nisba'' al-Yūnīnī, referring to the village of Yūnīn, is sometimes erroneously given as al-Yūnānī ('the Greek'). The ''nisba'' al-Baʿlī refers to

Baalbek Baalbek (; ; ) is a city located east of the Litani River in Lebanon's Beqaa Valley, about northeast of Beirut. It is the capital of Baalbek-Hermel Governorate. In 1998, the city had a population of 82,608. Most of the population consists of S ...

and the nickname al-Rāmī means 'the archer'. According to Ibn Ḥajar, al-Yūnīnī was born around 1250. He was last seen alive on 10 September 1324 and was found dead a week later. He wrote the ''Maʿrifa'' when he was in his seventies. Besides the ''Maʿrifa'', al-Yūnīnī wrote an '' urjūza'' (poem) on archery. It is found in two manuscripts: Aya Sofya MSS 2952 and 4051. It was written following an incident in

Damascus Damascus ( , ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in the Levant region by population, largest city of Syria. It is the oldest capital in the world and, according to some, the fourth Holiest sites in Islam, holiest city in Islam. Kno ...

in 1277 or 1278. Another ''urjūza'' on archery is attributed to him or to his son in the Leiden manuscript. It is entitled ''al-Masāʾil'' or ''al-Nihāya fī ʿilm al-rimāya''. Both ''urjūza''s include a commentary.

Synopsis

The ''Maʿrifa'' is "a structured course of vocational training for entrants to, and members of ... the archers' guild." These were foot archers and the ''Maʿrifa'' has nothing to say about cavalry archery other than to note that it was practiced by the

Mamluks Mamluk or Mamaluk (; (singular), , ''mamālīk'' (plural); translated as "one who is owned", meaning "slave") were non-Arab, ethnically diverse (mostly Turkic, Caucasian, Eastern and Southeastern European) enslaved mercenaries, slave-sold ...

. It describes the requirements of an archer each stage of his professional advancement from ''mubtadīʾ'' (novice), to ''rāmī'' (shooter), ''naqīb'', ''wakīl'' and ''ustād'' (master). The ''Maʿrifa'' is the earliest archery text to systematically describe which parts of the body should be in tension (''almushaddadāt''), relaxation (''al-mulayyanāt'') or stillness (''al-sawākin'') at every stage of shooting. This was an influential innovation picked up by all subsequent Islamic treatises on the subject. Among the practices of the masters that the ''Maʿrifa'' mentions is the "art of penetration" (''ʿilm al-ikhrāq''), in which archers demonstrate their skill by shooting various types of arrowhead through various targets. For example, a challenge may involve putting a head made of hardened leather through a copper plate. Another form of practice was the "art of suspension" (''ʿilm al-taʿalīq''). In this challenge, an arrow with fragile attachments (such as empty eggshells) affixed to its shaft was shot into a ceiling without disturbing the attachments.

Notes

Bibliography

*{{cite thesis , first=Adnan Darwish , last=Jallon , title=Kitāb fī maʿrifat ʿilm ramy al-sihām: A Treatise on Archery by Ḥusayn b. ʿAbd al-Raḥmān b. Muḥammad b. ʿAbdallāh al-Yūnīnī H 647 (?) – 724 / AD 1249–50 (?) – 1324 A Critical Edition of the Arabic Text together with a Study of the Work in English , institution=Victoria University of Manchester , type=PhD diss. , year=1980 14th-century Arabic-language books Military training books Military technology books Medieval archery