Islamic military philosophy drew inspiration from numerous sources, first and foremost the Quran and the Hadith associated with the life and times of Muhammad (c.570-632 CE), but also on Arabic, Persian, North African and Central Asian martial practices as Islam spread across the Near East during the first centuries of conquest. Over time, numerous military manuals emerged, with a special emphasis on writing down best practices occurring during the Abbasid Caliphate (750-1258 CE), an Islamic Golden Age when interest in scholarship was at its height. Out of this curiosity emerged a whole genre of military writing, referred to by modern scholars as furusiyah literature (Arabic for “equestrian martial exercises”), focusing on a specific military topic (horsemanship, weapons training, siege warfare), while others were comprised of multiple disciplines in a manner similar to contemporary Byzantine manuals.[1] The earliest of these military manuals, one dedicated to both warfare and horsemanship, is attributed to Ibn Akhi Hizam, an Abbasid commander in the Arab Abbasid army and seen as the father of military furusiyah literature.[2] Although dozens of these writings date back the Abbasid era, most are no longer extant, simply referenced by later manuals. Of those which remain, most date to the era of the Catholic occupation of Syria and Palestine, the so-called Age of Levantine Crusades (1095-1291), and the rule of the Islamic Ayyubid (1174-1250) and Mamluk Bahri (1250-1382) and Burji (1382-1517) sultanates of Egypt and Syria. Under these Islamic states, Turkic mamluk slave-soldiers became the backbone of regional armies, bringing their specific steppe warrior skills into the Islamic art of war.[3]

Right: Two Persian warriors on horseback in combat. School of Tabriz, c.1480 CE. Fighting on horseback with saber and lance remained important martial skills for Near Eastern Islamic horse archers in the late medieval era. Here, two armored warriors on barded horses fight in hand-to-hand combat, one using a lance and the other a curved sword, while defending themselves with round Kalkan shields. Attached to the belts of both men is a bow quiver and arrow quiver. Topkapi Palace Museum, Istanbul, Turkey.

In the medieval era in the Islamic world, mamluk soldiers were often closely associated with their prowess as military archers, mostly because of the close association between mamluks and their predominate region of origin, Turkic Central Asia.  The term mamluk was an Arab term used to describe a man “possessed” by another, technically a slave, but could also mean a freed slave. Mamluk is similar to the Arab term ghulam for “youth,” often used to denote a slave because many slaves were purchased or taken as children. However, by the twelfth century CE, the term mamluk was nearly universally used to describe a special kind of slave-soldier, one usually of Turkic origin. Mamluks were usually purchased as slave children, then trained and converted to Islam. Beginning with al-Mutasim (r. 833-842 CE), the first mamluk slave-soldiers served the Arab Abbasid caliphs as their personal bodyguard and were seldom employed against Islam’s external enemies during this caliphate.  However, the role of mamluk soldiers along Islam’s frontiers increased in Moorish Iberia, with first the emir and later caliphs of Córdoba using these slave soldiers recruited from across the Islamic world and pagan Europe (the Slavic Saqaliba) as household guards and elite troops in their campaigns against rival Islamic enemies and Catholic armies during the early phases of the Reconquista.  Initially used to supplement the freeborn Islamic askari troops, the role of mamluk soldiers in Islamic armies expanded dramatically with the rise of Turkish sultanates in the Dar al-Islam. The sultans of the early Turkic Ghaznavid (977-1163 CE) and Seljuk empires (1037-1194 CE), as well as their Zengid (1127-1174 CE) and Ayyubid successors in Syria and Egypt, routinely used mamluk soldiers as regular troops in their cavalry-intensive art of war.  Over the tenth and eleventh centuries CE, mamluk cavalry established itself as the finest in the Islamic world, marrying traditional elements of mounted steppe warfare (use of bow and lasso from horseback) with those of Islamic warfare heavily influenced by Arab and later Persian military doctrine (heavier arms and armor, dedicated lance play, and combined arms operations).

Mamluk slave-soldiers entered the stream of Egyptian history during the Zengid era and were trusted troops for both the Turkoman leader Nur al-Din (r. 1146-1174 CE) of the Zengid dynasty and his Kurdish successor Saladin (r. 1174-1193 CE), the founder of Ayyubid rule in North Africa. Brought when young as captives by slave merchants from the wild pagan areas of the Eurasian steppe and mostly of Turkic origin, these boys were purchased as personal or state slaves for private or larger sultanate armies. Once settled, they were forcibly converted to Islam, educated in the intricacies of their new religion until the age of eighteen, and then manumitted and placed in their home barracks, often referred to as tabaq, before completing additional military training as an adult.[4] The eminent fourteenth-century CE Arab scholar Ibn Khaldun (1332–1406 CE) describes the appeal of young mamluk converts to their new Muslim masters:

“They embrace Islam with the determination of true believers, while retaining their nomadic virtues, which were undefiled by vile nature, unmixed with the filth of lustful pleasures, unmarred by the habits of civilization, with their youthful strength unshattered by excess of luxury.”[5]

Perhaps the greatest example of the potential of the mamluk soldier was realized during the Ayyubid defense of Cairo at the First and Second battles of Mansurah (1221 and 1250 CE) during the Fifth (1217-1221 CE), and Seventh crusades (1248-1254 CE) and the Bahri Mamluk Sultanate of Egypt and Syria defeat of the Mongol invasion of Syria and Palestine at the battle of Ayn Jalut in 1260 CE and pushing the Latin crusaders out of the Levant after the successful siege and fall of Acre in 1291 CE. Like the first mamluks employed by the Abbasid and Córdoban caliphs and Turkic sultans, the Bahri Mamluk soldiers were perhaps the greatest Islamic knights or Faris produced in the medieval era, practitioners of furusiyah (Arabic for “equestrian martial exercises”), a form of rigorous training which emphasized horsemanship (use and care of horses), mounted archery, and lance combat.

Left: The Bahri Mamluks were masters of lance and bow, forging a Sultanate across Egypt and the Levant in the thirteenth century CE. Their chief adversary were the Latin crusader states, present in the region since 1099 CE. However a new threat arose in the form of the Mongol Ilkhanate and its allies, leading to armed hostilities. In 1260 a Mongol army was decisively defeated at the battle of Ayn Jalut, while two decades later, the Mamluks won a second engagement, defeating he Armenians, Georgians and Mongols at the Second battle of Homs in 1281 CE. This miniature reflects the Mamluks pursuing Armenian horse archers with lances extended as some of the pursued turn to engage with bows in hand. Miniature of the Second Battle of Homs, 1281 CE. From Hayton of Coricos' Flower of the Histories of the East (Fleur des histoires de la terre d'Orient), early 14th century CE. NAF 886, folio No. 27. National Library of France (Biblioteque nationale de France), Paris, France. 

Mastery of these elements produced the Faris (derived from faras, Arabic for horse), Islamic knights adept with lance, sword and bow. Bahri Mamluk Faris mimicked the best characteristics and long tradition of Persian and Arabic heavy cavalry while retaining their skills as mounted steppe archers. This fusion light and heavy cavalry system was ideal to meet both crusader heavy cavalry lancers, and swifter light cavalry Mongol archers during the wars of the thirteenth century. Moreover, under the Bahri Mamluks, military archery was raised to a science with the publication of one of the finest archery manuals produced during the late medieval Islamic era, the fourteenth century “Wishes of the Warriors of the Faith” (Munyatu’l-Ghuzat), building on archery treatises from earlier Abbasid and North African writers.[6]

The Bahri Mamluk soldiers were perhaps the greatest Islamic knights or Faris produced in the medieval era, practitioners of a refined version of furusiyah training which emphasized horsemanship (use and care of horses), mounted archery, and lance combat. Bahri Mamluk Faris mimicked the best characteristics and long tradition of Persian and Arabic heavy cavalry while retaining their skills as Turkic mounted steppe archers. This fusion light and heavy cavalry system was ideal to meet both crusader heavy cavalry lancers, and swifter light cavalry Mongol archers during the wars of the thirteenth century. Moreover, under the Bahri Mamluks, fighting on horseback with lance and bow was raised to a science with the publication of one of the finest Islamic military manuals produced during the late medieval Islamic era, the anonymously authored fourteenth century Wishes of the Warriors of the Faith (Munyatu’l-Ghuzat). Built on military treatises from earlier Abbasid and North African writers, Wishes of the Warriors of the Faith infused Turkic Cuman-Kipchak traditions into the Arabic training regimes. The original version was a written in Arabic, but the surviving edition is presented in the original Mamluk-Kipchak language, and consists of six sections or “skills,” including “Mounting the Horse,” “Holding the Lance,” “Acts Related to the Use of the Sword,” “Holding the Shield (missing),” “Archery,” and “Hitting the Ball” (in reference to a polo-like game). Perhaps the most well-known military skill associated with the Mamluks was their skill with archery, identified in the manual as the “Fifth Skill,” with each of the skills containing numerous chapters, with the first section dedicated to how to choose and practice with the right bow:

“If one learns it with a weak bow, he should also draw the same amount with a strong bow, so that he will learn it like the other one. Then he should also practice with arrow(s) at the butt. First with a weak bow and then with a strong (bow) until he learns it fully well. Then go out to an open field and practice very hard shooting at a target. Shoot much until you shoot as well as you do at the butt [earthen backstop] but be careful not to lose your (accurate) shooting. The worst thing is to try to shoot as well as your previous shot. (If you do) then you will lose (your accurate shooting). So you must not desire to shoot as well as (your) previous shot, but rather you should seek to better your shooting.

The bow of the archer should be in accordance with his strength, so that he will be able to use his bow, and it is also necessary that his arrow(s) will be in accordance with his bow in length. The bow should also be in accordance with the arrow. The length of the arrow is from one tip of the bow to the other, with the exception of the grip. If the arrow is longer than the bow, the archer suffers, and many faults become apparent. If the bow is longer than the arrow, according to the measurement that I have told you, the arrow will fall off the grip before (the bow) is fully drawn, and so (the archer) will not be able to draw it properly. His draw will look bad.”[7]

Right: Mamluk Faris horsemen whose lance-heads are between each other's shoulder-blades. Dated 773 (1371 CE) Mamluk Egypt or Syria. Mamluk knights were masters of lance and bow. British Library. London, United Kingdom.

The following sections describe how to use military archery during a siege, first as a besieger shooting up at the enemy’s battlements, and then as a defender casting arrows down at besiegers:

“This chapter relates the quality of a bow that is (used) for shooting at people in high places and fortresses.  Such a bow should have a longer upper limb and tip than the necessary length so that, when it shoots at a high place from a lower ground, the strength of the lower limb will be more when the arrow is loosed. The bow with which you shoot down from a high place should have a shorter upper limb and tip. All the other bows should have (both limbs) equal. But the upper limbs and tips of the ordinary bows should always be longer than their lower (limbs and tips).  The arrow-pass should be at the halfway point of the bow equally. The nocking-point on the string should also be like this equally. And that is that.

If you wish to shoot from the top of a fortress at the people who are at the base of the fortress, follow your opponent closely, move the lower tip of the bow over to your right side, hold the bow across and draw it downwards. Bend your back a little, hold the arrow (that is drawn in the bow) between your two legs and shoot it. Beware not to shoot from one place in a war, but rather walk from one place to another, watch your opponent and then shoot, and that is that.”[8]

The following section relates to Mamluk mounted archery, a renown military attribute of the Faris soldiers.

“This chapter relates how to shoot arrows on horseback. It has many graceful things. It is necessary that you should have a proper horse. I have described before the horse that is good for shooting. When you wish to start shooting arrows on horseback (while) riding, you should take a weak bow and arrow(s) which are good for this skill. Then erect five barcas that are following each other.  The distance between each of them should be forty arshins. Then take five arrows, ride your horse fast and shoot these one after the other. When you become good at shooting at these, make the distance between them thirty arshins [about 70 feet]. Every time reduce (the distance between the barcas) like that, until the distance is seven steps. When you also become skillful at this, try to shoot fast. This (seven steps) is the limit in this practice. Then erect (them) in another way,  that is to say, three barcas on your left side and opposite to them two barcas on your right side. Then ride (your horse) fast, come and shoot first at the ones that are on your left side and then at the ones that are on your right, if you can. When you become skillful also at this, take a strong bow and shoot with it in the same way that you had done with a weak bow. Once you have perfected your accurate shooting, from then on you will shoot accurately everywhere, that is to say, in the time of war, while shooting deer and in the hippodromes. From then on you will not be afraid of shooting arrows.”[9]

Another significant Mamluk military manual is dedicated solely to military archery. Also written in the fourteenth century (1368) by Taybugha Al-Ashrafi Al-Baklamishi Al-Yunani, The Complete Manual of Archery for Cadets, (Kitab Ghunyat at-Tullab fi Ma’rifat Rami an-Nushshab) is often known by its English monograph title as Saracen Archery. This work is the oldest complete Islamic archery manual and pulls from older furusiyah material on the subject.[10] Two other significant Muslim military treatises were published in the late medieval era. The first treatise by Umar Ibn Ibrahim al-Awsi Al-Ansari is usually translated as A Muslim Manual of War (Tafrij al-Kurun fi Tadbir al-Hurub) is dated to the early fifteenth century and is divided into twenty “books” containing numerous chapters and covers topics like ideal characteristic for commanders and troops, using deception to avoid war, and strategies for an army on campaign (marching, setting up camp, and conducting sieges).[11] The second treatise, Book on the Science of Archery (Kitab fi ‘ilm al-ramy) is attributed to the Moroccan archer Hussain bin ‘Abd al-Rahman, writing perhaps as late as 1500, but possibly earlier. It is a comprehensive manual on Islamic archery and is regarded as one of the finest and most complete works of its kind, offering a concise and clear explanation of various topics related to archery, many of which had not been previously combined in a single treatise.[12] Together, these Muslim military manuals provide modern researchers with a plethora of information on military archery technologies, techniques, and tactics and providing valuable insights into one of the region’s most important tactical systems.

Endnotes

[1]  Shihab al-Sarraf, "Mamluk Furusiyah Literature and Its Antecedents." Mamluk Studies Review 8 (2004), 143-144.

[2]  Daniel Coetzee and Lee Eysturlid, Philosophers of War: The Evolution of History's Greatest Military Thinkers, Volume 1: The Ancient to Premodern World, 3000 BCE-1815 CE (Praeger, 2013), 59.

[3]  Brian Todd Carey, Joshua B. Allfree, and John Cairns, Warfare in the Age of Crusades: The Latin East (Pen and Sword Military, 2022), 182-184.

[4]   Reuven Amitai-Preiss, Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281 (Cambridge University Press, 1995), 17-18.

[5]  This passage from Ibn Khaltun is taken from David Nicolle, Mamluk ‘Askari, 1250–1517 (Osprey Books, 2014), 6.

[6]  Erik Hildinger, Warriors of the Steppes: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to 1700 A.D (Sarpedon, 1997), 155-156.

[7]  Munyatu'l-ghuzat, A 14th Century Mamluk-Kiptchak Military Treatise, trans. Kurtulus Öztopçu (Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures 13, 1989). Translation available on the De Re Militari website, accessed May 10, 2025, https://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/SOURCES/archery.htm

[8]  Ibid.

[9]  Ibid.

[10]  John Derek Latham and William Forbes Paterson, Saracen Archery: An English Version and Exposition of a Mameluke Work on Archery, ca. AD 1368, (Holland Press, 1970).

[11]  George T. Scanlon, A Muslim Manual of War, George T. Scanlon, A Muslim Manual of War, trans. George T. Scanlon (American University of Cairo Press, 1961), 37-122.

[12]  Al-Sarraf, "Mamluk Furusiyah Literature and Its Antecedents,” 167.

Bibliography

Primary Sources

Latham, John Derek, and William Forbes Paterson, Saracen Archery: An English Version and Exposition of a Mameluke Work on Archery, ca. AD 1368. Holland Press, 1970.

Munyatu’l-ghuzat, A 14th Century Mamluk-Kiptchak Military Treatise, translated by Kurtulus Öztopçu. Sources of Oriental Languages and Literatures 13, 1989. Accessed May 10, 2025, https://www.deremilitari.org/RESOURCES/SOURCES/archery.htm

Scanlon, Geore T. A Muslim Manual of War. Edited and translated by George T. Scanlon. American University of Cairo Press, 1961.

Secondary Sources

Al-Sarraf, Shihab. "Mamluk Furusiyah Literature and Its Antecedents." Mamluk Studies Review 8 (2004), 141-200.

Amitai-Preiss, Reuven, Mongols and Mamluks: The Mamluk-Ilkhanid War, 1260–1281. University Press, 1995.

Carey, Brian Todd, Joshua B. Allfree, and John Cairns. Warfare in the Age of Crusades: The Latin East. Pen and Sword Military, 2022.

Coetzee, Daniel, and Lee Eysturlid. Philosophers of War: The Evolution of History's Greatest Military Thinkers, Volume 1: The Ancient to Premodern World, 3000 BCE-1815 CE. Praeger, 2013.  

Hildinger, Erik. Warriors of the Steppes: A Military History of Central Asia, 500 B.C. to 1700 A.D. Sarpedon, 1997.

Nicolle, David. Mamluk ‘Askari, 1250–1517. Osprey Books, 2014.