Turkish archery the last bowyer and famous calligrapher, Neçmeddin Okyay; it has since been revived. For many years the excellence of Turkish bows could be seen from historical records. In 1910 an archery contest was held on the beach at Le Touquet, France, where Ingo Simon was able to shoot an arrow 434 m using an old Turkish composite bow requiring a force of 440N or 99 lb. The Turkish bow is a recurved composite bow used in the Ottoman Empire. The construction is similar to that of other classic Asiatic composite bows, with a wooden core (maple was most desirable), animal
Arab archery longbows. “Correct and effective use of the composite bow,” Bishop adds, “took a lifetime to master, so Eastern recruits were essential.” Arab archers used composite bows from foot, horse, and camel, to good effect from the 7th century. Muhammad was quite good with a bow, and appreciated the benefits of archery in sports and warfare. A recurved bow made of bamboo, and ascribed to Muhammad, is held in the Sacred Relics (Topkapı Palace) in the Chamber of the Sacred Relics in the Topkapi Museum in Istanbul. There are several comments by Mohammad concerning archery in the Hadith. Umm Salama told