The sword and the shield
Fencing with the curved sword and the small round shield.
Traditional fencing with the curved sword and the small round shield, attested among the medieval Arabs alongside the lance and wrestling. Two men, two blunted blades, the guard that protects as much as it threatens: the same spirit of measure as taḥṭīb, carried by iron instead of wood. Like the bow and wrestling, it belongs to the line of furūsiyya: the formation of the body before any specialisation.
الخيلُ والليلُ والبيداءُ تعرفني والسيفُ والرمحُ والقرطاسُ والقلمُ
“The horses, the night and the desert know me,
and the sword, the lance, the paper and the pen.”
al-Mutanabbī
This verse, one of the most famous in Arabic literature, holds sword and pen together: the formed body and the cultivated mind are a single discipline.
For this discipline the everyday ghandūra is enough, sleeves rolled and fastened above the elbow to free the movement, with a reinforced belt with a double loop to take the scabbard. Only the turs (تُرس, the shield) has a making of its own: leather stretched over a wooden core, adorned with an eight-pointed star, held by a forearm strap and a central grip.
Saddlery
The turs comes from the saddlery, which brings together leather, wood and metal.
The turs, front face with the eight-pointed star
The turs, back with the grip and the strap
Sayf wa-l-turs: training with sword and shield
See also The furusiyya→.
The words of this page are in the common glossary; the works cited in the sources; the sister house is Al-Funduq aṣ-Ṣiqillī.
