New wave of Muslim-run archery clubs on target to bring the sport to everyone
Mastery of the bow and arrow is deeply embedded in Islam, but high costs and lack of accessibility has kept participation low among ethnic minorities. Now, that is changing
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Jamila Bi had always wanted to pick up a bow and arrow. Archery is one of the sunnah sports and there are several hadiths citing the prophet Muhammad’s praise for the discipline, she says. For years it seemed inaccessible and exclusive, with few local clubs and high entry costs. But in 2021, while the country was shuttered by Covid-19 lockdowns, her curiosity was sparked once again.
“The pandemic put my life in perspective. I thought about what is important to me and what I want to achieve,” she says. “Archery was high on my list.”
Finding a suitable club was only the first obstacle for Bi. “I faced a lot of barriers,” she says. There were no clubs meeting regularly near her home in Birmingham and the costs of club membership and equipment amounted to hundreds of pounds.
“I thought how ridiculous that was,” she recalls. “It’s the 21st century and I couldn’t access a sport that I want to do.”
Then Bi found a beginners’ course with Andalous Archers, an organisation founded more than 30 years ago to make archery more accessible to minority ethnic groups in inner-city Birmingham. The club offers sessions across the city and provides new members with equipment. Immediately, Bi felt she had found her calling.
“Archery is not just a sport,” she says. “It’s part of my religion, it’s part of who I am.”
Bi found that shooting the bow was not just good exercise, it also improved her mental and spiritual wellbeing. Soon she was eager to introduce more people from her community to the sport.
“I spent most of my free time volunteering with Andalous Archers. They couldn’t get rid of me,” Bi says. “Then I started writing to all the other clubs in my area to offer my time.”
When Bi asked if any local clubs would be open to hosting a women-only session, she struggled to find any takers.
“I emailed every one, but they all said there was no need,” she says. “I realised that to make the sport truly accessible to people from minority-ethnic backgrounds as well as Muslims, we needed to create an environment that catered to us.”
Spurred on by that realisation, Bi opened her own club just one year after shooting her first arrow. Crescent Archers was launched with the help of Archery GB, the sport’s largest UK regulatory body. Located near Birmingham’s Small Heath Park, the club now has more than 40 regular members, holds sessions every weekend and hosts popular beginners’ courses.
Bi has also left her job as a dental radiographer and joined Archery GB as a full-time project co-ordinator.
“My family were definitely surprised that I quit my NHS job, but I could not be happier,” she says. “My hours are more irregular and I often work weekends, but I wouldn’t change it.”
Crescent Archers is one of the 21 organisations taking part in Archery GB’s Project Rimaya, which was launched in 2018 and aims to make the sport more accessible to members of Muslim communities.
“We were very fortunate to meet Jamila,” says Gayle Pink, lead co-ordinator of Project Rimaya. “She’s done such amazing work in the West Midlands. She is training new coaches and instructors. She is such a positive role model and we’re very lucky to have her.”
Bi is now working on a new syllabus for Archery GB focusing on the thumb release, a technique used in many eastern and Asian archery styles and by many legendary archers from the Islamic world, including Ulubatlı Hasan, the Ottoman hero of the 1453 siege of Constantinople. The syllabus would mean that Archery GB clubs could offer coaching in the technique. Bi also hopes to soon see official thumb-release competitions.
“I think that organisations like Archery GB, which are committed to inclusivity, should also be inclusive of different archery styles. I would like to see thumb release be facilitated by the organisation,” said Hamid Mahmood, founder of the Fatima Elizabeth Archery Club in Walthamstow, east London.
Mahmood’s club, which opened in 2022 and now has more than 80 members, is affiliated with both Archery GB and the Mamluk Academy, an international organisation that offers training in traditional Turkish archery.
“We offer the best of both worlds,” he says. “Our students are instructed in both Mediterranean and eastern styles. Our members are very diverse and I would say we are most popular with Muslim women.”
Like Crescent Archers in Birmingham, the Fatima Elizabeth Archery Club is one of the few affordable archery organisations in the area and is always open to new members.
“Many people who come to us tell us we were the only club they could find where they could book a session online with no hassle,” Mahmood says.
Mahmood believes that accessibility is at the heart of the club’s diverse membership, comprising experienced archers and beginners from a wide range of backgrounds.
“I love the atmosphere here,” says 23-year-old Ikram Ismail, one of the Fatima Elizabeth archers. “When I heard that there was a club local to me, I really wanted to try it.”
Thanks to organisations such as her own and the Fatima Elizabeth Archery Club, Bi believes that the sport is gradually claiming its place as a pastime that everyone can enjoy.
“Archery is one of the most inclusive sports. You can wear what you like, it doesn’t require a certain fitness level, you have all abilities and all ages shooting together,” says Bi. “I don’t want anyone not being able to try the sport because they can’t afford it or because there is nowhere for them to train. I always say: ‘Just come and we will sort something out.’”
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