CLASSIC GUNS
The Guns of Islam
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There are no more exotic firearms than those that come from Islamic countries or lands with a heavily Muslim influence. To Western eyes, their unusual shapes, decoration and oftentimes archaic appearance make them seem to be mere curiosities rather than serious fighting and sporting arms, but one only has to look at their effectiveness in the field to realize that this is a gross misconception.
Take, for example, the British retreat from Kabul, Afghanistan, in 1842. Admittedly, the Crown forces chose winter, the worst time of the year to traverse the country's rough, inhospitable terrain, but raids and sniping by Afghans with their jezails soon proved the smoothbore muskets carried by soldiers of the Army of the Indus were no match for native weaponry. Of the more than 16,000 troops and camp followers that left Kabul, only one British officer eventually made it to safety, though some women and other prisoners held by the Afghans were eventually released.
It is interesting to note that many Islamic cultures were slow to adopt firearms, believing that the Prophet Muhammad favored the use of edged weapons and archery in the jihad. While Europe was employing artillery and hand firearms as early as the 14th century, it would take a number of decades for the East to catch up.
Not surprisingly, it was the Ottoman Turks who led the field in the adoption of cannon and small arms, and their victories in Europe and against Muslim foes proved to the holdouts that perhaps guns were really the way to go. By the 15th and 16th centuries the use of firearms had spread throughout the Middle East and into Mughal India.
While the style of the arms might be strictly indigenous, the ignition systems were copied from European patterns. Matchlocks were used in the early years, but when flint-and-steel mechanisms appeared, they were immediately adopted almost wholesale, the main holdouts being in India, where matchlocks continued to be seen well into the 19th century.
The first true flintlock, the snaphance, showed up in Europe around 1550. It employed a falling cock, which held a piece of flint in its jaws--a steel that it struck to produce sparks--and a separate sliding pan cover, similar to those used in wheellocks, to protect the priming powder. In a matter of very few years the snaphance was simplified and improved upon by the true flintlock, which combined the steel (frizzen) and pan cover in one unit. To be sure, many Islamics adopted the later system, but the snaphance continued to be popular well after it had become obsolete in Europe. This is especially true with North African guns.
