hard cardboard

Ingredients

specially prepared hard cardboard, gunpowder, fuse

Preparation Steps

Original Recipe Text

The material is identified as a 'specially prepared hard cardboard' (p. 103, 104). This heavy-duty substrate was utilized in the construction of the 'furqā'a' type of grenade. According to the historical description, the cardboard shell was filled with gunpowder and equipped with an ignition fuse (p. 104).

Evidence

"One type of grenade, called furqā‘a, is described by the Ras‘lid king al-Mu˙affar Y‚suf b. ‘Umar (d. 694/1294) in his book al-Mu¿tara‘ f¬ fun‚n a◊-◊una‘. It consisted of a specially prepared hard cardboard which was filled with gunpowder and provided with a fuse."

Remarks

This entry documents the use of specialized paper/cardboard products in 13th-century military technology in the Rasulid dynasty of Yemen. The primary source for this information is the work 'al-Muhtara' fi funun as-suna' by King al-Muzaffar Yusuf b. 'Umar (d. 1294). The text highlights the use of paper as a structural material for combustible weapons (p. 103, 104).