Incendiary Weapons Resins, simple inflammables, mineral compounds, naturally occurring petroleums, and various combinations of quicklime were all in common use before the rise of Islam. Catapults lobbed burning balls of pitch at the roof of the Ka'aba, setting it afire, in an attack on Mecca in 690. Muslims used incendiary arrows when invading India in 712 and through the centuries that followed. Islam later acquired its secret and, beginning in the late 12th century, used it effectively against the Crusaders, who greeted it with superstitious terror.
Scholars still debate the nature of Greek fire.
Whatever its components, it was a burning liquid or semi-liquid which floated upon water, adhered to men, dissolved both stone and iron, and was extinguished only by sand, urine or vinegar. It was lobbed in pots and tubs, pumped through tubes, and thrown by hand in bottles. As used by Muslims, petroleum distillate may well have been its most significant component. It was not until the mid-14th century that clear references to gunpowder appear in Muslim battle accounts.