During the torrid heat of the middle of the day, they were scattered here and there enjoying their "siesta" in the shade of the numerous "talhah" (gum-trees), growing in the valley, and had posted no sentinels to keep watch and ward. A Bedouin of the Banu Mustaliq perceived this lack of precaution. By crawling along on hands and knees, he succeeded in approaching the Prophet and lifting the silver-hilted sabre hanging to the branches under which the Apostle was resting, the tribesman said: 'O Mohammad, let me look at thy sword-blade.' After having run his thumb along the edge of the steel as if to try it, he brandished it over the Prophet's head and cried out: 'O Mohammad! dost thou not fear me?'--'No! Why should I fear thee?'--'Art thou not afraid of the weapon I hold?'--'No, for Allah protecteth me,' replied the Prophet, with the greatest calm, gazing boldly at his agressor. Petrified at such indifference in the face of danger, the Bedouin was overwhelmed with supernatural emotion which paralysed his heart's action. Cold sweat bathed his brow; his fingers, gripping the sword-hilt, opened out involuntarily, and the sabre fell at Mohammad's feet. He picked it up quietly. 'And now, what will save thee from my blows?' he asked.--'Thy generosity!' replied the downcast brigand. He was right. The Prophet let him depart without compelling him to embrace the Mohammedan faith, for he wished to accustom idolaters to the generosity of Islam, so that they should come to it of their own accord. The Bedouin, who before leaving his own bivouac, had boasted that he would bring in Mohammad's head, declared to his people: 'I have just met the best of men.' And he went back to the Prophet and became a convert to Islam. [Sidenote: THE GHAZWAH, OR EXPEDITION OF THE BANU MUSTALIQ (_Year V of the Hegira, A.D. 627_)] Now it was the turn of the Banu Mustaliq to get restless and conspire against Islam. The Prophet resolved to punish them, and, at the head of his troops, he came upon them on their own territory at Qudid, near the wells of Al Mirisiyah. The two armies crashed together in their shock, and many were slain on both sides. Allah routed the Banu Mustaliq; and an enormous amount of booty: camels, sheep and captives, fell into the hands of his warriors. Among the prisoners was the daughter of the Lord of the Mustaliqs, beautiful Juwairiyah. As a result of the drawing by lot, she fell to Sabit ibn Qais, but promised her master a heavy ransom in exchange for liberty. She then sought out the Prophet and told him: 'I am Juwairiyah, daughter of Haris, Lord of the Mustaliqs. Thou knowest my unlucky fate. I know thy magnanimity and I come to implore thy help to pay my ransom.'--'I will settle thy ransom,' he replied; 'and I'll marry thee, if so be thou art willing.' She accepted, and despite Ayishah's jealousy, aroused by the charm and grace of Juwairiyah, the marriage was decided.