Safiyah, the Prophet's aunt on his mother's side, kept an eye on the foe from the top of a fortlet belonging to Hasan ibn Sabit, who remained by her side. She caught sight of a Jew wandering round the ramparts and said to Hasan: 'Seest thou that Jew prowler? Without a doubt, he seeketh to find a weak point in our walls, and whilst the Prophet and his soldiers are busy on the front facing the enemy, other Jews will be fetched to follow the spy and capture our fortlet. Go down and kill him!'--'May Allah pardon thee! O daughter of Abdul Muttalib, I am not a warrior accustomed to the use of arms. I am a poet.' Shrugging her shoulders, masculine-minded Safiyah seized a mace and went down. Gliding behind the Jew, she felled him by dint of dealing repeated blows on his head; and then went back to Hasan. 'Now thou canst go down and strip the Jew of all he possesseth, for it is not seemly for a woman to undress a man.' Several skirmishes of slight importance took place at long intervals; but if an attack was not to be feared, thanks to the precautionary moat which had upset the Confederates' calculations, the garrison might have been mastered by famine. Great uneasiness prevailed in their ranks. Meanwhile, Naim, Prince of the Ghatafans, sought out Mohammad, saying: 'O Prophet! I have become a Mussulman and my people know it not. I am entirely at thy disposal.'--'Of what use is all thy courage? Thou art alone! But couldst thou not help us by provoking relinquishment among the Confederates? In all wars, there are tricks which are licit.' Naim understood at once the part he had to play. He went to the Banu Quraizah, having often broken bread among them when he was an idolater. [Illustration: _"Al Fitr", the Prayer on the Breaking of the Ramadhan Fast._]