Ali went towards the fortress, planting in the ground, close to the ramparts, the white flag on which stood out in bold relief, embroidered in black letters, the Islamic profession of faith. He then got ready to storm the breach.... Al-Harith, at the head of a few Jews, tried to bar the way and drive back the Mussulman hero, but the leader of the children of Israel succumbed, struck down by Ali; and the soldiers who had followed all ran away. The brother of Al-Harith, Marhab, famous and feared, came now to the front, eager for revenge. He produced an effect of terror by his gigantic stature, double armour, a pair of swords, a three-headed spear, a double turban; and his helmet on which sparkled a jewel as big as an egg. His eyes, too, glistened like two carbuncles. Puffed up by pride, he strode to the breach. 'The whole of the land of Khaibar, from end to end, knoweth my valour! When war rageth, sometimes I pierce with my lance; and sometimes I slice with my sword! Doth there exist in all the world a champion who dare stand up against me?' Without being moved by this bragging bombast, Ali showed himself to take up the challenge: 'I'll be that man! Verily I, called by my mother Haydra, the lion cub, in memory of my father, known as the Lion. With my sabre I'll give thee good measure!' Hearing this reply, Marhab became purple with rage. Brandishing his scimitar, he rushed at Ali. The formidable blade hissed through the air and it seemed as if the champion of Islam had just been annihilated. But the sword of the terrible Jew was stopped by Ali's shield in which it penetrated deeply and stuck therein. Without giving his adversary time to drag it away, Ali loosened his hold of the buckler, now useless and in his way, and replied to the attack by a wonderful cut that split the helmet, turban and skull of his enemy, scattering the brains in every direction. The steel was only stopped by the Jew's teeth, forming barrier. The giant fell in a huddled heap, like a tower ruined by an earthquake, in a cloud of dust, with a noise as of thunder.... Seized with affright, the Jewish soldiers fled, pursued by Ali's men. He tore from its hinges the heavy door of the ramparts and it served him as a shield in place of the one broken in the fight. Resistance was cut short and Al-Qamus, the impregnable, was captured by the warriors of Islam. When the fall of the famous fort became known, the Jews of Fadak and of Wadi'l-Qura, two places a few days' march towards the north, sent in their submission. In concordance with their co-religionists of Khaibar, they supplicated the Prophet to let them live as farmers on their estates which they alone knew how to cultivate properly; and to allow them to take half of the crops as remuneration for their labour. Mohammad consented, on condition that the Believers would have the right to alter this decision, should they deem it necessary.