In the 7th Century, the prophet Mohammed united the desert nomads into a nation driven by the effectiveness of Arab warfare and ordered by the tenets of Islam. Many women’s names appear in the military history of these times. Salaym Bint Malhand fought among Mohammed’s soldiers with an armory of swords and daggers strapped round her pregnant belly.
-excerpted from David E Jones “Women Warriors” ISBN# 1-57488-106-X
