Abu Dalama

Abu Dalama, Zand b. al-Jawn — a black mawla of the Banu Asad, his father a freed slave of one of them; master of anecdotes, tales, adab and verse, he lived into the last Umayyads without distinction, then bloomed under the Banu'l-'Abbas, attaching himself to al-Saffah, al-Mansur and al-Mahdi who advanced him and delighted in his drolleries; it is said — unconfirmed — that he lasted into al-Rashid's caliphate. A natural wit of abundant anecdotes. ¹