Abu l-Baz 'al-Uqab'

Abu al-Baz al-Uqab, a cunning trickster whom al-Mas'udi describes as having outwitted the rogues of Baghdad. ¹

He came to the door of one of the notaries with an axe, a basket and a jar. He demolished the shops and claimed the owner of the house had ordered it. Then he claimed his clothes had been stolen from the jar, and the notary and neighbours clothed him. ¹

He tricked the physician Bakhtishu with a candle he lit and with henbane put into food his guards had eaten. He then placed him in a chest and carried him to al-Mutawakkil, on a wager that he would steal from the physician's house what he knew within three nights. ¹

• His real name and the course of his life need an additional source.