Several suggestions have been made to account for the name and character of Juha.  He may be based on a historical figure named Ibi-al-Ghusn Goha al-Fazari.  Or the name may be etymologically significant, goha meaning someone “who walks hurriedly, or whose motions are not based on deliberation dictated by rationality” (E1-Shamy, 1980: 219).  Still another explanation links psychology and history, explaining that Juha’s inconsistent character—sometimes profoundly wise and sometimes profoundly stupid—reflects the historical transition from the Umayyad to the Abbasid caliphate in the eighth century.  The Turkish Nasruddin Hodja has likewise been tied to a fourteenth-century courtier of the Turko-Mongol conqueror Tamerlane, and some scholars have suggested that “Juha” is a corruption of “Hodja.” However, El-Shamy notes that the Arabic name Juha antedates the historical Turk by four hundred years, and that the poet al-Maydani, who died in A.D. 1124, used the proverbial comparison “more foolish than Goha,” indicating that stories about the character’s silly exploits must have been current prior to Tamerlane’s era.

The historical basis of Abu Nawwas’ name, if not of his deeds in the oral tradition, is more firmly established.  Abu Nawwas was the nickname of al-Hasan Ibn Hani, who lived from 762 until 814 and was well known for his poetry, much of it satirical, on love, sex, drinking, and anti-Arab racism.  Abu Nawwas was court poet, and possibly jester, for the Abbasid caliph Harun al-Rashid.  Whether he actually served as court comedian or not, his folkloric namesake and his alter egos have certainly assumed that role in the oral tradition.

Ultimately, of course, it is not the historical accuracy of the trickster-fools that lends significance to the stories.  Rather, it is the messages that ring true for auditors of the tales in their traditional oral forms, and for readers as the tales are committed to writing and translated to reach beyond their traditional audiences.  The stories address universal themes, and frequently strike familiar chords, for who among us has not experienced conflict or indignation, encountered hypocrisy or idiocy, or acted the fool or the sage?  Tales of the trickster give us vicarious satisfaction, and tales of the fool let us laugh at ourselves as well as at our fellow human beings.

The trickster-fool and his family

Domestic relations are the focus of much folklore throughout the world.  Middle Eastern trickster-fool tales frequently involve tricks and counter-tricks played by the hero and his wife.  In the story that follows, “Juha and the Meat,” Juha’s wife tries to deceive him, but he makes clear through a question of logic that he is not fooled.