What can a man dressed in rags and ostensibly mad teach us about life? Everything as it turns out. Bahlool who lived in Baghdad, circa the 8th century AD, feigned madness to escape the oppression of the ruling class, and he dispensed wisdom in strange and amusing ways. The Wise Fool of Baghdad is a collection of these true stories, richly illustrated in the Turkish-Iranian miniature style. Every story is followed by sacred verses of the Holy Qur an and traditions, inscribed in Arabic by Muqtar Ahmed, one of India s finest Islamic calligraphers. In the crazy times we live in, you will probably need a fool to make sense of it all.