Deeply in debt to Omar, a moneylender, Abu Hassan and his wife come up with a scheme to fake their deaths in order to extract funeral money from the Caliph. Meanwhile, Omar tries to woo Hassan’s wife, Fatime, in exchange for canceling the debts. She gives him a noncommittal answer to evade his advances, making him angry. When the Caliph visits Hassan’s home and finds Hassan and his wife sitting on the couch, he is greatly confused. He offers one thousand gold coins to anyone who can say which of the two died first. Hearing this, Abu Hassan sits up abruptly and thanks the caliph, saying that it is he himself who died first and that he was revived because of Harun's virtue and supremacy. Subsequently, Fatime resuscitates and the Caliph gives Hassan one thousand gold coins as promised. Finally, Omar is hauled off to jail.
Abu Hassan guide sections
