Even after hundreds of years, our understanding of the Black Death (Yersinia pestis) remains clouded by false narratives. While recent palaeogenetic reexaminations have shifted its nexus closer to central Asia, many researchers still contend it took barely a decade for the Black Death to travel as far west as the Black Sea by the 1340s. By the 15th century, Arabic and later European historians interpreted Ibn al-Wardi’s story as a fact-based parable, with al-Wardi’s trickster serving as an embodiment of the Black Death itself. The maqāma remains relevantThis revision isn’t meant to diminish the maqāma’s significance or artistry. “These maqāmas may not give us accurate information about how the Black Death spread.