Kasim (thief)

This article is about the leader of the Forty Thieves. You may be looking for the Ottoman Assassin.

"The notorious bandits, led by the King of Thieves. Legend says he wields a flaming sword. The boys I grew up with would not stop talking about him. I thought it a legend, a tale told to children."

―Basim ibn Ishaq talking about Kasim and the Forty Thieves, 860s.^[src]^-[m]

Kasim^[1] (died 860s), better known as the King of Thieves, was the leader of the Forty Thieves, a group of infamous outlaws who operated from a hideout southwest of Baghdad.

Biography[edit | edit source]

Kasim: "Ever watched as the skin blisters from pure fire?"

Basim: "You talk too much."

—Kasim and Basim during their fight, 860s.^[src]^-[m]

In the mid-9th century, Kasim and the Forty Thieves gained infamy in and around Baghdad, with legends surrounding the group describing Kasim as the "King of Thieves" who wielded a flaming sword. However, despite their widespread reputation, many doubted the validity of the legends surrounding the thieves, with individuals such as Basim ibn Ishaq believing them to be merely stories told to children.^[2]

In the 860s, Kasim and his men began dealing with the famed merchant Ali Baba, acting as his protectors and offering him new trade opportunities, which allowed Ali to accumulate large amounts of wealth.^[3]^[4] However, Kasim, fearing Ali would expose the secret of their hideout, eventually ordered his men to kill the merchant and his daughter Murjana, whom he deemed a "loose end".^[5]

While the thieves succeeded in murdering Ali,^[2] they were unable to eliminate Murjana,^[6] for which Kasim later reprimanded them. However, as he was doing so, Murjana's ally Basim ibn Ishaq, an Alamut Hidden One, infiltrated their hideout after having learned the thieves' password, "Iftah ya simsim" (Open sesame). He then eliminated all the thieves present and confronted Kasim, ultimately killing him and discovering that his "flaming" sword was nothing more than an illusion.^[5]

Behind the scenes[edit | edit source]

Kasim is a character introduced in Assassin's Creed: Mirage as part of its downloadable expansion The Forty Thieves. While he is only ever referred to as the King of Thieves in-game, his name was revealed on ArtStation by Anthony Perales, a Junior Character Artist who designed Kasim's character model.

In the folktale Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves, Kasim—alternately spelled "Cassim"—is the name of Ali Baba's brother who is killed by the thieves.^[7] However, in some adaptations, it is the name given to the thieves' leader, such as in Disney's 1996 film Aladdin and the King of Thieves.