Sailor is taken in by cunning scholar (7)
I believe the answer is:
arabist
'scholar' is the definition.
(Arabist is an example)
'sailor is taken in by cunning' is the wordplay.
'sailor' becomes 'ab' (abbreviation for able seaman).
'taken in by' means one lot of letters goes inside another.
'cunning' becomes 'art' (I've seen this before).
'ab'+'is'='abis'
'abis' placed within 'art' is 'ARABIST'.
(Other definitions for arabist that I've seen before include "Middle East scholar" , "Say, T E" , "Expert in Middle Eastern culture" , "Middle East expert" , "Specialist in Middle Eastern affairs" .)