Ibrahim al-Mawsili

Abū Isḥāq Ibrāhīm al-Mawṣilī (Arabic: أبو إسحاق إبراهيم الموصلي; 742–804) was an Arab musician of Persian origin who was among the greatest composers of the early Abbasid period. After Arab and Persian musical training in Ray, he was called to the Abbasid capital of Baghdad where he served under three successive Abbasid caliphs: Al-Mahdi, Al-Hadi and Harun al-Rashid. He became particularly close with the latter and emerged as the leading musician of his time. He championed the conservative school of Arab music against progressives such as Ibn Jami. His son and student Ishaq al-Mawsili would succeed him as the leader of the conservative tradition and his other pupils included the musicians Mukhariq, Zalzal and Ziryab. He appears in numerous stories of One Thousand and One Nights.