The Oud ( /ˈuːd/; Arabic: عود‎ ʿūd, plural:أعواد, a‘wād; Assyrian:ܥܘܕ ūd, Greek: ούτι; Persian: بربط‎ barbat; Turkish: ud or ut;Armenian: ուդ, Azeri: ud; Hebrew: עוד ud‎; Somali: cuud or kaban) is a pear-shaped stringed instrument commonly used in North African (Chaabi, Classical, and Andalusian) and Middle Eastern music. The modern oud and the European lute both descend from a common ancestor via diverging paths. The oud is readily distinguished by its lack of frets and smaller neck.

The origin of the name oud (and its etymological cousin, lute) for the musical instrument is uncertain, but the Arabic العود (al-ʿūd) refers literally to a thin piece of wood similar to the shape of a straw, and may refer to the wooden plectrum traditionally used for playing the oud, to the thin strips of wood used for the back, or to the wooden soundboard that distinguished it from similar instruments with skin-faced bodies. Recent research by Eckhard Neubauer suggests that oud may simply be an Arabic borrowing from the Persian name rud, which meant string, stringed instrument, or lute.

Munir Bashir (Arabic: منير بشير‎, Syriac: ܡܘܢܝܪ ܒܫܝܪ) (1930 – September 28, 1997) was an Iraqi musician and one of the most famous musicians in the Middle East during the 20th century and was considered to be the supreme master of the Arab maqamat scale system.

He created different styles of the Arabian short scaled lute, the oud. He was one of the first middle eastern instrumentalists known to Europe and America. Bashir’s music is distinguished by a novel style of improvisation that reflects his study of Indian and European tonal art in addition to oriental forms. Born in Iraq, he had to deal with numerous disruptions of violent coup attempts and multiple wars that the country went through. He would eventually exile to Europe and become noticeable first in eastern nations such as Hungary and Bulgaria.

Munir Bashir was born in Mosul, situated in northern Iraq. According to different references he was born in a period of time from 1928 to 1930. Bashir is descended from a family of Assyrian heritage. His father Abd al-Aziz and his brother Jamil had good reputations as oud-soloists and vocalists; Jamil wrote an important textbook for the oud. The family started musically educating young Bashir at his age of five, Bashir's father began to instruct him and his older brother Jamil in the basics of ud. His father, who was also a poet believed that a pure tradition of Arab music had devolved in Baghdad. He first learned to play the violoncello, a European instrument that had become a popular bass-instrument in Arabian music during the end of the 19th century. He simultaneously was taught playing the oud. The lute plays a similar role in Arabian music as the piano does in European music: it is the instrument used to impart the most important theoretical aspects in music.

Farid al-Atrash, or in French spelling Farid El-Atrache, (Arabic: فريد الأطرش‎; October 19, 1910 – December 26, 1974) was a Syrian-Egyptian composer, singer, virtuoso oud player, and actor. Having immigrated to Egypt in childhood, Al-Atrash embarked on a highly successful career spanning more than four decades — recording 500 songs and starring in 31 movies. Sometimes referred to as 'King of the Oud', he is one of the most important figures of 20th Century Arab music.

Farid Al-Atrash was born in Suwayda, Syria to the Druze Atrash family who fought the French Colonial armies. His father was Syrian and mother Lebanese. As a child, Al-Atrash emigrated with his mother and siblings to Egypt, escaping the French occupation. Later, they were naturalized by the Egyptian government as citizens. Al-Atrash's mother sang and played the oud, which spurred his musical interest at an early age.

As a child and young adult, Farid Al-Atrash sang in school events. He studied in a music conservatory and became an apprentice of the renowned composer Riyad as-Sunbaty. In the 1930s, Al-Atrash began his professional singing career by working for privately owned Egyptian radio stations. Eventually, he was hired as an oud player for the national radio station and later as a singer. His sister, Asmahan, was also a talented singer, and for a while they worked together. In 1941, they starred in their first successful movie Intisar a l-Shabab (انتصار الشباب - The Triumph of Youth, 1941), in which Farid himself composed all the music.

The Atrash family (Arabic: الأطرش‎ al-Aṭrash) is a famous Druze family. It is traditionally considered the source of leadership in Jabal ad-Duruz.

The name has the alternate spellings (with the prefix of al, al-, el or el-) of Atrache, Attrache, Attrasch Atrach, Attrach and Attrash, and is Arabic for "deaf". However, this is just a folk etymology, as the family name, like that of the other equally famous Druze family, the Jumblat, is Kurdish in origin^{[citation needed]}. It finds its roots in the Artushi/Hartush tribe of Kurds that spread from the environs of Lake Van into northern Syria, albeit in its metathetic form^{[citation needed]}.

The family is claimed to be descended from the Prince Fakhreddin al Ma'ani, and migrated in the beginning of the 18th century, from Lebanon to Jabal ad-Duruz in southern Syria.^{[citation needed]}

They grew in importance and in 1869, Ismail al-Atrash led them to overthrow the al-Hamdan family by force. However, they were weakened by the peasant revolution of 1888.

Mahmoud Hassan Ali (born December 15, 1919) was an Egyptian Greco-Roman Bantamweight wrestler. He competed for Egypt in the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, earning a silver medal behind Kurt Pettersén of Sweden and Halil Kaya of Turkey.

Hassan and Ibrahim Orabi were the first wrestlers of Egypt to gain Olympic medals in wrestling.