Significant Iraqi number?

March 10, 2012 1:10 PM

In Iraqi culture, does any whole number between 20 and 50 have special significance or associations (positive or negative)?
posted by kalapierson to Society & Culture (2 answers total)

Not specifically Iraqi, but for Sunni Muslims (Iraq is an overwhelmingly majority Shia country with Sunni muslims being about 30% of the population) there is some significance (and of course some debate) on the number of night prayers (taraweeh) said with the imam during Ramadan.

"Five to perform, and fifty in rewards in the scale on the Day of Judgment."

As with everything else Islam, following the practices of the Prophet is good, deviating is bad, but there is massive disagreement on what Mohammad did.

'If the tahajjud prayer is not meant, then this tradition will be at variance with the tradition that states that the Holy Prophet (Peace be upon him) led twenty rakats each for two nights, and in the case of such clash the tradition of twenty rakats which is affirmative (muthbit) shall have precedence because according to the principles of hadith, the affirmative takes precedence over the negative (naaf)"

Don't know if this answers your question. I've been doing a lot of reading recently on the Muslim world, so I'm really interested in learning more. Hopefully someone with more knowledge will chime in with clarification or a correction.
posted by three blind mice at 11:21 PM on March 10, 2012

Response by poster: Thanks. It's a practical question having to do with a project in the U.S. during which Iraqi names will be read out loud in order to honor them (names of Iraqi citizens the U.S. killed in wartime). Depending on the structure, there could be up to 50 or so names, and I wanted to see whether there were any reasons to think about a specific number of names (or any specific numbers I should avoid). I will keep asking around.
posted by kalapierson at 8:56 PM on March 11, 2012