Twenty Questions Game 558

[DreamTrawler]

Born in what is now a country whose English name ends in "an"?

[yavuzovic]

Native speaker of a Semitic Language?

[Aristocrat]

Born in what is now a country whose English name ends in "an"?

No

Native speaker of a Semitic Language?

Yes

[DreamTrawler]

From the location of this person's birth, would a Muslim have to face southwest or south to pray in the direction of the Kaaba?

[Aristocrat]

From the location of this person's birth, would a Muslim have to face southwest or south to pray in the direction of the Kaaba?

Yes

[yavuzovic]

Born in what is now a country whose name starts with i?

[Aristocrat]

Born in what is now a country whose name starts with i?

No

[Hominidae]

Born in what is currently Syria or Lebanon?

[DreamTrawler]

Is this person royalty?

[DreamTrawler]

Is this person royalty?

To save questions, I’ll ask this only if the answer to Hominidae’s question is No.

[Hominidae]

1,2. Real dead human born after 1844
4,5,6,7,9,11,13,14. Born in Asia, in a location from which a Muslim would have to face southwest or south to pray in the direction of the Kaaba, but not in an area that is now part of the Commonwealth of Nations or the African Union, or a territory or dependency of a member state of one of the above, or in what is currently China, Mongolia, North Korea, South Korea, Nepal, or Russia, or in a country whose English name starts with "i" or ends with "an"
12. Native speaker of a Semitic language
10. Primarily known for involvement in politics, military, or government
3,8. Not primarily known for involvement with arts, science, inventing, developing or discovering something, academia work, or being the chairman of People's republic of China

[Aristocrat]

Born in what is currently Syria or Lebanon?

No

Is this person royalty?

No

I don't think there are a ton of locations left, but given that it's not entirely clear when south blurs into southeast and southwest blurs into west, if anyone thinks a location is borderline feel free to ask for a clarification question that won't count towards the total.

[DreamTrawler]

free guess - Jamal Khashoggi

[Aristocrat]

free guess - Jamal Khashoggi

Not Jamal Khashoggi

[Hominidae]

I believe the remaining birth locations are (using modern terms):

Kuwait
Palestine
Saudi Arabia (north of Mecca)
United Arab Emirates
Qatar
Bahrain

And of course, Turkey, Georgia, Armenia, and most of Southeast Asia, but there aren't very many native Semitic speakers there. Note that the Indian subcontinent, Cyprus, Malaysia, and Singapore are out due to being part of the Commonwealth of Nations.

Egypt (the Sinai) is out due to being part of the African Union.

[Hominidae]

Wait, most of Southeast Asia is out, because it's south of Mecca.

[yavuzovic]

I think we should work on the dates.
Was this person alive during World War I according to the dates from Wikipedia (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918)?

[Aristocrat]

I think we should work on the dates.
Was this person alive during World War I according to the dates from Wikipedia (28 July 1914 – 11 November 1918)?

No

[SaintSimmer]

Was this person, or their spouse, Christian at any point in their life (edited for clarity).

[Aristocrat]

Was this person, or their spouse, Christian at any point in their life (edited for clarity).

Not that I'm aware of