batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l21966-l22110
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l21966-l22110
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
passage_locator:
label: PUBLIC SERVICES, / AND EMINENT LITERARY ATTAINMENTS, / THE TRANSLATOR. /
PREFACE; lines 21966-22110
start: '21966'
end: '22110'
translation: The Koran (Al-Qur'an)
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: Verily God loveth those who, as though they were a solid wall, do battle
for his cause in serried lines!
summary: The passage contains translator notes on earlier Qur'anic material, including
Christian envoys, Mount Sinai traditions, Becca/Mecca, the Caaba, and Makam Ibrahim,
followed by the opening of Sura LXI, which praises God, rebukes inconsistency
between speech and action, commends ordered fighting for God, recalls Moses and
Jesus addressing Israel, presents Jesus as announcing Ahmad, and describes opponents
trying unsuccessfully to extinguish God's light.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A note describes an embassy of Christians from Nedjran to Muhammad at Medina,
led by Bishop Abu Hareth, and says they agreed to pay tribute in exchange for
protection of their religion and lands.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: A note identifies an assembly on Mount Sinai and compares it with a Jewish
legend in which prophets and rabbis of every generation were present when God
gave the law to Moses.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: A note identifies Becca as Mecca and says certain Suras are woven into the
Kiswah, the annually renewed covering of the Caaba.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: A note describes the Makam Ibrahim as a small structure containing a sacred
stone on which Ibrahim is said to have stood when building the Caaba.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The sura begins by saying that all in the heavens and on the earth praises
God.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Believers are asked why they profess what they do not practice, and the text
says God hates that people say what they do not do.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: God is said to love those who fight for his cause in serried lines like a
solid wall.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Moses asks his people why they grieve him when they know he is God's apostle,
and when they go astray God leads their hearts astray.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: Jesus son of Mary addresses the children of Israel, says he confirms the law
before him, and announces a later apostle named Ahmad.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: When Ahmad presents clear proofs of his mission, unnamed hearers call it manifest
sorcery.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: The text says some would put out the light of God with their mouths, but God
will perfect his light despite the hatred of the infidels.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: God
description: The praised deity, described as mighty and wise, who hates unperformed
professions, loves fighters in serried lines, guides or does not guide, and perfects
his light.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Believers
description: The addressed community who are warned against saying what they do
not do and are associated with fighting for God's cause in ordered ranks.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Moses
description: God's apostle to his people, who asks why they grieve him despite knowing
his apostolic status.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Moses' people
description: The people addressed by Moses, described as grieving him and going
astray.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Jesus son of Mary
description: Apostle to the children of Israel, confirming the prior law and announcing
a later apostle named Ahmad.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Children of Israel
description: The people addressed by Jesus son of Mary.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Ahmad
description: The apostle announced by Jesus as coming after him and later presenting
clear proofs of his mission.
role_refs:
- role:5
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Infidels or wicked opponents
description: Those who reject the call to Islam, devise falsehood concerning God,
call the proofs sorcery, and seek to put out God's light.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Christians from Nedjran
description: An embassy from Christians in Nedjran in Arabia, with their bishop
at their head, visiting Muhammad at Medina.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Muhammad
description: The figure at Medina to whom the Christian embassy comes; the note
says he had acquired political power.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: Ibrahim
description: The figure said in Arab tradition to have visited Mecca to build the
Caaba and to have stood on the sacred stone associated with Makam Ibrahim.
role_refs:
- role:13
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
roles:
- id: role:1
label: praised deity
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: All in the heavens and earth is said to praise God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:2
label: divine guide and judge
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: God hates speech without action, loves those fighting in ordered ranks, leads
astray those who go astray, and does not guide the perverse or wicked.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: role:3
label: addressed religious community
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The sura directly addresses believers with an admonition.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: ordered combatants for God's cause
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: God is said to love those who battle for his cause in serried lines like
a solid wall.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: apostle of God
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:7
basis: Moses is called God's apostle; Jesus calls himself God's apostle; Ahmad is
announced as a later apostle.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:6
label: erring people
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Moses' people are described as grieving him and going astray.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:7
label: announcer of successor
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Jesus announces an apostle who shall come after him named Ahmad.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:8
label: recipient community of Jesus' address
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Jesus addresses the children of Israel directly.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:9
label: foretold later apostle
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Ahmad is named as the apostle to come after Jesus and as presenting clear
proofs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:10
label: rejectors of divine message
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: Opponents call Ahmad's proofs sorcery, devise falsehood concerning God, and
seek to extinguish God's light.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:11
label: interreligious embassy
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The note describes Christians from Nedjran coming as an embassy to Muhammad
at Medina.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:12
label: political-religious recipient of embassy
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The note says Muhammad at Medina had acquired political power and received
the embassy.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:13
label: patriarchal builder in tradition
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The note says Arab tradition speaks of Abraham visiting Mecca to build the
Caaba and associates him with the sacred stone.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Mount Sinai
literal_form: mountain where God gave the law to Moses in the cited comparative
note
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
- covenant
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: Kiswah covering of the Caaba
literal_form: annually renewed covering woven with Qur'anic suras
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: Makam Ibrahim sacred stone
literal_form: stone said to be where Ibrahim stood when building the Caaba
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: serried lines like a solid wall
literal_form: battle array compared to a solid wall
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:5
label: light of God
literal_form: light that opponents try to put out with their mouths but God perfects
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:6
label: heavens and earth
literal_form: all that is in the heavens and all that is on the earth praising God
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Nedjran embassy settlement
summary: A Christian embassy from Nedjran visits Muhammad at Medina and, according
to the note, agrees to pay tribute under conditions of protection for religion
and lands.
figure_refs:
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Sinai assembly and law-giving note
summary: A note refers to an assembly on Mount Sinai and compares it to a Jewish
legend of prophets and rabbis present when God gave the law to Moses.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Meccan sacred objects
summary: Notes identify Becca with Mecca, mention the Kiswah covering of the Caaba,
and describe Makam Ibrahim and the sacred stone associated with Ibrahim's building
of the Caaba.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Admonition and battle array
summary: The sura opens with cosmic praise of God, rebukes believers for profession
without practice, and commends those who fight for God's cause in ordered ranks
like a wall.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Moses and the straying people
summary: Moses reminds his people that they know he is God's apostle; when they
go astray, God leads their hearts astray.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:6
label: Jesus announces Ahmad
summary: Jesus son of Mary addresses the children of Israel, confirms the prior
law, announces Ahmad, and the later proofs are rejected as sorcery.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: scene:7
label: Opposition to God's light
summary: The text says wicked opponents devise falsehood concerning God and seek
to put out God's light, but God will perfect it.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- ev:11
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: cosmic praise of God
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: All in the heavens and on the earth is said to praise God at the opening
of the sura.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The available taxonomy does not include a precise cosmic-praise motif
family.
- id: motif:2
label: speech and action judged by God
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: Believers are rebuked for professing what they do not practice, and the text
states that God hates such speech.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage frames this as moral admonition rather than a narrative judgment
scene.
- id: motif:3
label: sacred battle array
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: God is said to love those who fight for his cause in serried lines like a
solid wall.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: No exact available taxonomy family for sacred warfare or battle formation
is supplied.
- id: motif:4
label: prophet rejected by his people and divine misguidance
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: Moses' people grieve him despite knowing his apostolic role, go astray, and
God leads their hearts astray.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The wording concerns guidance and misguidance; classification under divine
judgment is approximate.
- id: motif:5
label: prophetic succession and foretold apostle
taxonomy_refs:
- covenant
basis: Jesus confirms the earlier law and announces a later apostle named Ahmad.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The covenant taxonomy is only indirectly applicable through confirmation
of prior law and prophetic continuity.
- id: motif:6
label: divine light resisted but perfected
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Opponents seek to put out the light of God with their mouths, but God will
perfect his light.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: The supplied symbol taxonomy does not include light, and the motif is
expressed as a metaphor in the passage.
- id: motif:7
label: sacred mountain law-giving assembly
taxonomy_refs:
- covenant
basis: The note situates an assembly on Mount Sinai in connection with God giving
the law to Moses and cites a related Jewish legend.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: This material appears in translator commentary rather than the sura text
in this excerpt.
- id: motif:8
label: patriarchal foundation of sacred sanctuary
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The note reports a tradition that Ibrahim visited Mecca to build the Caaba
and stood on the sacred stone now associated with Makam Ibrahim.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents this as a reported tradition within a translator
note, not as direct sura narrative.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The Mount Sinai assembly note explicitly compares the passage's Sinai reference
with a Jewish legend in which prophets and later rabbis were present when God
gave the law to Moses.
claim_level: same_motif
target: Jewish Sinai law-giving assembly legend cited as Shemoth Rabba, Parashah
28
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is supplied by the translator's note and is not developed
in the Qur'anic excerpt itself.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 21966-21972, note 24
quote_or_summary: A Christian embassy from Nedjran, led by Bishop Abu Hareth, comes
to Muhammad at Medina; they decline the proposed dispute-settlement method but
agree to tribute for protection of religion and lands.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 21990-21995, note 32
quote_or_summary: The note says the people were assembled on Mount Sinai and compares
a Jewish legend that prophets and rabbis of every generation were present when
God gave the law to Moses.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 21997-22000, note 33
quote_or_summary: Becca is identified as Mecca; this sentence and other Suras are
said to be woven into the Kiswah, the annually renewed covering of the Caaba.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 22002-22011, note 34
quote_or_summary: Makam Ibrahim is described as a small building containing the
sacred stone on which Ibrahim is said to have stood when building the Caaba; Arab
tradition is said to speak of Abraham visiting Mecca for that purpose.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: Sura LXI opening, lines 22069-22072
quote_or_summary: "“ALL that is in the Heavens and all that is on the Earth praiseth
God. He is the Mighty, the Wise!”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: Sura LXI, lines 22074-22077
quote_or_summary: Believers are asked why they profess what they do not practice,
and the text says it is hateful to God to say what one does not do.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: quote
locator: Sura LXI, lines 22079-22080
quote_or_summary: "“Verily God loveth those who, as though they were a solid wall,
do battle for his cause in serried lines!”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: Sura LXI, lines 22082-22085
quote_or_summary: Moses asks his people why they grieve him when they know he is
God's apostle; when they go astray, God leads their hearts astray and does not
guide a perverse people.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: Sura LXI, lines 22087-22091
quote_or_summary: Jesus son of Mary tells the children of Israel he is God's apostle,
confirms the prior law, announces a later apostle named Ahmad, and the later clear
proofs are called manifest sorcery.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: Sura LXI, lines 22093-22095
quote_or_summary: The text asks who is more impious than one who devises falsehood
about God when called to Islam, and says God does not guide the wicked.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: quote
locator: Sura LXI, lines 22097-22099
quote_or_summary: "“Fain would they put out the light of God with their mouths!
but though the Infidels hate it, God will perfect his light.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage mixes translator notes with the opening of Sura LXI. Motifs drawn
from the sura text are clearer than those drawn from notes. Taxonomy mappings
are conservative and sometimes approximate because several prominent images, such
as divine light and battle array, lack exact supplied taxonomy references.
reviewer_status:
status: needs_review
reviewer: ''
reviewed_at: ''
notes: Machine-generated draft from OpenAI Batch; not human-reviewed.
extracted_by: openai_batch:gpt-5.5
extracted_at: '2026-04-29'
notes: |-
Only the provided passage and metadata were used. No external identification or taxonomy IDs beyond the supplied lists were added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg__l21966-l22110
passage_sha256=34841341e4c3a8268f9b24e3657c690f667a37cf36f9f5b2f1f797a2ddde31ea