batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l2254-l2504
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l2254-l2504
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 2254-2504
start: '2254'
end: '2504'
translation: The Koran (Al-Qur'an), Rodwell translation
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage contains several short Meccan suras. They rebuke neglect of
a blind seeker, present the Koran as a warning on honored pages, describe human
creation, death, burial, resurrection, divine provision through rain and crops,
and scenes of judgment marked by the trumpet-blast, fleeing kin, radiant or darkened
faces, fire, and punishment. Other suras praise the Most High, contrast the present
life with the enduring life to come, invoke fig, olive, Sinai, the sacred territory,
the declining day, and the starry heaven, and recount persecutors of believers
associated with a fuel-fed trench of fire.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A figure frowns and turns away because a blind man comes to him, while a wealthy
man receives attention and an earnest, fearful seeker is neglected.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Koran is described as a warning, borne in mind by whoever wills, written
on honored, exalted, purified pages by honored and righteous scribes.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Man is said to be created from moist germs, fashioned, given an easy passage
from the womb, caused to die and be buried, and later raised again when God pleases.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: Rain falls, the earth is cleft, and grain, grapes, herbs, olive, palm, gardens,
fruits, and herbage are brought forth for humans and cattle.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: At the stunning trumpet-blast, a person flees from close kin, each person
is occupied with his own concerns, and faces are divided between radiant joy and
dust-covered blackness.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The Most High is said to create, balance, fix destinies, guide, bring forth
pasture, reduce it to dusky stubble, teach recitation, and make warning profitable
to those who fear God.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The reprobate is described as exposed to terrible fire, in which he neither
dies nor lives.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The passage contrasts the present life with the better and more enduring life
to come and says this teaching is in the old Books of Abraham and Moses.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: An oath is made by the fig, the olive, Mount Sinai, and an inviolate soil;
man is said to be created in goodliest fabric and brought down low, except those
who believe and do right.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: An oath by the declining day states that man is amid destruction except those
who believe, do right, and enjoin truth and steadfastness on one another.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: An oath by the star-bespangled heaven, the promised day, and witness and witnessed
introduces a curse on the masters of the trench, who sit around a fuel-fed fire
and torment believers.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: God / the Most High
description: The divine figure named as creator, fashioner, provider, raiser of
the dead, teacher, judge, and witness.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Blind man
description: A blind man who comes to the admonished figure seeking warning or cleansing
by faith.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Wealthy man
description: A wealthy person who receives attention in contrast to the earnest,
fearful seeker.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Admonished figure
description: A figure addressed for frowning, turning away, attending to the wealthy,
and neglecting the earnest fearful seeker.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Man / humankind
description: Human beings described as created, mortal, buried, raised, nourished,
warned, and judged.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Believers
description: Those who believe, do right, receive warning, are purified, remember
the Lord, pray, enjoin truth and steadfastness, and are tormented by the masters
of the trench.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Infidels / impure / reprobate
description: Those described with dust-covered and blackened faces, turning aside
from warning, or awaiting torment.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:9
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Scribes
description: Honored and righteous hands by which the purified pages are written.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Abraham and Moses
description: Named figures associated with old Books in which the teaching is said
to be found.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Masters of the trench
description: Figures cursed for sitting around a fuel-fed fire and inflicting torment
on believers.
role_refs:
- role:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Creator and fashioner
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: God creates man, fashions him, creates and balances all things, and fixes
destinies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: Provider through rain and vegetation
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker attributes rain, cleft earth, crops, fruits, and herbage to divine
action.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:3
label: Judge, raiser, and witness
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: God raises man again, is called the most just of judges, and is witness of
everything.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- ev:9
- id: role:4
label: Neglected seeker
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The blind man comes and is associated with possible cleansing and profitable
warning.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:5
label: Attended wealthy person
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The wealthy person is the one to whom the admonished figure gives full attention.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:6
label: Corrected warner
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The figure is addressed for turning away and neglecting the earnest, fearful
seeker.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:7
label: Mortal creature subject to warning and judgment
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Man is created, dies, is buried, is raised, receives food, and faces judgment
scenes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:8
label: Faithful righteous group
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Believers are purified, pray, do right, enjoin truth and steadfastness, and
are persecuted for faith.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:9
label: Condemned rejecters
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The passage names infidels and impure with darkened faces and describes the
reprobate as turning aside and facing fire.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:10
label: Honored transmitters of pages
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The purified pages are said to be by the hands of honored, righteous scribes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:11
label: Ancient book-associated figures
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The teaching is said to be in the Books of Abraham and Moses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:12
label: Persecutors by fire
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: The masters of the trench sit around the fuel-fed fire and torment believers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Purified pages
literal_form: Honored, exalted, purified written pages of the Koran
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: Moist germs and womb passage
literal_form: Moist germs and an easy passage from the womb
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:3
label: Rain
literal_form: Copious rains sent down before the earth is cleft and crops arise
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: Cultivated plants and trees
literal_form: Grain, grapes, healing herbs, olive, palm, enclosed gardens, fruits,
and herbage
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:5
label: Trumpet-blast
literal_form: The stunning trumpet-blast that arrives before the day of separation
and facial signs
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:6
label: Radiant and blackened faces
literal_form: Faces radiant, laughing, joyous, or dust-covered and blackened
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:7
label: Terrible fire
literal_form: The fire in which the reprobate neither dies nor lives
associated_figures:
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:8
label: Books of old
literal_form: The Books of Abraham and Moses
associated_figures:
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:9
label: Fig and olive
literal_form: The fig and the olive invoked in an oath
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:10
label: Mount Sinai
literal_form: Mount Sinai invoked in an oath
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:11
label: Inviolate soil
literal_form: Sacred territory invoked in an oath; the note identifies it with Mecca’s
Haram and asylum privilege
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: sym:12
label: Declining day
literal_form: The declining day invoked in an oath
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:13
label: Star-bespangled heaven and promised day
literal_form: The starry heaven and promised day invoked in an oath
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:14
label: Fuel-fed trench fire
literal_form: A trench with fuel-fed fire around which the persecutors sit
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Rebuke over the blind seeker
summary: A figure is corrected for turning away from a blind man and attending to
a wealthy person instead of an earnest, fearful seeker.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Warning on purified pages
summary: The Koran is presented as a warning preserved on exalted, purified pages
by honored righteous scribes.
figure_refs:
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Human creation, death, and raising
summary: Man is created, fashioned, born, made to die and be buried, and then raised
again when God pleases.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Rain and earthly provision
summary: Rain descends, earth opens, and crops, trees, fruits, and herbage are brought
forth for people and cattle.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Trumpet-blast and judgment signs
summary: At the trumpet-blast people flee kin, each is occupied with his own concerns,
and faces display joy or condemnation.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: Warning, purification, and terrible fire
summary: The Most High teaches recitation and warning; the God-fearing heed it,
while the reprobate turns aside and is exposed to terrible fire.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:7
label: Old books and enduring life
summary: The present life is contrasted with the better enduring life to come, and
the teaching is placed in the Books of Abraham and Moses.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:9
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:8
label: Oath by fig, olive, Sinai, and inviolate soil
summary: Sacred items and places are invoked before a statement about human formation,
abasement, righteous exception, and divine judgment.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:9
- sym:10
- sym:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
- id: scene:9
label: Oath by the declining day
summary: The declining day is invoked before a statement that humankind is in destruction
except those who believe, do right, and mutually enjoin truth and steadfastness.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:12
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:10
label: Masters of the trench
summary: The starry heaven and promised day are invoked; the masters of the trench
are cursed for sitting around a fuel-fed fire and tormenting believers for their
faith.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
- fig:10
symbol_refs:
- sym:13
- sym:14
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Correction of the warner who neglects the humble seeker
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage contrasts attention to a wealthy person with neglect of an earnest
blind seeker and frames the Koran as warning.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; the passage is primarily admonitory rather
than a developed wisdom narrative.
- id: motif:2
label: Sacred written warning transmitted by honored scribes
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Koran is called a warning written on honored, exalted, purified pages
by honored righteous scribes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: high
cautions: No further narrative of transmission is given in this passage.
- id: motif:3
label: Creation, death, burial, and resurrection of humankind
taxonomy_refs:
- resurrection
- divine_judgment
basis: Man is created and fashioned, passes from the womb, dies and is buried, and
will be raised again when God pleases.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The passage states the sequence briefly and doctrinally.
- id: motif:4
label: Divine provision through rain and vegetation
taxonomy_refs:
- seasonal_cycle
basis: Rain, cleft earth, grain, fruits, trees, gardens, and herbage are described
as provision for humans and cattle.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: Seasonal recurrence is implied by pasture and stubble but not elaborated
as a mythic seasonal cycle.
- id: motif:5
label: Last trumpet and separation of kin at judgment
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
- resurrection
basis: A stunning trumpet-blast precedes a day when people flee kin, each is occupied
with his own concerns, and faces show divergent fates.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The trumpet figure is not personified in this passage.
- id: motif:6
label: Punitive fire for rejection and persecution
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The reprobate is exposed to terrible fire, and the unrepentant persecutors
of believers await the torment of Hell and burning.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: Although fire is prominent, the passage does not describe a world-destroying
fire.
- id: motif:7
label: Oath by sacred landscape and vegetal signs
taxonomy_refs:
- world_center
basis: The fig, olive, Mount Sinai, and inviolate soil are invoked in an oath before
a statement about human condition and judgment.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The world-center classification is cautious; the passage invokes sacred
places but does not explicitly define a cosmic center.
- id: motif:8
label: Faithful remnant spared from general destruction
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The oath by the declining day states that man is in destruction except those
who believe, do right, and enjoin truth and steadfastness.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is aphoristic and does not narrate a remnant story.
- id: motif:9
label: Persecuted believers and cursed tormentors
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The masters of the trench torment believing men and women for faith and are
associated with punishment if they do not repent.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The historical identity of the episode is not developed in the supplied
passage.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself places its teaching about purification, prayer, and the
enduring life to come in continuity with the old Books of Abraham and Moses.
claim_level: same_function
target: Books of Abraham and Moses / earlier Abrahamic scriptural tradition
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage names continuity with earlier books but does not quote
or identify specific parallel passages.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 2254-2504, Sura LXXX opening
quote_or_summary: A figure frowns and turns away when the blind man comes; he attends
to the wealthy but neglects the earnest fearful seeker.
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 2254-2504, Sura LXXX, warning and pages
quote_or_summary: The Koran is called a warning, written on honored, exalted, purified
pages by honored righteous scribes.
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 2254-2504, Sura LXXX, creation and raising
quote_or_summary: God creates man from moist germs, fashions him, gives passage
from the womb, causes death and burial, and raises him again when he pleases.
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 2254-2504, Sura LXXX, food and rain
quote_or_summary: Rain descends, earth is cleft, and grain, grapes, herbs, olive,
palm, gardens, fruits, and herbage arise for humans and cattle.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2254-2504, Sura LXXX, trumpet and faces
quote_or_summary: At the stunning trumpet-blast, people flee close kin; some faces
are radiant and joyous, while others are dusty and blackened.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2254-2504, Sura LXXXVII
quote_or_summary: The Most High creates, balances, guides, brings pasture and stubble,
teaches recitation, warns, exposes the reprobate to terrible fire, praises purification,
prayer, and the life to come, and says this is in the Books of Abraham and Moses.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 2254-2504, Sura XCV
quote_or_summary: An oath invokes the fig, olive, Mount Sinai, and inviolate soil;
man is created in goodliest fabric, brought low except the faithful righteous,
and God is called the most just judge.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 2254-2504, Sura CIII
quote_or_summary: An oath by the declining day states that man is amid destruction
except those who believe, do right, and enjoin truth and steadfastness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 2254-2504, Sura LXXXV opening
quote_or_summary: The starry heaven, promised day, witness and witnessed are invoked;
the masters of the trench with fuel-fed fire are cursed for tormenting believers,
and unrepentant persecutors face Hell and burning.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 2254-2504, footnote to Sura XCV
quote_or_summary: The note explains the inviolate soil as an allusion to the sacred
territory of Mecca, the Haram, with asylum privilege and tribal religious significance.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal extraction is strong because the passage is explicit. Some motif
taxonomy mappings, especially seasonal_cycle and world_center, are cautious and
require human review.
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: '2026-04-28'
notes: |-
Only supplied passage and metadata were used. Long quotation was avoided in favor of neutral summaries.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg__l2254-l2504
passage_sha256=f658d63870eefa664336073039152137c81c4faf56ba5593886aefcab3fea1ff