batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l9195-l9356
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg-l9195-l9356
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 9195-9356
start: '9195'
end: '9356'
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: ''
summary: The passage contains translator notes followed by the opening portion of
Sura XXI, "The Prophets." It warns that the people's reckoning is near, describes
mockery of revelation and prophets, affirms God's sole divinity and sovereignty,
recalls destroyed guilty cities, depicts angels as obedient servants, describes
creation by separating heaven and earth, giving life through water, stabilizing
earth with mountains, ordering celestial bodies, and warns of death, return to
God, hell, and sudden doom for scoffers.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The people hear fresh warnings from their Lord but mock them and turn aside.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Opponents describe the messenger as a man like themselves and accuse him of
sorcery, dreams, forgery, and poetry.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The text says earlier cities were destroyed when they did not believe.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The text states that previous messengers were men who received revelation
and did not have bodies that could dispense with food or live forever.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: A book has been sent down as a warning to the audience.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: A guilty city is broken down, its people flee from vengeance, confess evil-doing,
and are made extinct like reaped corn.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The text denies that heaven, earth, and what is between them were created
for sport.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The text says all beings in heaven and earth belong to God, and those in his
presence praise him night and day without rest.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The passage rejects gods besides God and says heaven and earth would be ruined
if there were other gods in them.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: Angels are described as honoured servants who speak only after God has spoken
and do his bidding.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: The heavens and earth are described as once being a solid mass that God split
apart.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: The text says God gives life to everything by means of water.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:13
text: Mountains are set on the earth so it will not move with people, and broad
passages are made as routes.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:14
text: Heaven is made as a strongly upheld roof.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: obs:15
text: Night, day, sun, and moon are created, each moving swiftly in its sphere.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: obs:16
text: Every soul is said to taste death, to be tried with evil and good, and to
be brought back to God.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- id: obs:17
text: The infidels ask when the threat will be fulfilled.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:16
- id: obs:18
text: The passage warns that the fire of hell will come suddenly, cannot be kept
from faces or backs, and will not be put back or delayed.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- id: obs:19
text: The passage states that earlier apostles were scoffed at and that the doom
mocked by scoffers encompassed them.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:18
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: God / Lord / God of Mercy
description: The sole deity who knows speech in heaven and earth, sends warnings
and the book, destroys transgressors, owns beings in heaven and earth, commands
angels, creates and orders the cosmos, and receives souls back.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:5
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- ev:15
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: This people / infidels / scoffers
description: The audience or opponents who turn aside from warnings, mock the messenger,
demand a sign, reject the God of Mercy, and ask when the threat will be fulfilled.
role_refs:
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:16
- ev:17
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Messenger addressed as 'thee'
description: The recipient of revelation who is mocked by the infidels and is told
that other apostles before him were also scoffed at.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:18
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Previous apostles / prophets of old
description: Earlier men who received revelation; they are associated with prior
warnings and with the pattern of being mocked.
role_refs:
- role:6
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:18
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Angels / honoured servants
description: Servants of God who do his bidding, speak only after he has spoken,
tremble for fear of him, and would be recompensed with hell if any claimed divinity
beside him.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Guilty city / transgressors
description: A city and its people described as guilty, fleeing from vengeance,
confessing evil-doing, and being made extinct.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: sole deity
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage rejects gods beside God and affirms that no apostle was sent
without the revelation that there is no God beside him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:2
label: creator and cosmic orderer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: God separates heaven and earth, gives life through water, sets mountains,
makes heaven a roof, and creates night, day, sun, and moon.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: role:3
label: judge and destroyer of transgressors
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage says God delivered whom he pleased, destroyed transgressors,
and warns of hell and sudden doom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:17
- id: role:4
label: mocking rejecters of warning
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: They hear warnings only to mock them and accuse the messenger of sorcery,
dreams, forgery, and poetry.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: recipients of threat
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: They ask when the threat will be fulfilled and are warned about sudden hellfire.
evidence_refs:
- ev:16
- ev:17
- id: role:6
label: revealed messenger
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
basis: Previous messengers are described as men to whom God revealed himself, and
the addressed messenger is mocked like earlier apostles.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:18
- id: role:7
label: precedent for current warning
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The passage invokes earlier apostles, earlier warnings, and the doom that
overtook earlier scoffers.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:18
- id: role:8
label: obedient heavenly servants
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Angels are called honoured servants who speak only after God and do his bidding.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:9
label: judged community
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The guilty city is broken down, its people confess evil-doing, and they are
made extinct.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: book as warning
literal_form: the book sent down containing warning
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: split heaven and earth
literal_form: heavens and earth as a solid mass cloven asunder
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:3
label: life-giving water
literal_form: water by means of which life is given to everything
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:4
label: stabilizing mountains
literal_form: mountains set on the earth to prevent its movement
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: sym:5
label: heavenly roof
literal_form: heaven made as a strongly upheld roof
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: sym:6
label: celestial cycles
literal_form: night, day, sun, and moon moving in their sphere
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:14
- id: sym:7
label: fire of hell
literal_form: fire of hell reaching faces and backs
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:17
- id: sym:8
label: reaped corn extinction image
literal_form: people made like reaped corn, extinct
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Mocked warning and accusation against the messenger
summary: The people hear warnings but mock them, and opponents privately call the
messenger a man like themselves and associate the message with sorcery, dreams,
forgery, and poetry.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Destruction of unbelieving cities
summary: The passage recalls earlier cities that did not believe and says a guilty
city fled divine vengeance, confessed wrongdoing, and was made extinct like reaped
corn.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: scene:3
label: Assertion of divine unity and angelic servanthood
summary: God is presented as the sole deity; angels are denied as divine offspring
and are described as honoured servants who obey him and fear him.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: scene:4
label: Cosmic ordering
summary: The heavens and earth are split apart from a solid mass, life is given
through water, mountains stabilize the earth, heaven is made as a roof, and celestial
bodies move in their spheres.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
- id: scene:5
label: Death, return, and sudden punishment
summary: Every soul will die, be tested with evil and good, and be brought back
to God; the infidels ask when the threat will occur, and the passage warns of
sudden hellfire and doom for scoffers.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
- ev:16
- ev:17
- ev:18
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: divine judgment on scoffers and guilty cities
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The passage repeatedly links rejection and mockery of warnings with destruction,
confession of wrongdoing, hellfire, and sudden doom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- ev:17
- ev:18
confidence: high
cautions: The passage is admonitory and theological rather than a single narrative
episode.
- id: motif:2
label: cosmic separation and ordering by the deity
taxonomy_refs:
- chaos
basis: The heavens and earth are described as a single mass split apart, followed
by life-giving water, mountains, heaven as a roof, and ordered celestial motion.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- ev:13
- ev:14
confidence: medium
cautions: The text does not use an explicit chaos-monster or combat image; the taxonomy
reference is only to a broad creation-ordering pattern.
- id: motif:3
label: life from water
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage states that by means of water God gives life to everything.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: This is a concise cosmological statement, not an extended water narrative.
- id: motif:4
label: universal death and return to God
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: Every soul is said to taste death, undergo trial with evil and good, and
be brought back to God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:15
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage emphasizes death, trial, and return; resurrection is not described
in detail in this excerpt.
- id: motif:5
label: prophetic warning rejected by a mocking audience
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The people mock fresh warnings, accuse the messenger, demand signs, and are
compared with earlier scoffers who were overtaken by doom.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:16
- ev:18
confidence: high
cautions: This is a recurring prophetic pattern within the passage, but no external
comparison is required to identify it.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly frames the present rejection of the messenger as functionally
continuous with earlier apostles who were also scoffed at and whose scoffers were
overtaken by doom.
claim_level: same_function
target: earlier apostles and earlier scoffers within the passage's prophetic warning
pattern
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:18
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The claim is limited to the internal comparison made by the passage;
it does not establish historical contact or a broader cross-cultural relationship.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: The people's reckoning has drawn near; they turn aside and hear
each fresh warning only to mock it.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: Opponents say in secret that the messenger is a man like themselves
and ask whether they will accede to sorcery; they also call the message dreams,
forgery, and poetry, and demand a sign like earlier prophets.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: Before their time, destroyed cities did not believe; God fulfilled
his promise, delivered whom he pleased, and destroyed transgressors.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: Previous messengers were men to whom God revealed himself; they
had bodies requiring food and were not immortal.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: A book has been sent down to the audience, and it contains their
warning.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: Many a guilty city is broken down; when its people feel vengeance
they flee, are told to return, cry that they were evil-doers, and are made like
reaped corn, extinct.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: The passage says heaven, earth, and what is between them were
not created for sport or pastime.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: All beings in heaven and earth are God's; those in his presence
do not disdain service and praise him night and day without rest.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: The passage asks whether other gods can quicken the dead and states
that if there were gods besides God in heaven or earth, both would go to ruin;
apostles are sent with the message that there is no God beside God.
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 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: Angels are not divine offspring but honoured servants; they speak
only after God has spoken, do his bidding, fear him, and any angel claiming divinity
would be recompensed with hell.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: quote
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: '"the heavens and the earth were both a solid mass" and God "clave
them asunder"; by water he gives life to everything.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: God sets mountains on the earth lest it move with people, and
makes broad passages between them as routes for guidance.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: God makes heaven a strongly upheld roof, though people turn away
from its signs.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:14
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: God creates night and day, sun and moon, each moving swiftly in
its sphere.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:15
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: No human is granted everlasting earthly life; every soul tastes
death, is tried with evil and good, and is brought back to God.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:16
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: The infidels ask when the threat will be made good, if the speakers
are truthful.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:17
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: The passage warns that the infidels will not keep the fire of
hell from faces or backs; it will come suddenly, confound them, and not be delayed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-rodwell.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:18
type: summary
locator: lines 9195-9356, Sura XXI opening
quote_or_summary: Other apostles before the addressed messenger were scoffed at,
and the doom mocked by scoffers encompassed them.
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: The passage is clear in its literal content. Motif labeling is cautious because
the excerpt is primarily theological admonition and cosmological assertion rather
than a continuous mythic narrative.
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 the supplied passage and metadata were used. Translator footnotes at the beginning of the excerpt were not treated as independent mythic scenes because they mainly annotate surrounding text.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-rodwell-gutenberg__l9195-l9356
passage_sha256=08422b54473dbc0052a63760e5855dc48c00483b4d3a458719cb174791fe8b6e