batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l12378-l12469
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l12378-l12469
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
passage_locator:
label: CHAPTER III. / IN THE NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD. / CHAPTER IV. / IN THE
NAME OF THE MOST MERCIFUL GOD; lines 12378-12469
start: '12378'
end: '12469'
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 gives legal and moral directives on sexual offences, women's
consent and property rights, dowry, divorce and remarriage, marriage as a firm
covenant, prohibited degrees of kinship for marriage, married free women and enslaved
women, and the obligation to give women their ordained reward. Notes explain earlier
Arabian customs, juristic interpretations, and one comparison to Levitical law.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Commentary describes punishments and interpretive disputes concerning fornication,
adultery, or sodomy, including confinement, scourging, banishment, stoning, reproach,
striking with slippers, or abrogation by another chapter.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Believers are told that it is not lawful to inherit women against their will.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Believers are told not to hinder women from marrying others in order to take
back part of a dowry, except in the case of a manifest crime.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Believers are instructed to converse kindly with women, even when they dislike
them, because God may have placed much good in what they hate.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: If a man exchanges one wife for another after giving one a large dower, he
is told not to take anything back by slander or manifest injustice.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The passage describes the spouses as having gone in unto one another and the
women as having received a firm covenant from the men.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: The passage forbids marrying women whom one's fathers had married, except
for what had already happened in the past.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The passage lists prohibited marriage partners, including mothers, daughters,
sisters, aunts, nieces, milk-mothers, foster-sisters, wives' mothers, certain
stepdaughters, daughters-in-law, sons' wives, and two sisters together.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:9
text: The passage forbids marrying free women who are already married, except for
women possessed as slaves by the addressees' right hands.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:10
text: The passage says permitted marriages outside the forbidden categories may
be contracted with substance, while acting rightly and avoiding whoredom.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:11
text: The passage directs men to give women their reward according to what is ordained,
while allowing later agreement among the parties after compliance with the ordinance.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: A note says that among pagan Arabs a male relation of a dead man could assert
a claim to the widow by throwing his garment over her, then marry her, marry her
to another, or restrict her remarriage unless she surrendered property.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:13
text: A note says some husbands imprisoned wives without just cause in order to
make them relinquish dower or inheritance.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:14
text: A note states that taking two sisters as wives was also prohibited by Levitical
law.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: true believers
description: The addressed community receiving the legal directives.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:7
- ev:9
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: women / wives
description: Women whose consent, remarriage, dowry, treatment, and marital status
are regulated in the passage.
role_refs:
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:9
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: God
description: The divine authority who is said to ordain the rules and to be knowing,
wise, gracious, and merciful.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: fathers and prohibited kin
description: Relatives named in the forbidden marriage categories, including fathers'
former wives, mothers, daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, milk-mothers, foster-sisters,
wives' mothers, stepdaughters, daughters-in-law, sons' wives, and two sisters
together.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: widow-claiming relation in the note
description: A male relation of a deceased man who, according to the note, formerly
claimed the widow by throwing a garment over her.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: women possessed as slaves
description: Women excepted in the passage from the prohibition against marrying
already-married free women.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: commentators and jurists
description: Named interpreters in the notes, including al Zamakhshari, al Beidwi,
Jallalo'ddin, Abu'l Ksem Hebatallah, and Abu Hanfah.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:13
roles:
- id: role:1
label: addressed legal community
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage repeatedly addresses 'O true believers' and gives them directives.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: protected marriage party
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Women are not to be inherited against their will or hindered from remarriage
for dowry recovery.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: recipient of dower or reward
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The passage says not to take back a large dower and to give women their reward.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: role:4
label: divine lawgiver
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage says the rules are ordained from God and closes with divine attributes.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:5
label: forbidden marriage relation
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The passage lists kin and affinal relations whom believers are forbidden
to marry.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: customary claimant over widow
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The note describes a relation claiming a widow through a garment-throwing
act.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:7
label: exception category in marriage rule
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The passage excepts women possessed as slaves from the rule against marrying
married free women.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:8
label: legal interpreter
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The notes cite commentators and jurists for interpretive explanations of
punishments and marriage rules.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:13
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: firm covenant
literal_form: covenant between spouses, described as received from the men
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:2
label: dower or reward
literal_form: dowry, talent, substance, or ordained reward given in marriage
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
- id: sym:3
label: garment claim over widow
literal_form: garment thrown over a widow to assert a customary claim
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:4
label: milk kinship
literal_form: mothers who have given suck and foster-sisters as prohibited marriage
relations
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- milk
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Regulation of sexual offence punishment in commentary
summary: The notes discuss possible offences and punishments, along with disagreements
among commentators and claims of later mitigation or abrogation.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Prohibition on inheriting or restraining women
summary: The addressed believers are forbidden to inherit women against their will
or prevent them from marrying in order to recover dowry; a note explains a former
widow-claiming custom.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: scene:3
label: Dower, wife exchange, and covenant
summary: The passage prohibits taking back a large dower when exchanging one wife
for another and describes marriage as involving intimate union and a firm covenant.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Forbidden marriage categories
summary: The passage forbids marriage with fathers' former wives and enumerates
prohibited kin, milk-kin, affinal relations, and the taking of two sisters together.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Permitted marriage outside the prohibitions
summary: The passage permits marriages outside the specified forbidden categories,
requires proper provision or reward, and describes the ordinance as from God.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: marriage as covenant
taxonomy_refs:
- covenant
basis: Marriage is explicitly described as involving a 'firm covenant' received
by women from men.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: This is a legal-theological formulation rather than a narrative covenant
episode.
- id: motif:2
label: regulated sacred exchange in marriage
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: The passage repeatedly regulates dowry, dower recovery, marital reward, and
post-ordinance agreement under divine ordinance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The text presents legal obligations; 'sacred exchange' is a comparative
motif label applied cautiously because the exchange is ordained by God.
- id: motif:3
label: divine ordering of kinship boundaries
taxonomy_refs:
- covenant
basis: The passage defines forbidden and permitted marriage relations as divine
ordinance and describes God as gracious, merciful, knowing, and wise.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: No specific taxonomy item for incest taboo or kinship boundary was supplied;
covenant is only indirectly applicable through divine legal ordering.
- id: motif:4
label: abolition of coercive widow inheritance
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage forbids inheriting women against their will, and the note explains
an earlier custom of claiming a widow through a garment gesture.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: This is a legal reform pattern, not a mythic narrative motif in the strict
sense.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The prohibition on taking two sisters as wives is explicitly compared in
the note to a similar prohibition in Levitical law.
claim_level: same_function
target: Levitical law prohibition on marrying two sisters
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage only states a similarity of prohibition; it does not provide
evidence for historical contact, dependence, or common inheritance.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 12378-12422
quote_or_summary: Notes discuss fornication, adultery, or sodomy and possible punishments
or interpretations, including immurement, scourging, banishment, stoning, public
reproach, slipper-striking, and abrogation by another chapter.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: quote
locator: 12423-12427
quote_or_summary: '"O true believers, it is not lawful for you to be heirs of women
against their will... nor to hinder them from marrying others..."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: 12427-12429
quote_or_summary: '"but converse kindly with them. And if ye hate them, it may happen
that ye may hate a thing wherein GOD hath placed much good."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 12430-12434
quote_or_summary: If believers exchange one wife for another after giving one a
large dower, they are commanded not to take anything back by slander or manifest
injustice.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 12435-12436
quote_or_summary: '"they have received from you a firm covenant"'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 12437-12439
quote_or_summary: The passage forbids marrying women whom one's fathers had married,
except for what was already past, calling it uncleanness, abomination, and an
evil way.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 12440-12448
quote_or_summary: 'The passage enumerates prohibited marriage relations: mothers,
daughters, sisters, aunts, nieces, milk-mothers, foster-sisters, wives'' mothers,
certain stepdaughters, sons'' wives, and two sisters together, with a closing
statement that God is gracious and merciful.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 12449-12451
quote_or_summary: The passage forbids marrying free married women except women possessed
as slaves and says this is ordained from God.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 12451-12456
quote_or_summary: Outside the forbidden categories, believers may provide wives
with their substance, avoid whoredom, give women their reward according to ordinance,
and make further agreement after compliance; God is knowing and wise.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: 12458-12464
quote_or_summary: A note says pagan Arab custom allowed a dead man's relation to
claim a widow by throwing his garment over her, then marry her, marry her to another,
or restrict her remarriage unless she surrendered property; the passage abolishes
this custom.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: 12465-12467
quote_or_summary: A note says some husbands imprisoned wives without just cause
to make them relinquish dower or inheritance.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:12
type: quote
locator: '12469'
quote_or_summary: '"The same was also prohibited by the Levitical law."'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: '12469'
quote_or_summary: A note attributes a ruling on marriage involving enslaved captives
and husbands to Abu Hanfah and cites al Beidwi.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal legal content is clear. Motif classification is cautious because
the passage is jurisprudential and exegetical rather than narrative myth. The
only comparison claim is directly supported by a note in the passage.
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: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. No unsupplied historical claims were added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l12378-l12469
passage_sha256=599173be9ac5bb2e9c84b242089b1fe09c455747dee42029709262739693d349