batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l1984-l2034
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l1984-l2034
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
passage_locator:
label: A TABLE OF THE CHAPTERS / THE KORAN. / PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE / SECTION I.;
lines 1984-2034
start: '1984'
end: '2034'
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 describes the development of Arabic script by named scribes
and then outlines valued Arab accomplishments: eloquence, arms and horsemanship,
and hospitality. It emphasizes oratory and poetry as socially honored arts, with
poetry preserving genealogies, tribal rights, notable deeds, language, moral and
practical instruction, and serving as a source of guidance in disputes.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage says Arabic writing was brought to great perfection by Ali Ebn
Bowb and completed in its present form by Yakt al Mostsemi, called al Khattt,
or the Scribe.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The Arabs are described as chiefly valuing eloquence and mastery of their
language, skill in arms and horsemanship, and hospitality.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: Orations are divided into metrical and prosaic kinds and compared respectively
to strung pearls and loose pearls.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: A person able to persuade, dissuade, or give useful advice in an assembly
was honored with the title Khteb, or orator.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Poetry is described as highly esteemed and as evidence of noble extraction
when performed with ease and elegance.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Poems are said to preserve descents, tribal rights, great actions, and linguistic
propriety.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: When a tribe produced an admired poet, other tribes publicly congratulated
them and entertainments were held with women dressed in nuptial ornaments singing
with timbrels.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: Poems are described as the means by which people gained knowledge and instruction
and as something consulted like an oracle in doubts and differences.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Ali Ebn Bowb
description: A figure credited in the passage with bringing Arabic writing to great
perfection.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Yakt al Mostsemi
description: Secretary to al Mostsem, described as completing the Arabic character
and surnamed al Khattt, or the Scribe.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: The Arabs
description: The cultural group described as valuing eloquence, skill in arms and
horsemanship, and hospitality.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Khteb or orator
description: A speaker honored for persuading, dissuading, or advising an assembly.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Poet
description: A person whose poems preserve tribal honor, genealogies, language,
actions, and instruction.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Women at tribal entertainments
description: Women described as assisting at celebratory entertainments, dressed
in nuptial ornaments and singing to timbrels.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: scribe or calligraphic perfecter
assigned_to:
- fig:1
- fig:2
basis: The passage credits both figures with improving or completing the written
character.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: valuers of eloquence and social accomplishments
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage identifies the accomplishments chiefly valued by the Arabs.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: public persuader and adviser
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The Khteb is honored for persuasion, dissuasion, and wholesome advice in
assembly.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: guardian of tribal memory and instruction
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The poet is credited with preserving descents, rights, deeds, language, honor,
and instruction through poems.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
- id: role:5
label: celebratory singers
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Women sing at entertainments celebrating the rise of an admired poet.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: pearls or loose gems
literal_form: pearls and loose gems as comparisons for types and style of oration
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: nuptial ornaments
literal_form: women’s nuptial ornaments worn at celebratory entertainments
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:3
label: timbrels
literal_form: timbrels sounded during tribal celebration
associated_figures:
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:4
label: oracle
literal_form: oracle used as a simile for consulting poems in doubts and differences
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Perfection of the written character
summary: Named scribes are credited with perfecting and completing the Arabic written
character.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Valued Arab accomplishments
summary: The passage lists eloquence, skill in arms and horsemanship, and hospitality
as the principal accomplishments valued by Arabs.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Orator in assembly
summary: An honored orator persuades, dissuades, or offers advice to an assembly;
the passage characterizes this speech style through images of pearls and gems.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Rise of a poet and public celebration
summary: An admired poet brings honor to his tribe; other tribes congratulate them,
and entertainments include women in nuptial ornaments singing with timbrels.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:5
label: Poetry as guide in disputes
summary: Poems are described as the people’s source of knowledge and instruction
and as something consulted like an oracle in uncertainty and disagreement.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Poetry as repository of memory and wisdom
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage states that poems preserve genealogies, tribal rights, notable
actions, language, moral and practical instruction, and are consulted in doubts
and differences.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:8
confidence: medium
cautions: This is an expository cultural description rather than a mythic narrative;
the motif assignment is based on function rather than plot.
- id: motif:2
label: Honored poet as protector of collective identity
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The poet is said to protect tribal honor, preserve genealogies and language,
and transmit actions to posterity, prompting public congratulations and celebration.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage describes social status and cultural function, not a supernatural
or heroic episode.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly gives poetry an oracle-like function by saying people
had recourse to poems in doubts and differences as to an oracle.
claim_level: same_function
target: oracle-like source of authoritative guidance
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is a simile within Sale’s historical discourse; it does
not establish a distinct oracle institution or a narrative motif of divination.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 1984-1989
quote_or_summary: Arabic writing is said to have been perfected by Ali Ebn Bowb
and completed in its present form by Yakt al Mostsemi, surnamed the Scribe.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 1990-1993
quote_or_summary: The accomplishments chiefly valued by the Arabs are listed as
eloquence and mastery of their tongue, skill in arms and horsemanship, and hospitality.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:3
type: quote
locator: lines 1993-1996
quote_or_summary: "“Their orations were of two sorts, metrical, or prosaic, the
one being compared to pearls strung, and the other to loose ones.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 1996-2003
quote_or_summary: A speaker able in assembly to persuade, dissuade, or give useful
advice was honored as Khteb, or orator; the style is described as striking by
expression and proverbial acuteness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2006-2010
quote_or_summary: Poetry is said to be highly esteemed, and facility in verse on
extraordinary occasions is described as a sign of ingenuous extraction.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2010-2014
quote_or_summary: Poems are described as preserving distinctions of descent, tribal
rights, the memory of great actions, and the propriety of language.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 2014-2023
quote_or_summary: When a poet became admired in a tribe, other tribes publicly congratulated
them, and entertainments were held where women in nuptial ornaments sang with
timbrels of the tribe’s happiness.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
- id: ev:8
type: quote
locator: lines 2023-2027
quote_or_summary: Poems are described as the source of “knowledge and instructions,
moral and economical,” and something to which they had recourse “as to an oracle,
in all doubts and differences.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is historical-expository rather than mythic, so literal extraction
is strong but motif classification should be reviewed.
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: |-
No available symbol taxonomy refs were directly present in the passage.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l1984-l2034
passage_sha256=d802ce4316e935fa3646e12ed5aedff102eff51224cd536c7657ccf63e581833