batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l2510-l2555
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l2510-l2555
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
passage_locator:
label: THE KORAN. / PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE / SECTION I. / SECTION II.; lines 2510-2555
start: '2510'
end: '2555'
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 evaluates Mohammed's conduct, the spread of Mohammedism and
its effects on eastern churches and Christians, Mohammed's alleged desire to be
regarded as a messenger from God, his persecution, refuge and armed defense, and
his permissions concerning polygamy, marriage, and divorce, which the author says
were largely drawn from Jewish decisions.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The author says Mohammed showed wise conduct, prudence, gravity, and circumspection
while pursuing his design.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage describes the sudden spread of Mohammedism as causing destruction
to eastern churches and successes against Christians.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The author argues that damage to Christianity by Mohammed was due more to
ignorance than malice.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The passage says Mohammed desired to be reckoned extraordinary and could do
so by pretending to be a messenger sent from God to inform mankind of God's will.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The passage states that persecution by Mohammed's fellow-citizens led him
to seek refuge elsewhere and take up arms in his own defense.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: The passage says Mohammed permitted plurality of wives with limitations among
his followers.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The passage says laws relating to marriage and divorce and special privileges
granted to Mohammed in the Koran were almost all taken from Jewish decisions.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Mohammed
description: The founder discussed by the author; described as prudent, as claiming
or pretending to be a messenger from God, as persecuted by fellow-citizens, as
taking refuge and arms, and as permitting plural wives with limitations.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: God
description: The divine sender in the author’s description of Mohammed's claimed
messenger role.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Mohammed's fellow-citizens
description: The people whose injurious treatment and persecutions are said to have
caused Mohammed to seek refuge elsewhere.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Christians
description: The group against whom the passage says Mohammed's followers had successes
and for whom Mohammedism was fatal.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Mohammed's followers
description: The group among whom Mohammed is said to have permitted plurality of
wives with limitations.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Jewish decisions
description: The body of decisions from which the author says Mohammed took laws
about marriage and divorce and special privileges in the Koran.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
roles:
- id: role:1
label: prudent founder
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The author attributes wise conduct, prudence, gravity, and circumspection
to Mohammed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: claimed divine messenger
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage says Mohammed sought extraordinary status by pretending to be
a messenger sent from God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:3
label: persecuted refugee and armed defender
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage says persecution led him to seek refuge elsewhere and take up
arms in self-defense.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:4
label: lawgiver on marriage and divorce
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage says he permitted plurality of wives and adopted laws relating
to marriages and divorces.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: divine sender in claimed commission
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: God is named as the sender from whom Mohammed allegedly claimed messenger
status.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: persecutors
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage says fellow-citizens treated Mohammed injuriously and persecuted
him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: opponents or victims of expansion
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The passage says Mohammedism had successes against Christians and was fatal
to them.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:8
label: recipients of permitted polygamy
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The passage says plurality of wives was permitted among Mohammed's followers
with limitations.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:9
label: source of legal borrowing
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The passage states that marriage, divorce, and privilege laws were almost
all taken from Jewish decisions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
symbols: []
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Assessment of Mohammed's prudence
summary: The author describes Mohammed as showing wise conduct and prudence, while
considering whether such conduct is compatible with religious enthusiasm or madness.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Spread of Mohammedism against eastern churches
summary: The passage describes the rapid spread of Mohammedism, destruction of eastern
churches, and successes against Christians, producing hostility toward the religion
among those harmed by it.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Claimed messenger role, persecution, refuge, and arms
summary: The author says Mohammed sought extraordinary status by claiming to be
a messenger from God, and that persecution by his fellow-citizens led him to refuge
elsewhere and eventually armed defense.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Polygamy and legal sources
summary: The passage discusses Mohammed's permission of plural wives with limitations
and states that laws on marriage, divorce, and special privileges were largely
taken from Jewish decisions.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Claimed divine messenger sent to convey God's will
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage describes Mohammed as seeking extraordinary status by claiming
or pretending to be a messenger sent from God to inform mankind of divine will.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is a hostile secondary characterization in a preliminary discourse,
not a narrative passage from the Koran itself.
- id: motif:2
label: Persecuted founder departs into refuge and later takes up arms
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
basis: The passage gives a sequence in which injurious treatment and persecution
cause Mohammed to seek refuge elsewhere and to take up arms in self-defense.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage frames this as historical explanation rather than mythic narrative.
- id: motif:3
label: Religious lawgiver regulates marriage and divorce
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage says Mohammed permitted plural wives with limitations and adopted
laws relating to marriage, divorce, and special privileges in the Koran.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: No specific symbolic object or mythic episode is given; the motif is a
legal-religious pattern.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself asserts that Mohammed's laws about marriage, divorce,
and special privileges were largely taken from Jewish decisions.
claim_level: historical_contact
target: Jewish legal decisions concerning marriage and divorce
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: This is the author's assertion within the passage; the provided excerpt
gives no independent evidence or examples of the alleged borrowing.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 2510-2516
quote_or_summary: Mohammed is described as showing wise conduct, great prudence,
gravity, circumspection, decency, and precaution.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 2517-2524
quote_or_summary: The passage describes the sudden spread of Mohammedism, destruction
of eastern churches, and successes against Christians, producing horror of the
religion among those harmed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 2524-2531
quote_or_summary: The author says the damage Mohammed did to Christianity seems
due rather to ignorance than malice, because Christian doctrine in his time was
badly corrupted.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 2532-2537
quote_or_summary: Mohammed desired to be reckoned extraordinary by “pretending to
be a messenger sent from GOD, to inform mankind of his will.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 2537-2544
quote_or_summary: The author says persecution by Mohammed's fellow-citizens caused
him to seek refuge elsewhere and take up arms in his own defense, after which
success encouraged broader ambitions.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 2545-2553
quote_or_summary: The passage discusses accusations about Mohammed's love of women
and says he permitted plurality of wives with limitations among his followers,
in a context where polygamy was not counted immoral in Arabia and the East.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 2553-2555
quote_or_summary: The passage states that laws relating to marriages and divorces,
and special privileges granted to Mohammed in the Koran, were almost all taken
from Jewish decisions.
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: The passage is polemical commentary from the preliminary discourse rather
than a mythic episode; motifs are therefore framed as religious-historical patterns
supported by the excerpt.
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 concrete symbols from the provided symbol list are present in the passage; symbols are left empty.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l2510-l2555
passage_sha256=28c6bffd62cc5eba8becbb12976dc63de315fb7af474daf2c94786537bb1c0fd