batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l3578-l3663
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l3578-l3663
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
passage_locator:
label: PRELIMINARY DISCOURSE / SECTION I. / SECTION II. / SECTION III; lines 3578-3663
start: '3578'
end: '3663'
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 discusses variant readings of the Koran, the doctrine of abrogation,
examples of lost or superseded verses, disputes over whether the Koran is created
or eternal, persecutions under Abbasid caliphs over that doctrine, Al Ghazali's
reconciliation of the issue, Al Jahedh's unusual claim that the Koran is a body
transformable into man or beast, and the distinction between allegorical and literal
interpretation.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage says that variations in vowelled copies account for much of the
various readings, and that seven readers are chiefly cited as authorities for
these readings.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage says that Muslim doctors address contradictory passages through
the doctrine of abrogation, according to which God revoked some earlier commands
for good reasons.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: 'Abrogated passages are divided into three kinds: both letter and sense abrogated;
letter abrogated while sense remains; and sense abrogated while letter remains.'
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: One example of the first kind is a remembered verse about a son of Adam coveting
rivers of gold and being filled only with dust, ending with God's turning to the
repentant.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: Another example reports Abd'allah Ebn Masud writing down a verse from the
prophet, finding the leaf blank the next morning, and being told by Mohammed that
the verse had been revoked that night.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: A second-kind example is the verse of stoning, said by tradition of Omar to
have existed during Mohammed's lifetime but not to be found now.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: The passage says that several verses in sixty-three chapters, numbering 225,
are examples of passages whose sense is abrogated though the letter remains.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:8
text: The passage reports that orthodox Sonnites believe the Koran is uncreated
and eternal, subsisting in the essence of God, while others, including the Mutazalites
and followers of al Mozdar, held different views.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:9
text: The passage says disputes over the created or uncreated Koran led to calamities
under Abbasid caliphs, including edicts, whipping, imprisonment, execution, and
later revocation of persecutions by Al Motawakkel.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:10
text: Al Ghazali is presented as reconciling the views by distinguishing the Koran
as read, written, and memorized from the eternal original subsisting in God's
essence.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:11
text: Al Jahedh is reported to have said that the Koran was a body that could sometimes
be turned into a man and sometimes into a beast.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:12
text: The passage links the idea of the Koran's two faces, one human and one beastly,
to double interpretation according to letter or spirit.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:13
text: The passage says commentators are numerous because the Koran is the rule of
faith and practice, and that a learned commentator distinguishes its contents
into allegorical and literal.
category: other
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: God
description: The divine source said to command, revoke, abrogate, ordain punishment,
turn to the repentant, and possess an essence in which the eternal Koran subsists.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:6
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Mohammed
description: The prophet said to have transmitted verses, to have told Abd'allah
Ebn Masud that a vanished verse was revoked, and to have pronounced as infidel
one who denied the Koran's uncreated status.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Malec Ebn Ans
description: A traditionary source for remembered verses formerly read in the chapter
of Repentance but no longer extant.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Abd'allah Ebn Masud
description: A transmitter who reported receiving a verse from the prophet, writing
it down, and finding it vanished from the leaf the next morning.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Omar
description: A later Khalif whose tradition is cited for the former existence of
the verse of stoning.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Sonnites or orthodox
description: The group said to believe that the Koran is uncreated and eternal.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Mutazalites and followers of al Mozdar
description: Groups or followers named as holding that the Koran is created and
as opposing the uncreated-Koran doctrine.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:13
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Abbasid caliphs named in the passage
description: Al Mamun, Al Mtasem, Al Wathek, and Al Motawakkel are described in
connection with edicts, persecution, and later revocation concerning the created-Koran
controversy.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Al Ghazali
description: A theologian presented as reconciling views on the Koran by distinguishing
recited, written, and memorized forms from the eternal original in God.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Al Jahedh
description: Chief of a sect bearing his name, reported to have said the Koran was
a body that could be turned into a man or beast.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: The Koran
description: The sacred book discussed as having variant readings, abrogated passages,
created or uncreated status, rule-of-faith function, and in one reported opinion
a body with transformative or double-faced qualities.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:8
- ev:10
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: fig:12
name_or_label: Koran commentators and expositors
description: Interpreters described as numerous and as distinguishing allegorical
from literal contents.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
roles:
- id: role:1
label: divine source of command and abrogation
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The passage says God commanded things in the Koran and later revoked or abrogated
them, and also ordains punishment and accepts repentance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: role:2
label: prophetic transmitter and authority
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Mohammed gives a verse to be read and explains its disappearance as revocation;
he is also cited as condemning denial of the uncreated Koran.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:8
- id: role:3
label: traditionary witness
assigned_to:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: These figures are cited as sources for remembered, vanished, or formerly
extant verses.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: orthodox holders of uncreated-Koran doctrine
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The Sonnites or orthodox are said to believe the Koran is uncreated and eternal.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:5
label: opponents of uncreated-Koran doctrine
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The Mutazalites and followers of al Mozdar are named among those holding
a different view and accusing the contrary party of infidelity.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:6
label: rulers enforcing or ending doctrinal policy
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The named caliphs are connected with edicts, punishment, imprisonment, execution,
release, and liberty of belief on the created-Koran question.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: role:7
label: doctrinal reconciler
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: Al Ghazali is said to reconcile the created and uncreated positions by distinguishing
copies and recitations from the eternal original.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:8
label: proponent of transformative-body view
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: Al Jahedh is reported to say the Koran is a body able to become a man or
a beast.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: role:9
label: sacred text and object of doctrinal dispute
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The Koran is described as variously read, abrogated, debated as created or
eternal, and used as the rule of faith and practice.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:8
- ev:12
- id: role:10
label: interpreters of sacred text
assigned_to:
- fig:12
basis: The passage says expositors and commentators are numerous and distinguish
allegorical and literal contents.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Koran as sacred book
literal_form: A book or revelation read, copied, abrogated, debated, written, memorized,
and used as a rule of faith and practice.
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:8
- ev:10
- ev:12
- id: sym:2
label: blank leaf after revoked verse
literal_form: A leaf in Abd'allah Ebn Masud's book that is found blank after a verse
vanishes overnight.
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:3
label: rivers of gold and dust-filled belly
literal_form: An abrogated verse image in which a son of Adam covets additional
rivers of gold and is filled only with dust.
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: verse of stoning
literal_form: A verse prescribing stoning for a man and woman of reputation who
commit adultery, said to have existed during Mohammed's lifetime but not now found.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: Koran as transformable body
literal_form: A body said to turn sometimes into a man and sometimes into a beast.
associated_figures:
- fig:10
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs:
- shapeshifter
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:6
label: two faces of the Koran
literal_form: Two faces, one of a man and one of a beast, interpreted in the passage
as indicating letter and spirit.
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
- shapeshifter
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:7
label: allegorical and literal contents
literal_form: A division of the Koran's contents into allegorical and literal, with
the former including obscure, parabolical, and enigmatical passages.
associated_figures:
- fig:11
- fig:12
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Variant readings and authoritative readers
summary: The passage describes variations in written copies caused by reading practices
and says seven readers are chiefly cited as authorities.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Doctrine and types of abrogation
summary: Contradictory passages are addressed by the doctrine that God later revoked
some commands, and abrogated passages are sorted into three categories.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Examples of lost or superseded verses
summary: The passage gives examples of verses no longer extant, including a remembered
verse on coveting rivers of gold, a vanished written verse, and the verse of stoning.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Created and uncreated Koran controversy
summary: The passage contrasts orthodox belief in the uncreated eternal Koran with
opposing views and describes persecution and later toleration under Abbasid caliphs.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: scene:5
label: Al Ghazali's reconciliation
summary: Al Ghazali distinguishes the recited, written, and memorized Koran from
the eternal original in God's essence.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:9
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: scene:6
label: Al Jahedh's transformative Koran image
summary: Al Jahedh's opinion presents the Koran as a body transformable into man
or beast, and the passage connects this to the idea of a two-faced Koran and double
interpretation.
figure_refs:
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: scene:7
label: Commentary and twofold interpretation
summary: Because the Koran is a rule of faith and practice, commentators are numerous,
and one learned commentator divides its contents into allegorical and literal.
figure_refs:
- fig:11
- fig:12
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: abrogated or vanished revelation
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage describes divine revocation of commands, categories of abrogated
passages, verses no longer extant, and a written verse that vanishes from a leaf
overnight.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is presented as legal-theological doctrine and transmitted report,
not as a mythic narrative cycle.
- id: motif:2
label: eternal sacred word versus created copies
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage reports debate over whether the Koran is uncreated and eternal,
and Al Ghazali's distinction between the eternal original in God and created recitations
or copies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: No supplied taxonomy family directly names this motif; interpretation
should remain tied to the passage's doctrinal language.
- id: motif:3
label: sacred text as shapeshifting body
taxonomy_refs:
- shapeshifter
basis: Al Jahedh is reported to call the Koran a body capable of becoming a man
or a beast; the passage also mentions two faces, human and beastly.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage reports this as a sectarian theological opinion and likely
metaphor for interpretation; it is not a narrative episode of bodily transformation.
- id: motif:4
label: 'dual interpretation: letter and spirit'
taxonomy_refs:
- duality
basis: The passage connects the Koran's human and beastly faces with double interpretation
according to letter or spirit, and later distinguishes allegorical from literal
contents.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
confidence: medium
cautions: The duality is hermeneutic rather than a cosmological or antagonistic
dualism.
- id: motif:5
label: sacred commentary tradition
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The passage says the Koran is the rule of faith and practice, has numerous
expositors and commentators, and is interpreted through allegorical and literal
categories.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
confidence: low
cautions: The available 'wisdom' taxonomy is only broadly applicable; the passage
concerns interpretation of scripture rather than a wisdom figure or quest.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The reported image of the Koran as a body that can become a man or a beast
fits the broad shapeshifter motif family at the level of imagery, though the passage
frames it as doctrinal or interpretive speculation rather than narrative transformation.
claim_level: same_motif
target: shapeshifter motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: low
limitations: The comparison is limited because no mythic plot, agentive transformation
scene, or recurring narrative pattern is supplied.
- id: claim:2
claim: The two faces of the Koran and the distinction between letter and spirit
support a cautious comparison to a dual-interpretation pattern, not necessarily
to metaphysical dualism.
claim_level: same_function
target: duality motif family as interpretive double aspect
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: low
limitations: The passage itself narrows the image to textual interpretation; it
does not describe paired deities, cosmic opposites, or moral dualism.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 3578-3583
quote_or_summary: Variations in reading and vowelled copies account for much of
the various readings; seven readers are chiefly cited as authorities.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 3584-3588
quote_or_summary: 'Contradictory passages are addressed by the doctrine of abrogation:
God commanded some things in the Koran that were later revoked and abrogated.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 3589-3593
quote_or_summary: 'Abrogated passages are divided into three kinds: both letter
and sense abrogated; letter only abrogated with sense remaining; sense abrogated
while letter remains.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:4
type: quote
locator: lines 3594-3602
quote_or_summary: 'A remembered abrogated verse says: "If a son of Adam had two
rivers of gold, he would covet yet a third" and that his belly is filled only
with dust, while God turns to the repentant.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; brief quotation excerpted for evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 3602-3607
quote_or_summary: Abd'allah Ebn Masud reports receiving a verse from the prophet,
writing it down, finding the leaf blank next morning, and being told by Mohammed
it was revoked that night.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 3608-3614
quote_or_summary: The verse of stoning is given as an example whose letter is abrogated
but sense remains; by Omar's tradition it existed while Mohammed lived but is
not now found.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: lines 3615-3621
quote_or_summary: Several verses in sixty-three chapters, numbering 225, are said
to have sense abrogated though the letter remains, including precepts on prayer
direction, fasting, forbearance toward idolaters, and avoiding the ignorant.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 3622-3630
quote_or_summary: Orthodox Sonnites believe the Koran is uncreated and eternal in
God's essence; the Mutazalites and followers of Isa Ebn Sobeih Abu Musa al Mozdar
held contrary views and accused the uncreated-Koran party of infidelity.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: lines 3631-3643
quote_or_summary: 'The controversy led to calamities under Abbasid caliphs: Al Mamun
declared the Koran created, successors confirmed this and punished opponents,
and Al Motawakkel later revoked the edicts and released prisoners.'
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: lines 3644-3652
quote_or_summary: Al Ghazali says the Koran is read, pronounced, written, and memorized,
yet eternal in God's essence; the passage interprets this as distinguishing the
original idea in God from human-made copies.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:11
type: quote
locator: lines 3653-3660
quote_or_summary: Al Jahedh said the Koran "was a body, which might sometimes be
turned into a man, and sometimes into a beast"; the passage also mentions two
faces, one human and one beastly, linked to letter and spirit.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; brief quotation excerpted for evidence.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: lines 3660-3663
quote_or_summary: Because the Koran is the Mohammedans' rule of faith and practice,
its commentators are numerous; one learned commentator distinguishes its contents
into allegorical and literal.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: lines 3661-3663 and preceding sentence
quote_or_summary: The passage also reports a Mutazalite-associated view denying
anything miraculous in the Koran's style or composition apart from prophetic relations
and predictions.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; short summary only.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: low
notes: The passage is discursive and theological rather than narrative; motif extraction
is strongest where the passage uses explicit symbolic imagery, especially the
vanished verse, eternal text, and transformable body.
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: |-
Extraction uses only the supplied passage and metadata. Taxonomy assignments are limited to available refs and are cautious where the passage is doctrinal rather than mythic.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l3578-l3663
passage_sha256=d9af17c87fc529c2db365f59afcf0af2747d082c12f69acd2549afa723a51422