batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l5925-l6004
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l5925-l6004
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
passage_locator:
label: SECTION III / SECTION IV. / SECTION V. / OF CERTAIN NEGATIVE PRECEPTS IN
THE KORN.; lines 5925-6004
start: '5925'
end: '6004'
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 explains several negative precepts attributed to the Koran
concerning intoxicating or imagination-altering substances. It discusses the prohibition
of wine and strong liquors, stricter applications of that prohibition, disputes
over coffee and tobacco, the unlawful status assigned by stricter Muslims to opium
and beng, and reasons given for forbidding wine: social quarrels, disturbances,
and neglect or indecency in religious duties. It also compares these restrictions
with biblical restrictions on priests, Nazarites, and Rechabites.'
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Wine and all strong and inebriating liquors are described as forbidden in
more than one place in the Koran.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Some interpreters are said to have argued that only excess in wine is forbidden,
while the more received opinion is that any amount of strong liquor is unlawful.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The more conscientious are described as refusing not only to taste wine but
also to press grapes for it, buy or sell it, or live from money gained by selling
it.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Persians and Turks are described as fond of wine despite the stated religious
prohibition.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Coffee is presented as a debated substance because its fumes were thought
to affect the imagination; it was at times condemned and at times allowed.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: Tobacco is described as generally tolerated, though more religious persons
are said to make a scruple of taking it.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: A traditional saying is reported that in later days some nominal Moslems would
smoke a weed called tobacco.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: Opium and beng are said to be esteemed unlawful by rigid Mohammedans because
they intoxicate and disturb the understanding like wine.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The stated reasons for prohibiting wine are that its ill qualities exceed
its good ones, producing quarrels, disturbances, and neglect or indecency in religious
duties.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: The passage states that priests under Levitical law, Nazarites, and Rechabites
were forbidden wine or strong drink in particular contexts or commitments.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Mohammed
description: Named in connection with stories about the occasion of prohibiting
wine and with a reported traditional saying concerning tobacco.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: more conscientious Muslims
description: Persons described as strictly avoiding wine-related acts, especially
after pilgrimage to Mecca.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Persians and Turks
description: Groups described as fond of wine despite the religious prohibition.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: more religious persons
description: Persons described as making a scruple of taking tobacco.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: rigid Mohammedans
description: Persons described as esteeming opium and beng unlawful because of their
intoxicating effect.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Levitical priests, Nazarites, and Rechabites
description: Biblical groups cited as also subject to restrictions involving wine
or strong drink.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
roles:
- id: role:1
label: prophetic lawgiver or reported authority
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Mohammed is connected with prohibition narratives and a reported traditional
saying.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:7
- id: role:2
label: strict religious adherent
assigned_to:
- fig:2
- fig:4
- fig:5
basis: These figures are described as applying religious scruple to wine, tobacco,
opium, or beng.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:3
label: practitioner contrary to prohibition
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Persians and Turks are described as drinking wine despite its prohibition.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: comparative abstinent religious group
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: These biblical groups are cited as examples of wine or strong-drink restrictions.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: wine and strong liquor
literal_form: Wine and all strong or inebriating liquors
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:6
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: sym:2
label: coffee
literal_form: Coffee, a drink said to affect the imagination and subject to legal
dispute
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: tobacco
literal_form: A weed smoked by pipe, generally tolerated but religiously disputed
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: opium and beng
literal_form: Opium and beng, the latter identified as hemp leaves in pills or conserve
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: pilgrimage to Mecca
literal_form: Pilgrimage to Mecca
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Wine prohibition and strict avoidance
summary: The passage presents wine and strong liquors as forbidden, notes a debate
about moderation versus total prohibition, and describes strict adherents extending
avoidance to production, trade, and profit from wine.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: scene:2
label: Practice contrary to prohibition
summary: Persians and Turks are described as drinking wine despite the prohibition
and as explaining the inconsistency by comparison with Christians who violate
their own moral rules.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:3
label: Disputed substances beyond wine
summary: Coffee, tobacco, opium, and beng are discussed as substances debated or
condemned because of effects on imagination, intoxication, or understanding.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Reasons and biblical analogues for abstinence
summary: The passage gives reasons for forbidding wine as social disorder and religious
neglect, then cites Levitical priests, Nazarites, and Rechabites as analogous
groups restricted from wine or strong drink.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Religious prohibition of intoxicants
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage repeatedly frames wine, strong liquors, and other intoxicating
substances as unlawful or disputed because of their intoxicating effects.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: This is a legal-religious pattern in an expository passage rather than
a narrative mythic motif.
- id: motif:2
label: Expanded purity boundary around a forbidden substance
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Strict adherents are described as avoiding not only drinking wine but also
producing, trading, or profiting from it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage reports a strict practice, not a formal narrative episode.
- id: motif:3
label: Intoxicant as cause of social and ritual disorder
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Wine is said to produce quarrels, disturbances, and neglect or indecency
in religious duties.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is inferred from stated rationale rather than dramatized through
a story.
- id: motif:4
label: Dispute over new or marginal substances within religious law
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Coffee and tobacco are described as subjects of condemnation, tolerance,
and scruple because of their perceived effects.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is historical-expository and does not provide a single canonical
ruling for all substances.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares Islamic restrictions on wine or intoxicants
with biblical restrictions on Levitical priests, Nazarites, and Rechabites, presenting
them as serving a similar abstinence function.
claim_level: same_function
target: Biblical wine or strong-drink restrictions for priests, Nazarites, and Rechabites
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is functional and textual as stated by the passage;
it does not establish historical dependence or identical ritual meaning.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 5929-5942
quote_or_summary: Wine, including all strong and inebriating liquors, is described
as forbidden in the Koran; the passage notes disagreement over whether only excess
or all use is prohibited.
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 5955-5961
quote_or_summary: The more conscientious, especially after pilgrimage to Mecca,
are said to avoid tasting wine, pressing grapes for it, buying or selling it,
or living from proceeds of its sale.
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 5961-5968
quote_or_summary: Persians and Turks are described as fond of wine and as defending
their practice by analogy with Christians who violate religious prohibitions on
drunkenness and sexual immorality.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 5969-5977
quote_or_summary: Coffee is questioned under the intoxicant prohibition because
its fumes affect the imagination; its public use spread from Aden and it was sometimes
condemned and sometimes allowed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 5977-5988
quote_or_summary: Tobacco is generally tolerated, though more religious persons
scruple over it; a reported saying predicts nominal Moslems smoking a weed called
tobacco, and proverbs link coffee and tobacco as an entertainment.
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 5989-5994
quote_or_summary: Opium and beng, identified as hemp leaves in pills or conserve,
are considered unlawful by rigid Mohammedans because they intoxicate and disturb
understanding like wine, though they are commonly used.
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 5995-6000
quote_or_summary: The passage states that the true Koranic reasons for prohibiting
wine are that its ill qualities surpass its good ones, causing quarrels, disturbances,
and neglect or indecency in religious duties.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: lines 6000-6004
quote_or_summary: The passage cites Levitical priests, Nazarites, and Rechabites
as examples of biblical groups forbidden wine or strong drink.
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 expository religious commentary rather than mythic narrative.
Literal legal and ritual patterns are clear, while motif classification is necessarily
cautious.
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 taxonomy motif family or symbol reference was applied because the supplied taxonomy did not include a precise intoxicant/prohibition category.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l5925-l6004
passage_sha256=d29252c77eaff35397883cd91eaac85c47f8456413466509505843b88076b235