batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l6061-l6113
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l6061-l6113
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 6061-6113
start: '6061'
end: '6113'
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 prohibitions and disapproval concerning chess images,
gaming, and divination by arrows. It reports an anecdote about Ali seeing chess-men,
explains differing Muslim practices regarding plain versus carved chess pieces,
compares condemnations of gaming among Muslims, Greeks, Romans, and Jews, and
describes pre-Islamic Arab divination by arrows kept in an idol temple, including
arrows marked with commands, prohibitions, or left blank.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Ali is described as passing by people playing chess and asking what images
they were intent upon.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage states that chess had been recently introduced into Arabia and
earlier into Persia from India.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: Mohammedan doctors are said to infer that chess was disapproved only because
of the images used as chess-men.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: Sonnites are described as playing chess with plain pieces of wood or ivory,
while Persians and Indians continue to use carved pieces.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:5
text: The passage states that Mohammedans generally comply with the prohibition
of gaming better than with the prohibition of wine.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Gaming is described as having been forbidden or censured among Greeks, Romans,
clergy under civil law, monks, and Jews.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: Idolatrous Arabs are described as practicing divination by arrows.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The divining arrows are described as headless and featherless, kept in the
temple of an idol, and consulted in the idol's presence.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: Seven such arrows are said to have been kept at the temple of Mecca, while
three were generally used for divination.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: The three divining arrows are described as bearing the messages 'My LORD hath
commanded me,' 'My LORD hath forbidden me,' and a blank mark; the drawn arrow
determined approval, prohibition, or lack of decision.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Ali
description: A figure who passes by chess players and questions the images used
in the game.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Mohammedan doctors
description: Religious interpreters who infer that chess was disapproved because
of images used as pieces.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Sonnites
description: A Muslim group described as using plain chess pieces of wood or ivory.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Persians and Indians
description: Groups described as continuing to use carved chess pieces.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Idolatrous Arabs
description: Pre-Islamic Arabs described as using arrows for divination in an idol
temple.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Greeks, Romans, and Jews
description: Groups or legal-religious traditions cited as disapproving, restricting,
or censuring gaming.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: questioning observer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: Ali is reported to ask about the images used by chess players.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: legal-religious interpreter
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The doctors infer the reason for disapproval of chess from the use of images.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: plain-piece chess players
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Sonnites are described as playing with plain pieces of wood or ivory.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:4
label: carved-piece chess players
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: Persians and Indians are described as continuing to use carved chess pieces.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:5
label: divination practitioners
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: Idolatrous Arabs are described as divining by arrows kept in an idol temple.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: role:6
label: comparative anti-gaming traditions
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Greek, Roman, and Jewish sources are cited as condemning or legally restricting
gaming.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: chess images
literal_form: Images used as chess-men
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: plain chess pieces
literal_form: Plain pieces of wood or ivory
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: carved chess pieces
literal_form: Carved chess-men
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: divining arrows
literal_form: Headless and featherless arrows used for divination
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: sym:5
label: idol temple
literal_form: Temple of an idol where divining arrows were kept and consulted
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:6
label: commanded, forbidden, and blank arrows
literal_form: Three arrows marked with command, prohibition, or no inscription
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Ali encounters chess images
summary: Ali passes by people playing chess and asks about the images used as pieces;
the passage connects this with the recent introduction of chess from India through
Persia into Arabia.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Interpretation and adaptation of chess practice
summary: Mohammedan doctors infer that chess was disapproved because of images;
Sonnites use plain pieces, while Persians and Indians continue using carved pieces.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Cross-cultural censure of gaming
summary: The passage surveys condemnations and restrictions on gaming among Muslims,
Greeks, Romans, clergy and monks under legal rules, and Jews.
figure_refs:
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:4
label: Divination by arrows
summary: Idolatrous Arabs consult headless and featherless arrows kept in an idol
temple; arrows marked as command, prohibition, or blank determine whether an enterprise
is approved, rejected, or unresolved.
figure_refs:
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: prohibited image-bearing game pieces
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage connects disapproval of chess with the use of images as chess-men
and describes replacement with plain pieces among Sonnites.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is a legal-historical commentary, not a mythic narrative;
the motif is extracted as a recurring symbolic-ritual pattern rather than a tale
type.
- id: motif:2
label: religious prohibition of gaming
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage describes Muslim prohibition of gaming and compares it with restrictions
or censures in Greek, Roman, clerical, monastic, and Jewish contexts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: This is a normative and comparative legal theme rather than a mythological
plot motif.
- id: motif:3
label: divination by lots before undertaking an enterprise
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The arrows marked command, prohibition, and blank are drawn to determine
whether an enterprise should proceed.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
confidence: high
cautions: No available taxonomy reference exactly matches lot-divination; the passage
frames the practice as forbidden.
- id: motif:4
label: oracle objects kept in a sacred or idol temple
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The divining arrows are kept in the temple of an idol and consulted in the
idol's presence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives only a brief description and does not narrate a specific
oracle episode.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage presents disapproval of gaming as a pattern shared across Muslim,
Greek, Roman, and Jewish legal or moral traditions.
claim_level: same_function
target: cross-cultural legal-religious censure of gaming
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is supplied by the passage as moral and legal analogy;
it does not demonstrate historical contact or common inheritance.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage compares Muslim rejection of gaming with Jewish censure of gamesters
in the Talmud, treating both as disqualifying or morally suspect.
claim_level: same_function
target: Jewish Talmudic censure of gamesters
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage identifies Jews as Mohammed's guides, but the excerpt alone
does not establish direct dependence for this specific rule.
- id: claim:3
claim: The divining arrows function as decision-making lots that determine approval
or rejection of an enterprise.
claim_level: same_function
target: lot-divination for undertaking decisions
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage does not compare the practice to a named external tradition;
the claim is limited to functional pattern recognition within the described practice.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 6061-6067
quote_or_summary: Ali is reported to have encountered people playing chess, asked
about the images they were intent upon, and the passage states chess had recently
entered Arabia after coming from India through Persia.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 6068-6073
quote_or_summary: Mohammedan doctors infer that chess was disapproved because of
images; Sonnites use plain wood or ivory pieces, while Persians and Indians continue
to use carved pieces.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 6074-6078
quote_or_summary: The passage says Mohammedans comply with the prohibition of gaming
better than with the prohibition of wine, with common people among Turks and Persians
varying in addiction to play.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 6079-6092
quote_or_summary: The passage states that gaming was forbidden or censured in well-ordered
states, citing Greek scandal attached to gaming-houses, Aristotle's criticism
of gamesters, Roman laws against hazard games, and restrictions on clergy and
monks.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: 6093-6096
quote_or_summary: The passage states that Jews highly disapprove gaming, with gamesters
censured in the Talmud and their testimony declared invalid.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 6097-6103
quote_or_summary: The passage describes idolatrous Arabs practicing divination by
arrows that were headless and featherless and kept in an idol temple where they
were consulted.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 6103-6113
quote_or_summary: Seven arrows were kept at the temple of Mecca; generally three
were used, marked with command, prohibition, and blank, and the drawn arrow determined
approval, rejection, or no clear conclusion.
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 a public-domain English commentary with clear descriptions
of practices and comparisons. Motif identification is more tentative because the
excerpt is legal-historical and exegetical rather than narrative mythology.
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 entries matched the passage objects directly; taxonomy_refs are therefore empty.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l6061-l6113
passage_sha256=c5c698dd0442f9e0aaa4f4c156a694a56aa28ff24a5c82d4f1ee716b4e0df19f