batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l6729-l6778
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l6729-l6778
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
passage_locator:
label: SECTION V. / OF CERTAIN NEGATIVE PRECEPTS IN THE KORN. / SECTION VI. / OF
THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE KORAN IN CIVIL AFFAIRS.; lines 6729-6778
start: '6729'
end: '6778'
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 corporal punishment, distinctions between religious
and secular legal authority, and commentary on Qur'anic injunctions about warfare,
martyrdom, paradise, desertion, and analogous exhortations attributed to Jewish
and Christian traditions.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage describes stripes or drubbing as a common chastisement and identifies
the cudgel as the usual instrument for executing a judge's sentence.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The cudgel is said by those described in the passage to have come down from
heaven because of its efficacy in keeping people in order.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The passage distinguishes written civil law administered in ecclesiastical
courts from a secular common-law-like authority used in secular courts.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The passage says the Qur'an repeatedly includes injunctions about warring
against infidels and treats such warfare as meritorious in the sight of God.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Those slain while fighting in defense of the faith are described as martyrs
promised immediate admission into paradise.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: Mohammedan divines are described as calling the sword the key of heaven and
hell.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The passage says a drop of blood spilled in the way of God is presented as
acceptable to God, and one night defending Muslim territories as highly meritorious.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:8
text: Desertion, refusal to serve in holy wars, or refusal to contribute when able
is described as a heinous crime.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: The passage states that Jews and Christians have used similar arguments and
promises to encourage their partisans.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:10
text: A quoted instruction attributed to Maimonides tells a defender of the law
to rely on Israel's hope, fight for divine unity, put his life in his hand, and
set aside thoughts of family.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Judge
description: A legal authority whose sentence is executed with the cudgel.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Mohammedans / Moslems
description: The group whose civil law, divines, territories, and holy wars are
discussed in the passage.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: God
description: The divine figure in whose sight warfare is described as meritorious
and to whom blood spilled in the way of God is described as acceptable.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Slain defenders of the faith
description: Fighters killed in defense of the faith and described as martyrs promised
immediate admission into paradise.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Mohammedan divines
description: Religious teachers who magnify the duty of warfare and call the sword
the key of heaven and hell.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Deserters or refusers
description: Persons who desert, refuse service in holy wars, or refuse contribution
despite ability.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Jews and Christians
description: Groups said to have used similar arguments and promises to animate
their respective partisans.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Maimonides
description: The authority quoted as exhorting a defender of the law to fight for
divine unity and disregard family attachments.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
roles:
- id: role:1
label: judicial sentencer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The judge's sentence is said to be executed with the cudgel.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: religious legal community
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: The passage discusses their civil law, courts, divines, territories, and
warfare obligations.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:3
label: divine evaluator of merit
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Warfare is described as high merit in God's sight, and blood spilled in God's
way as acceptable to him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: role:4
label: martyrs promised paradise
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The passage explicitly says slain defenders of the faith are reckoned martyrs
and promised immediate admission into paradise.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:5
label: religious exhorters
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: They are said to magnify the duty of warfare and employ imagery of the sword
as key of heaven and hell.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:6
label: condemned nonparticipants
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Their desertion, refusal to serve, or refusal to contribute is called a heinous
crime.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: analogous exhorting traditions
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The passage says Jews and Christians used similar arguments and promises
to spirit up their partisans.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:8
label: quoted legal-religious authority
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: A passage from Maimonides is quoted as instruction for one enlisted in defense
of the law.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: cudgel from heaven
literal_form: Cudgel used to execute a judge's sentence and said to have come down
from heaven.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: sword as key of heaven and hell
literal_form: Sword called the key of heaven and hell by Mohammedan divines.
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:3
label: blood spilled in the way of God
literal_form: A drop of blood spilled in the way of God described as acceptable
to God.
associated_figures:
- fig:3
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: sym:4
label: paradise as martyr's destination
literal_form: Paradise promised immediately to those slain in defense of the faith.
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: life in the hand
literal_form: Instruction to put one's life in one's hand while fighting for divine
unity.
associated_figures:
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Corporal punishment and heavenly cudgel
summary: The passage describes judicial chastisement by stripes or drubbing and
says the cudgel used for sentence execution is claimed to have descended from
heaven.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Civil and secular legal distinction
summary: The passage contrasts Qur'an-based and interpretive religious legal decisions
with secular tribunals that may judge otherwise under a common-law-like authority.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Holy warfare, martyrdom, and paradise
summary: The passage describes warfare against infidels as meritorious, with slain
defenders of the faith reckoned martyrs and promised immediate admission into
paradise.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Condemnation of desertion and refusal
summary: The passage describes desertion, refusal to serve in holy wars, or refusal
to contribute when able as a heinous crime.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:6
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Analogous martial exhortation
summary: The passage says Jews and Christians have also used similar promises and
arguments, and quotes Maimonides exhorting a defender of the law to fight for
divine unity without regard to family ties.
figure_refs:
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Martyrdom rewarded by immediate paradise
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
- divine_judgment
basis: The passage says those slain fighting in defense of the faith are reckoned
martyrs and promised immediate admission into paradise.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is doctrinal commentary rather than a mythic narrative; taxonomy
alignment is functional and needs review.
- id: motif:2
label: Sacralized weapon as mediator of afterlife fate
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The sword is described by religious divines as the key of heaven and hell.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The sword is not in the provided symbol taxonomy, and the phrase is reported
as religious rhetoric rather than a narrative event.
- id: motif:3
label: Sacred exchange of blood or service for divine merit
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
- sacrifice
basis: The passage links blood spilled in the way of God, territorial defense, and
fighting in defense of faith with divine acceptability, merit, and paradise.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: This is an interpretive motif candidate derived from legal-theological
claims in the passage, not from a myth episode.
- id: motif:4
label: Heaven-descended instrument of discipline
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: The cudgel used for judicial punishment is said to have come down from heaven
and to keep people within bounds of duty.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: low
cautions: The passage reports a saying about the cudgel; it does not develop a full
narrative of divine origin.
- id: motif:5
label: Renunciation of family ties for sacred warfare
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
- sacrifice
basis: The Maimonides quotation instructs the fighter to think neither of wife nor
children and to fix his mind wholly on war.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: This motif is based on an exhortative quotation embedded in comparative
commentary.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage itself compares Islamic holy-war exhortation with Jewish and
Christian exhortations that use similar arguments and promises to encourage partisans.
claim_level: same_function
target: Jewish and Christian martial-religious exhortation
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage gives a polemical comparative assertion and one Jewish
example; it does not provide detailed Christian examples in this excerpt.
- id: claim:2
claim: The Maimonides quotation is presented as an example of a nearby monotheistic
tradition using sacred-duty rhetoric comparable in function to the preceding Islamic
warfare rhetoric.
claim_level: same_function
target: Maimonides' exhortation to fight in defense of the law
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:6
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The comparison is limited to rhetorical function within the passage
and does not establish historical borrowing or common inheritance.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 6729-6734
quote_or_summary: The passage describes stripes or drubbing as common eastern chastisement
and the cudgel as the usual instrument of a judge's sentence, said to have come
down from heaven.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: lines 6735-6746
quote_or_summary: The passage says the Qur'an is treated as fundamental civil law,
but secular tribunals may judge against religious legal decisions, distinguishing
ecclesiastical written civil law from a secular common-law-like authority.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: lines 6747-6752
quote_or_summary: The passage states that the Qur'an repeats injunctions to war
against infidels, calls this highly meritorious in God's sight, and says slain
defenders of the faith are reckoned martyrs promised immediate paradise.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: lines 6752-6758
quote_or_summary: The passage says Mohammedan divines call the sword the key of
heaven and hell, present blood spilled in the way of God as acceptable, and esteem
a night defending Muslim territories above a two-month fast.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:5
type: summary
locator: lines 6758-6762
quote_or_summary: The passage says desertion, refusal to serve in holy wars, or
refusal to contribute when able is accounted a heinous crime and declaimed against
in the Qur'an.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: lines 6762-6778
quote_or_summary: The passage says Jews and Christians have also encouraged partisans
with similar promises, then quotes Maimonides instructing one defending the law
to rely on Israel's hope, fight for divine unity, put his life in his hand, and
disregard wife and children.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
rights_note: Public domain source text; summarized.
confidence:
extraction: medium
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: The passage is an eighteenth-century English commentary/translation apparatus
rather than a primary Qur'anic narrative. Literal extraction is straightforward,
but motif assignments are interpretive and require human review.
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 taxonomy symbol refs were assigned because the passage's main objects—cudgel, sword, blood, and paradise—are not in the supplied symbol list.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l6729-l6778
passage_sha256=3ef52f453d06d3f18a9343fdcc8e012793d8b14938d1a2e7a739a4efd25756fa