batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l8413-l8461
---
record_id: batch.motif.islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg-l8413-l8461
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/islamic/project-gutenberg/koran-sale.md
passage_locator:
label: SECTION VI. / OF THE INSTITUTIONS OF THE KORAN IN CIVIL AFFAIRS. / SECTION
VII. / SECTION VIII.; lines 8413-8461
start: '8413'
end: '8461'
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 recounts the career of Hakem Ebn Hashem, called al Mokanna
or “the veiled,” who claimed prophetic and divine status, gained followers through
reported performances such as making a moon appear from a well, was besieged in
a fortress, killed those with him, destroyed bodies and goods, and arranged his
own disappearance while promising a future return through transmigration.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Hakem Ebn Hashem, later called al Mokanna or al Borka, went into Mawarannahr
and gave himself out as a prophet.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: He covered his face with a veil or gilded mask; the passage says this concealed
deformity, while his followers claimed it was because his countenance would dazzle
beholders like Moses’s.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: He gained proselytes at Nakhshab and Kash with performances treated by followers
as miracles, especially making the appearance of a moon rise out of a well for
many nights.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: He claimed divine honors and taught that deity resided in his person after
having passed from Abu Moslem into him.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: After al Mokanna’s faction grew powerful, the Khalf sent an army, and al Mokanna
withdrew into a fortified place prepared for siege.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: His emissaries told people that he raised the dead to life and knew future
events.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: When escape seemed impossible, he gave poisoned wine to his family and those
with him in the castle, then burned bodies, clothing, provisions, and cattle.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: To prevent his body from being found, he destroyed himself either by flames
or by a corrosive preparation, leaving only his hair according to the account.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:9
text: One concubine hid herself, survived, and disclosed the events to the besiegers.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:10
text: He had promised remaining followers that his soul would transmigrate into
a grey-headed man riding a greyish beast and that he would return after a set
number of years.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Hakem Ebn Hashem / al Mokanna / al Borka
description: A claimant to prophecy and divine indwelling, described as veiled,
as a maker of apparent miracles, and as the leader besieged in the fortress.
role_refs:
- role:1
- role:2
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Followers and proselytes of al Mokanna
description: People who accepted his performances as miracles and accepted claims
about his veiling and future return.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Abu Moslem
description: The governor under whom Hakem had served; in al Mokanna’s doctrine,
deity had previously resided in Abu Moslem and then passed into al Mokanna.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: The Khalf and his forces
description: The ruler and army sent to reduce al Mokanna’s faction and besiege
the fortress.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Al Mokanna’s family and those with him in the castle
description: The people in the castle who were given poisoned wine and whose bodies
were burned.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Surviving concubine
description: A concubine who hid herself, survived the destruction in the fortress,
and revealed what had happened.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
roles:
- id: role:1
label: prophetic claimant
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He gave himself out for a prophet.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:2
label: veiled figure
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He was called “the veiled” because he covered his face with a veil or gilded
mask.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: role:3
label: claimant to divine indwelling
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: He claimed divine honors and taught that deity resided in his person.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:4
label: believing followers
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: They accepted his performances as miracles and preserved expectations of
his return.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: role:5
label: prior vessel in transmigration doctrine
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: Al Mokanna taught that deity had last resided in Abu Moslem before passing
into himself.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:6
label: besieging authority
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The Khalf sent an army, and the forces besieged al Mokanna’s fortress.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: role:7
label: poisoned companions and kin
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: They were given poisoned wine and died in the castle.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: role:8
label: surviving witness
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: She hid, survived, and disclosed the whole matter.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: veil or gilded mask
literal_form: A face-covering veil or gilded mask worn by al Mokanna.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:2
label: moon from a well
literal_form: The appearance of a moon rising out of a well for many nights.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: poisoned wine
literal_form: Wine containing poison given to those in the castle.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: flames
literal_form: Fire used to burn bodies, clothing, provisions, cattle, and possibly
al Mokanna’s own body.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:5
label: grey-headed rider on greyish beast
literal_form: The promised future form of a grey-headed man riding a greyish beast.
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Veiled prophetic claimant gathers followers
summary: Hakem Ebn Hashem enters Mawarannahr, presents himself as a prophet, wears
a veil or gilded mask, and gains followers who assign a radiant explanation to
the veiling.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Moon appearance from well
summary: Al Mokanna gains proselytes through performances, especially causing a
moonlike appearance to rise from a well over many nights.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Doctrine of divine transmigration
summary: Al Mokanna claims divine honor and teaches that deity manifested through
prior figures and passed from Abu Moslem into himself.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: scene:4
label: Siege and claims of powers
summary: The Khalf’s forces besiege al Mokanna’s fortress while emissaries spread
claims that he raises the dead and knows future events.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: scene:5
label: Destruction inside the fortress
summary: Al Mokanna poisons those with him, burns the bodies and supplies, destroys
himself so his body cannot be found, and one concubine survives to disclose the
events.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:6
label: Promised transmigratory return
summary: Al Mokanna’s disappearance supports his prior promise that his soul would
take the form of a grey-headed rider on a greyish beast and return after years.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: veiled holy or radiant claimant
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage states that al Mokanna wore a veil or gilded mask, with followers
explaining it as protection from the splendor of his countenance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
confidence: medium
cautions: The narrator presents the follower explanation as a pretense and supplies
an alternative explanation of deformity.
- id: motif:2
label: manufactured celestial miracle
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The passage reports that al Mokanna caused the appearance of a moon to rise
from a well over many nights, leading to the title “moonmaker.”
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage characterizes the event as juggling, not as an accepted miracle.
- id: motif:3
label: divine presence transmitted through successive persons
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Al Mokanna’s doctrine is described as a successive manifestation or transmigration
of deity through prophets and holy men, ending in himself after Abu Moslem.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
confidence: high
cautions: The account is polemical and uses terms such as “impostor”; extraction
records the doctrine as reported in the passage.
- id: motif:4
label: claimed resurrection power
taxonomy_refs:
- resurrection
basis: His emissaries spread the claim that he raised the dead to life.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The claim is reported as propaganda by emissaries rather than as an event
narrated as occurring.
- id: motif:5
label: death, disappearance, and promised return
taxonomy_refs:
- return
basis: He arranged for his body not to be found and had promised that his soul would
transmigrate into a grey-headed rider and return after a number of years.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
confidence: high
cautions: The passage frames the disappearance as a deliberate contrivance, not
as a confirmed supernatural return.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly reports that al Mokanna’s followers explained his
veil by comparison with Moses, saying it prevented the splendor of his countenance
from dazzling beholders.
claim_level: same_function
target: Moses’s veiling associated with radiant countenance
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The comparison is reported as the followers’ claim within a hostile
account, not endorsed by the narrator.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: lines 8415-8426
quote_or_summary: Hakem Ebn Hashem, called al Mokanna or al Borka, gives himself
out as a prophet and wears a veil or gilded mask; followers compare the reason
to Moses’s dazzling countenance.
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 8426-8431
quote_or_summary: He gains proselytes through performances treated as miracles,
especially the appearance of a moon rising from a well for many nights, earning
the title “moonmaker.”
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 8431-8441
quote_or_summary: He claims divine honors and teaches a doctrine of deity manifesting
or transmigrating through prophets and holy men, from Abu Moslem into himself.
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 8441-8448
quote_or_summary: As his faction grows, the Khalf sends an army; al Mokanna retires
into a fortress and sends emissaries to claim that he raises the dead and knows
future events.
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 8448-8458
quote_or_summary: Under siege, he gives poisoned wine to those with him, burns bodies
and supplies, destroys himself by fire or corrosive liquid so his body is not
found, and one hidden concubine survives to reveal the matter.
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 8458-8461
quote_or_summary: He had promised followers that his soul would transmigrate into
a grey-headed man riding a greyish beast and would return after a number of years.
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 later English explanatory note with polemical language;
motifs are extracted as reported claims and narrative elements rather than as
verified events.
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: |-
Only the provided passage and metadata were used. Taxonomy references were applied only where directly supported by the passage wording.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:islamic-koran-sale-gutenberg__l8413-l8461
passage_sha256=2389863b43ca705dfdc2802eb992ca51724bbc3c85c655444924a58c5d726410