batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l10190-l10284
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l10190-l10284
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
passage_locator:
label: PREFACE. / IN THE NAME OF GOD, / THE ALL-MERCIFUL, THE VERY-COMPASSIONATE.
/ VIII.; lines 10190-10284
start: '10190'
end: '10284'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: ''
summary: The passage describes a minstrel’s soul freed by sleep into heavenly fields,
then shifts to ‘Umer receiving divinely sent sleep and a dream. It reflects on
God’s voice as the source of all sound and on the primordial response to God’s
call. It recounts a tradition in which a wooden post in the Prophet’s house moans
when he no longer leans on it, speaks of its grief, is offered transformation
into a fruitful palm or a paradisal cedar, chooses what does not decay, and is
buried in hope of resurrection. The passage ends by contrasting divinely given
knowledge and faith with doubt attributed to Satan.
language: English
quote_policy: summarized
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: Sleep frees the minstrel’s soul from prison and pain, and the soul wanders
in heavenly fields.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The heavenly region is described with spacious fields, paradise, flowers,
balm, myrrh, spice, a honey lake, Job’s fount, and wine from heaven.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: obs:3
text: The speaker says that human verses and the heart are insufficient to encompass
heavenly joys.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:4
text: The Lord sends slumber upon ‘Umer, who perceives the sleep as divinely ordered
and hears God’s voice in a dream.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:5
text: The passage states that God’s voice is the real source of every cry and sound,
and that other voices are echoes.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:6
text: Rocks and trees are said to have answered God’s call, and traditions are invoked
in which rocks and trees understand and speak.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:7
text: A post in the Prophet’s house sobs because the Prophet has mounted a pulpit
and no longer leans against it during sermons.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: obs:8
text: The Prophet addresses the post and offers it either transformation into a
fruitful palm or transplantation to paradise as an eternal cedar.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:9
text: The post chooses what will not decay and is buried like a corpse in hope of
resurrection at the judgment day.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:10
text: The passage says those lacking knowledge from above will not believe that
a stock could sigh and moan for love.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:11
text: Doubt is attributed to Satan, who is said to sow it in people’s breasts.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: the minstrel / harper
description: A musician whose soul is freed by sleep and who cries out to God in
heavenly realms.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: "‘Umer"
description: A person upon whom the Lord sends slumber; he receives a dream and
hears God’s voice.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: the Lord / God
description: The divine sender of slumber, source of all sound, caller of beings,
and giver of mission and knowledge.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:11
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Mustafà / the Prophet
description: The Prophet who had leaned on a wooden post during sermons, questions
the post, and offers it blessed alternatives.
role_refs:
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: the post / column / stock
description: A wooden post in the Prophet’s house that sobs, speaks of grief, chooses
an undecaying state, and is buried in hope of resurrection.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:10
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: disciples
description: Witnesses around the Prophet who hear the post’s moan and are perplexed.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Satan
description: The figure said to sow seeds of doubt in people’s breasts.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
roles:
- id: role:1
label: sleeping visionary soul
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The minstrel’s soul is freed through sleep and describes heavenly fields.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: role:2
label: recipient of divinely sent dream
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: "‘Umer receives slumber from the Lord, sees a dream, and hears God’s voice."
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: role:3
label: divine caller and source of sound
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: The passage identifies God’s voice as the source of every cry and sound and
presents God as the caller of beings.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: prophetic interlocutor
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The Prophet questions the moaning post and offers it alternative blessed
destinies.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:9
- id: role:5
label: speaking grieving object
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The post sobs, answers the Prophet, and explains its grief at separation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: role:6
label: witnesses to marvel
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: The disciples hear the moan and are described as perplexed and marveling.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:7
label: instigator of doubt
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Satan is described as sowing doubt in people’s breasts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: sleep as release and revelation
literal_form: sleep / slumber
associated_figures:
- fig:1
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- id: sym:2
label: heavenly fields
literal_form: spacious fields of heaven, paradise, flowers, honey lake, Job’s fount,
wine from heaven
associated_figures:
- fig:1
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:3
label: divine voice
literal_form: God’s voice heard in dream and described as source of every cry and
sound
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: sym:4
label: speaking rocks and trees
literal_form: rocks and trees that answer, understand, and speak
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: moaning wooden post
literal_form: post / column / stock in the Prophet’s house
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: sym:6
label: palm and cedar alternatives
literal_form: fruitful palm and paradisal cedar
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs:
- tree
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:7
label: burial in hope of resurrection
literal_form: post buried like a corpse at the judgment day
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Soul’s release into heavenly fields
summary: Through sleep, the minstrel’s soul is released from pain and wanders through
a richly described heavenly paradise.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
- id: scene:2
label: "‘Umer’s divinely sent dream"
summary: The Lord sends slumber upon ‘Umer; he recognizes it as purposeful and hears
God’s voice in a dream.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:3
label: Universal response to divine call
summary: The passage states that God’s call is understood beyond human languages
and that even rocks and trees answer and speak.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:3
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: The grieving post of the Prophet
summary: A wooden post moans because the Prophet no longer leans on it; the Prophet
questions it, offers transformation or paradise, and the post chooses what does
not decay.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:6
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: scene:5
label: Faith, knowledge, and doubt
summary: The passage says divinely given knowledge enables belief in the speaking
stock, while doubt is attributed to Satan.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:5
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: soul released by sleep into heavenly vision
taxonomy_refs:
- afterlife_journey_map
- ascent
basis: The minstrel’s soul is freed from prison and pain by sleep and wanders in
heavenly fields described as paradise.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage presents a sleep vision rather than a completed doctrinal
afterlife itinerary.
- id: motif:2
label: divinely sent dream revelation
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Lord sends slumber upon ‘Umer, who sees a dream and hears God’s voice
as a sacred law.
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The content of the dream-command is not elaborated within this excerpt.
- id: motif:3
label: universal response to divine creative call
taxonomy_refs:
- covenant
basis: The passage refers to the call, “Am I not, then, your Lord?” and to beings
answering affirmatively at God’s word.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage alludes to the covenantal call but does not provide a full
narrative setting.
- id: motif:4
label: speaking tree or wooden object moved by sacred love
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: A wooden post understands, sobs, speaks to the Prophet, and expresses grief
at separation from him.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:11
confidence: high
cautions: The object is a post or column, not a living tree, though it is wood and
is offered arboreal transformations.
- id: motif:5
label: resurrection hope after burial
taxonomy_refs:
- resurrection
- divine_judgment
basis: The post is buried like a corpse in hope of resurrection at the judgment
day.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The resurrection motif is applied to a wooden post within an exemplary
tradition.
- id: motif:6
label: renunciation after divine call
taxonomy_refs:
- departure
- mystical_quest
basis: The passage generalizes that anyone called by the Lord breaks with earthly
things and prepares the path to travel.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: This is a didactic inference from the post episode rather than a separate
narrative action.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The post episode can be compared to a speaking-tree or animate-sacred-object
pattern because a wooden object hears, feels grief, speaks, and receives a sacred
destiny.
claim_level: same_function
target: speaking trees and animate sacred objects within the passage’s cited tradition
of rocks and trees that understand and speak
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage itself frames the example through Islamic tradition, but
it does not compare it to non-Islamic traditions or a formal external motif index.
- id: claim:2
claim: The minstrel’s sleep vision shares the function of an afterlife or heavenly-journey
motif by relocating the soul into paradise-like fields beyond ordinary bodily
limits.
claim_level: same_function
target: afterlife_journey_map motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- ev:3
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The excerpt describes visionary release during sleep and heavenly desire,
not a mapped journey through multiple afterlife regions.
- id: claim:3
claim: The burial of the post in expectation of the judgment day directly aligns
with a resurrection motif.
claim_level: same_motif
target: resurrection motif family
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The resurrected subject is an object-personified post, so the motif
is expressed in an unusual exemplary form.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 10190-10196
quote_or_summary: Sleep frees the soul from prison and pain; the soul wanders in
spacious heavenly fields and wishes to dwell there without care.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 10196-10205
quote_or_summary: The heavenly place includes flowers, balm, myrrh, spice, a honey
lake, Job’s fount, and wine from heaven that cleanses Job.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 10206-10216
quote_or_summary: The poet says verses cannot tell even a fraction of heaven’s joys,
and the minstrel cries to God in realms of mercy and grace.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 10217-10224
quote_or_summary: The Lord sends slumber upon ‘Umer; he recognizes divine purpose,
sleeps, dreams, and hears God’s voice as sacred law.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 10225-10230
quote_or_summary: "“God’s voice the real source is of every cry and sound; / The
only voice, in fact; all other’s echo found.”"
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 10231-10242
quote_or_summary: Rocks and trees are said to have answered the call, “Am I not,
then, your Lord?”, and tradition is said to relate that rocks and trees understood
and spoke.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary with brief embedded phrase.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 10243-10250
quote_or_summary: A post in Mustafà’s house sobs during a sermon; old and young
hear it, and the disciples marvel and are perplexed.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 10251-10256
quote_or_summary: The Prophet asks the post its need; the column answers that grief
makes its heart bleed because the Prophet now mounts a pulpit instead of leaning
on it.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 10257-10264
quote_or_summary: The Prophet calls the post affectionate and offers that it may
become a fruitful palm praised by people or be transplanted to paradise as an
eternal cedar.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: 10265-10272
quote_or_summary: The post elects what will not decay and is buried like a corpse
in hopes of resurrection at the judgment day; the poet draws a lesson about breaking
with earthly things after the Lord’s call.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: 10273-10280
quote_or_summary: Those without knowledge from above are said not to believe a stock
could sigh and moan for love; those unconvinced by God’s command “Be” reject the
tale.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary with brief embedded phrase.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: 10281-10284
quote_or_summary: Many confessing Muslims are described as haunted by doubt, and
Satan is said to sow the seed of doubting in their breasts.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal narrative elements are explicit. Motif assignments are limited to
available taxonomy references and remain draft interpretations, especially for
the sleep vision and speaking post.
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: '2026-04-29'
notes: |-
Used only the provided passage and metadata; public-domain text summarized with minimal quotation.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l10190-l10284
passage_sha256=6438af1d0242c3cf46a9759654d519785e9d1c3ec4d36f2d4fb9051d7c7f859f