batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l6546-l6649
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l6546-l6649
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
passage_locator:
label: OF QONYA. / PREFACE. / IN THE NAME OF GOD, / THE ALL-MERCIFUL, THE VERY-COMPASSIONATE.;
lines 6546-6649
start: '6546'
end: '6649'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: In His existence let my being sink, quite lost.
summary: The passage contrasts a fraudulent Vazir hostile to Jesus with images of
purity, water, fish, divine bounty, trustworthy earth, and divine wisdom. It praises
God as creator and miracle-worker, urges escape from the finite world as a prison,
cites Moses, Jesus, and the Illiterate One as examples of divine power overcoming
worldly force or skill, describes a woman punished by transformation into Venus,
contrasts soul and flesh, and concludes that one word from God nullified the Vazir’s
scheme like summer sun melting winter snow.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: A Vazir is said to have written twelve volumes through fraudulent research
and to be a hidden foe of Jesus' church.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: The passage uses wine, a washed many-coloured garment, clear water, fish,
and dry land in a contrast of purity and preference.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: The speaker asks what the fish and water symbolize and refers to shoals of
fish in the water’s realm praising God in silence.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: God’s bounty is associated with seas, pearls, clouds, sea, rays of wisdom,
water, land, seed, and corn.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: The earth is described as a faithful trustee that returns what is sown without
fraud or embezzlement.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:6
text: The passage says God gave trustworthiness to senseless earth and that human
hearts and souls lack grace to understand.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:7
text: The speaker says that his being should sink and be lost in God’s existence,
and that being is a form of blindness.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:8
text: The Vazir is called shortsighted and is said to have wrestled against the
Ancient of Days, the Almighty One who creates worlds by breath or word.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The world is described as a prison-den around the soul, and the addressee
is urged to arise, escape, and regain the open fields.
category: setting
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: Pharaoh’s spears are said to have been broken by Moses’ wand; healers were
shamed by Jesus’ cures; poets and orators were shown foolish by the word of the
Illiterate One.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: A dead heart of stone touched with love’s live coal becomes a magnet that
no longer quits the pole.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:12
text: A woman estranged by adultery is said to have been changed by God, as punishment,
into Venus’ star.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:13
text: The soul is said to lift a person to heaven’s highest home, while the flesh
consigns a person to hell’s dark dome.
category: relationship
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:14
text: The final couplet compares winter snow defeated by summer sun with the Vazir’s
fraud being reduced to nothing by one word from God’s throne.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: the Vazir
description: A hidden foe of Jesus’ church who wrote twelve fraudulent volumes and
whose scheme was nullified by God’s word.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:6
- ev:11
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Jesus / Jesu
description: Associated with one-mindedness, wine, church, and cures of the halt,
lame, blind, deaf, and mad.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:8
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: God / Ancient of Days / Almighty One / All-Bountiful
description: The divine creator and source of bounty, wisdom, judgment, miraculous
works, and the word that defeats fraud.
role_refs:
- role:3
- role:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- ev:6
- ev:11
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: fish
description: Shoals of fish, great and small, in the water’s realm, said to overwhelm
it with mute adoration and praise to God.
role_refs:
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: earth
description: The earth is personified as a faithful trustee that returns what is
sown and brings forth mysteries when summer returns.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Moses
description: A prophetic figure whose wand breaks Pharaoh’s spears in the appointed
night.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: Pharaoh
description: A vaunting ruler whose million spears are broken by Moses’ wand.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: the Illiterate One
description: A figure whose word causes poets, orators, and great men to appear
foolish.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: adulterous woman changed to Venus
description: A woman estranged by adultery and changed by God, in punishment, into
Venus’ star.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Adam
description: Mentioned as the one whom the addressee refused to adore.
role_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: fig:11
name_or_label: degenerate man / addressee
description: The addressed human figure warned about ambition, shame, soul, flesh,
heaven, and hell.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
roles:
- id: role:1
label: hidden foe and fraudulent schemer
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The Vazir is called a hidden foe and his writing and scheme are described
as fraudulent.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:11
- id: role:2
label: source of purity and healing
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: Jesus is linked with pure wine and with curing the halt, lame, blind, deaf,
and mad.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:8
- id: role:3
label: divine creator and source of bounty
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: God is said to create worlds from nothing and provide bounty, wisdom, seas,
pearls, seed, and corn.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: divine judge and miracle-worker
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: God performs miraculous works, punishes by transformation, and nullifies
fraud by one word.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: role:5
label: silent worshippers in water’s realm
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The shoals of fish are said to be in mute adoration and praise to God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:6
label: faithful trustee
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The earth is explicitly described as a faithful trustee that gives back what
is sown.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: role:7
label: prophetic agent of divine superiority
assigned_to:
- fig:6
- fig:8
basis: Moses’ wand and the word of the Illiterate One overcome worldly power or
eloquence.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:8
label: defeated worldly power
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: Pharaoh’s spears are broken by Moses’ wand.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:9
label: punished transgressor
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The woman is said to be punished by God through transformation into Venus’
star.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: role:10
label: warned human soul
assigned_to:
- fig:11
basis: The addressee is urged to escape the world-prison and warned about soul,
flesh, heaven, hell, and ambition.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:10
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: clear water
literal_form: clear water; water’s realm inhabited by fish
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:2
- id: sym:2
label: Jesus’ wine
literal_form: pure wine that washes a many-coloured garment snowy white and clear
associated_figures:
- fig:2
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:3
label: fish
literal_form: whole shoals of fishes, great and small, in water
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: sym:4
label: faithful earth
literal_form: earth as a trustee that returns seed as corn
associated_figures:
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:5
label: summer sun
literal_form: summer sun or gleam that melts winter snow and is compared to God’s
word defeating fraud
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:11
- id: sym:6
label: world-prison
literal_form: the world around the soul as a dismal prison-den
associated_figures:
- fig:11
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: sym:7
label: Moses’ wand
literal_form: wand that breaks Pharaoh’s spears
associated_figures:
- fig:6
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: sym:8
label: live coal of love
literal_form: love’s live coal touching a dead heart of stone
associated_figures:
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:9
label: magnet and pole
literal_form: a heart becoming a magnet that no longer quits the pole
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:10
label: Venus’ star
literal_form: the star Venus as the transformed state of a punished woman
associated_figures:
- fig:9
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: sym:11
label: winter snow
literal_form: winter snow encumbering earth’s soil, defeated by summer sun
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Fraudulent writings opposed to Jesus’ purity
summary: The Vazir writes twelve fraudulent volumes as a hidden enemy of Jesus’
church; the passage contrasts him with Jesus’ wine that purifies like clear water.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: scene:2
label: Fish and water as divine realm imagery
summary: The speaker asks what fish and water symbolize, then describes shoals of
fish in water’s realm silently praising God.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Divine bounty in sea and earth
summary: God’s bounty, goodness, wisdom, and summer are linked to pearls, seed,
corn, and the earth’s faithful return of what is sown.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:5
symbol_refs:
- sym:4
- sym:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
- id: scene:4
label: Loss of self in God
summary: The speaker says that singing praise shows he still breathes, and that
his own being should sink and be lost in God’s existence.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: scene:5
label: Finite world as prison around the soul
summary: The passage identifies God as the creator of worlds, calls the world finite
and prison-like around the soul, and urges escape into open fields.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: scene:6
label: Prophetic signs defeat worldly power and skill
summary: Moses’ wand overcomes Pharaoh’s spears, Jesus’ cures surpass healers, and
the Illiterate One’s word humbles poets and orators.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:6
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: scene:7
label: Heart transformed by love’s coal
summary: A dead heart of stone touched by the live coal of love becomes a magnet
fixed to its pole.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:8
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: scene:8
label: Punishment, ascent, and fall
summary: A woman is punished by transformation into Venus; the passage then contrasts
the soul’s upward destination with the flesh’s downward hellish destination and
warns the addressee against ambition.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:9
- fig:10
- fig:11
symbol_refs:
- sym:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: scene:9
label: God’s word nullifies the Vazir’s fraud
summary: Winter snow is overcome by a gleam of summer sun, and similarly the Vazir’s
fraudulent scheme is reduced to nothing by one word from God’s throne.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:3
symbol_refs:
- sym:5
- sym:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: False teacher opposed by divine truth
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The Vazir’s fraudulent writings and scheme are contrasted with Jesus’ purity
and finally nullified by one word from God.
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:11
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage is didactic and allusive rather than a full narrative of the
Vazir’s deception within this excerpt alone.
- id: motif:2
label: Annihilation of self in divine existence
taxonomy_refs:
- annihilation_union
basis: The speaker explicitly says his being should sink and be lost in God’s existence
and describes ordinary being as blindness.
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
confidence: high
cautions: The passage expresses the motif as devotional reflection, not as an enacted
narrative event.
- id: motif:3
label: Divine wisdom ordering nature
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: Rays of wisdom, divine bounty, the faithful earth, seed, corn, seas, pearls,
and summer are used to describe the ordered generosity of creation.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: high
cautions: The taxonomy reference is broad; imagery includes nature, trust, and providence
as well as wisdom.
- id: motif:4
label: World as prison and escape of the soul
taxonomy_refs:
- mystical_quest
basis: The world is called a prison-den around the soul, and the addressee is urged
to arise and escape.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
confidence: medium
cautions: The passage gives exhortation rather than a developed quest narrative.
- id: motif:5
label: Prophetic sign overcomes worldly power or skill
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: Moses’ wand breaks Pharaoh’s spears, Jesus’ cures shame healers, and the
Illiterate One’s word humbles poets and orators.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: No specific supplied taxonomy family directly matches this motif.
- id: motif:6
label: Heart of stone transformed by divine love
taxonomy_refs:
- annihilation_union
basis: A dead heart of stone touched by love’s live coal becomes a magnet that remains
with the pole.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: medium
cautions: The link to annihilation/union is interpretive; literally, the passage
presents transformation by love.
- id: motif:7
label: Transformation into a star as punishment
taxonomy_refs:
- divine_judgment
basis: A woman estranged by adultery is changed by God, as punishment, into Venus’
star.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: high
cautions: The excerpt gives only a brief allusion, not the fuller story behind the
transformation.
- id: motif:8
label: Soul ascends while flesh descends
taxonomy_refs:
- ascent
- divine_judgment
basis: The passage says the soul lifts a person to heaven’s highest home, while
the flesh consigns a person to hell.
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The ascent/descent contrast is doctrinal and exhortative, not narrated
as an actual journey.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly juxtaposes Moses, Jesus, and the Illiterate One as
figures whose divinely empowered sign, cure, or word surpasses worldly force,
medical skill, or eloquence.
claim_level: same_function
target: Abrahamic prophetic miracle and divine-word exempla within the passage
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The claim is limited to functional comparison made inside the excerpt;
it does not establish historical contact beyond the shared religious frame presupposed
by the text.
- id: claim:2
claim: The woman changed into Venus is presented as a divine-punishment transformation
and can be cautiously grouped with star-transformation or catasterism patterns.
claim_level: same_motif
target: star-transformation as punishment pattern
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: The passage supplies only a brief allusion and does not narrate the
broader mythic context of the Venus transformation.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: summary
locator: 6546-6555
quote_or_summary: The Vazir writes twelve fraudulent volumes as a hidden foe of
Jesus’ church; Jesus’ wine is contrasted with purity, a washed garment, clear
water, fish, and dry land.
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: 6557-6560
quote_or_summary: The speaker asks what fish and water symbolize and describes shoals
of fish in the water’s realm silently praising God.
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: 6562-6573
quote_or_summary: God’s bounty and wisdom are linked with seas, pearls, water, land,
seed, corn, the earth as a faithful trustee, and summer drawing mysteries from
the earth.
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: 6575-6582
quote_or_summary: The All-Bountiful gives trustworthiness to senseless earth; human
hearts and souls lack understanding; hearing counsel is linked with gaining sight.
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: 6584-6594
quote_or_summary: "“In His existence let my being sink, quite lost.” The speaker
says God performs miraculous works and that ordinary being is blindness before
the Sun of Glory."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short quotation.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 6596-6599
quote_or_summary: The Vazir is called shortsighted and said to wrestle against the
Ancient of Days, the Almighty One who creates ten thousand worlds from nothing
by breath or word.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; concise summary.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 6601-6608
quote_or_summary: Ten thousand additional worlds may be seen by turning vision toward
God; the world is finite, a prison around the soul, and divine essence is hidden
by forms and qualities.
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: 6610-6615
quote_or_summary: Pharaoh’s spears are broken by Moses’ wand; Jesus’ cures shame
healers; poets and orators are humbled by the word of the Illiterate One.
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: 6616-6621
quote_or_summary: For love of God one should die; a dead heart of stone touched
with love’s live coal becomes a magnet fixed to the pole; the meek draw gifts
from heaven.
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: 6628-6644
quote_or_summary: A woman is punished by God and changed into Venus’ star; the soul
lifts to heaven while the flesh consigns to hell; the addressee is warned about
ambition, Adam, and shame.
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: 6646-6649
quote_or_summary: Winter snow is defeated by one gleam of summer sun; likewise the
Vazir’s fraudulent scheme is reduced to nothing by one word from God’s throne.
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 extraction is strong because the passage is explicit. Motif assignment
is somewhat interpretive because the excerpt is largely didactic and symbolic,
with some brief allusions to wider stories.
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: |-
Used only the supplied passage and metadata. Taxonomy references are limited to the available lists; unsupported taxonomy IDs were not added.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l6546-l6649
passage_sha256=fe3bbece07dc045d881ab454faea30570bace465603045d6095e8cac818a76e9