batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l7142-l7245
---
record_id: batch.motif.sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg-l7142-l7245
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 7142-7245
start: '7142'
end: '7245'
translation: The Mesnevi
notes: Generated from OpenAI Batch run motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority;
human review required.
canonical_text:
quote: "“This fire has no devouring ruthlessness.”"
summary: The passage contrasts divine and evil tendencies, uses metaphors of streams,
fire, water, flesh, pride, idols, and hell, then narrates a persecutor who sets
up an idol beside a fire and threatens non-worshippers. A Christian mother refuses
to worship; her infant is thrown into the flames but speaks from within, declaring
the fire cool and wondrous, inviting the mother and others to enter. Crowds voluntarily
enter the fire in faith and love until even guards say the fire is full.
language: English
quote_policy: quoted
literal_observations:
- id: obs:1
text: The passage names two opposed moral conditions as “God’s Baptism” for good
in man and “the curse of God” for evil.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:2
text: Streams and torrents are described as returning to their source or descending
from mountain-tops.
category: sequence
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: obs:3
text: A persecutor makes a hideous idol beside a fire and proclaims that people
must worship it or be burned.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: obs:4
text: The passage identifies fleshly pride as the mother of idols and compares idols
to dragons and pride to a hidden spark in flint and steel.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: obs:5
text: Water, jug, pitcher, wellspring, sewer, and muddy dregs are used to describe
inner impurity and the need for a fresh source.
category: object
evidence_refs:
- ev:4
- id: obs:6
text: The flesh is compared to hell with seven mouths.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: obs:7
text: A Christian mother with an infant is brought to the idol and told to worship
so the fire will not harm her.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:8
text: The mother is described as firm in true belief and refuses to prostrate herself.
category: attribute
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: obs:9
text: The infant is snatched and thrown into the flame, then speaks from the fire
and says it is unharmed.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: obs:10
text: The infant invites its mother into the fire, saying it is cool, pleasant,
and a place where God’s mercy is manifest.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- id: obs:11
text: The infant compares the fire to water and refers to Abraham’s furnace being
changed into gardens.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: obs:12
text: The infant describes birth as an earlier death-like transition from a narrow
dark prison into a vast bright world, and says comfort lies beyond the tomb.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: obs:13
text: The infant calls the fire a realm of wonders and says each atom there is a
Jesus and a balm.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:10
- id: obs:14
text: The infant calls others, including saints and resigned ones, to enter and
choose faith’s cup of martyrdom.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: obs:15
text: Crowds hear the infant, feel shame and a holy impulse, and voluntarily cast
their lives away in the fire.
category: action
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: obs:16
text: Guards and soldiers eventually cry out that the fire is more than full.
category: speech
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
figures:
- id: fig:1
name_or_label: Didactic speaker
description: The speaking voice giving counsel and moral interpretation of flesh,
pride, idols, and faith.
role_refs:
- role:1
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: fig:2
name_or_label: Persecutor described with anti-Jewish polemical language
description: A figure called a “Jewish dog” who makes an idol by a fire, commands
worship, and threatens burning.
role_refs:
- role:2
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:6
- id: fig:3
name_or_label: Christian mother
description: A mother with an infant, described as firm in true belief and unwilling
to prostrate to the idol.
role_refs:
- role:3
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- ev:7
- id: fig:4
name_or_label: Infant in the fire
description: An infant thrown into the flame who speaks from within it, says it
is unharmed, and calls others to enter.
role_refs:
- role:4
- role:5
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- ev:11
- id: fig:5
name_or_label: Assembled crowds
description: Men and women who hear the infant, feel shame and holy impulse, and
enter the fire voluntarily.
role_refs:
- role:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: fig:6
name_or_label: Guards and soldiers
description: Those present at the fire who finally cry that it is more than full.
role_refs:
- role:7
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: fig:7
name_or_label: God Almighty / Great King
description: The divine figure whose mercy, grace, power, and bounteous table are
invoked by the infant.
role_refs:
- role:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:11
- id: fig:8
name_or_label: Abraham
description: A blessed figure whose furnace is said to have changed to gardens.
role_refs:
- role:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: fig:9
name_or_label: Moses and Moses’ God
description: Figures named as refuge against guile associated with Pharaoh’s hosts.
role_refs:
- role:10
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: fig:10
name_or_label: Pharaoh’s hosts
description: A group used as the object of a whirlpool simile for guile.
role_refs:
- role:11
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
roles:
- id: role:1
label: Moral instructor
assigned_to:
- fig:1
basis: The speaker exhorts the audience to hear counsel, seek refuge, adore one
God, and interpret flesh and pride.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:13
- id: role:2
label: Idol-making persecutor
assigned_to:
- fig:2
basis: He makes an idol beside a fire and threatens burning for those who do not
worship it.
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: role:3
label: Faithful threatened mother
assigned_to:
- fig:3
basis: She is brought with her infant, told to worship, and refuses because she
is firm in true belief.
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: role:4
label: Miraculously speaking child
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The infant speaks after being thrown into the flame and declares itself uninjured.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- id: role:5
label: Witness and inviter from within fire
assigned_to:
- fig:4
basis: The infant describes the fire as cool and merciful and repeatedly invites
the mother and others to enter.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:11
- id: role:6
label: Voluntary martyr crowd
assigned_to:
- fig:5
basis: The crowd enters the fire without compulsion, moved by love and holy impulse.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: role:7
label: Overwhelmed attendants
assigned_to:
- fig:6
basis: Guards and soldiers cry that the fire is more than full.
evidence_refs:
- ev:12
- id: role:8
label: Divine source of mercy and grace
assigned_to:
- fig:7
basis: The infant says God’s mercy is revealed in the fire and invites people to
prove God’s grace and power.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:11
- id: role:9
label: Exemplar of miraculous deliverance from fire
assigned_to:
- fig:8
basis: The infant refers to Abraham’s furnace changing to gardens.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- id: role:10
label: Refuge model against hostile guile
assigned_to:
- fig:9
basis: The passage says to seek refuge in Moses and in Moses’ God against guile
likened to whirlpools.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
- id: role:11
label: Defeated hostile host in simile
assigned_to:
- fig:10
basis: Guile is compared to whirlpools ready to spoil Pharaoh’s hosts.
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
symbols:
- id: sym:1
label: Fire
literal_form: Fire, flame, furnace, bed of flame
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:8
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: sym:2
label: Water
literal_form: Water, wellspring, jug, pitcher, torrents, streamlets
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- water
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:4
- ev:8
- id: sym:3
label: Mountain-tops
literal_form: Mountain-tops from which torrents rush down
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- mountain
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- id: sym:4
label: Idol
literal_form: Hideous idol, graven idol, inward idol of pride
associated_figures:
- fig:2
- fig:3
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:6
- id: sym:5
label: Flint and steel spark
literal_form: Flesh as flint and steel; pride as spark
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- id: sym:6
label: Hell with seven mouths
literal_form: Hell described as having seven yawning mouths
associated_figures: []
taxonomy_refs:
- fire
evidence_refs:
- ev:5
- id: sym:7
label: Faith’s cup of martyrdom
literal_form: Cup of martyrdom selected by saints and resigned ones
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:5
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- id: sym:8
label: Second womb
literal_form: The present world described as a second womb
associated_figures:
- fig:4
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
- id: sym:9
label: Bounteous table
literal_form: The Great King’s bounteous table spread in the fire
associated_figures:
- fig:4
- fig:7
taxonomy_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
scenes:
- id: scene:1
label: Moral framing of good, evil, flesh, pride, and idols
summary: The speaker contrasts divine and cursed qualities, describes streams returning
to their source, and interprets fleshly pride as the source of idols and hidden
fire.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
symbol_refs:
- sym:2
- sym:3
- sym:4
- sym:5
- sym:6
evidence_refs:
- ev:1
- ev:3
- ev:4
- ev:5
- id: scene:2
label: Idol set beside fire
summary: The persecutor makes an idol beside a fire and proclaims that people must
worship it or be burned.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:2
- id: scene:3
label: Mother threatened at the idol
summary: A Christian mother with an infant is ordered to worship the idol to avoid
harm by fire, but she refuses.
figure_refs:
- fig:2
- fig:3
- fig:4
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:4
evidence_refs:
- ev:6
- id: scene:4
label: Infant speaks from the flame
summary: The infant is thrown into the fire but speaks, declares itself unharmed,
describes the fire as cool and merciful, and invites its mother to enter.
figure_refs:
- fig:3
- fig:4
- fig:7
- fig:8
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:2
- sym:8
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
- ev:9
- ev:10
- id: scene:5
label: Invitation to martyrdom and mass entry
summary: The infant calls saints and resigned ones to enter and select martyrdom;
crowds voluntarily enter the fire, moved by love, until guards say the fire is
full.
figure_refs:
- fig:4
- fig:5
- fig:6
- fig:7
symbol_refs:
- sym:1
- sym:7
- sym:9
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
- id: scene:6
label: Refuge in Moses and the one God
summary: The speaker uses Pharaoh’s hosts as an image of peril and urges refuge
in Moses, Moses’ God, the one true God, and Ahmed’s faith.
figure_refs:
- fig:1
- fig:9
- fig:10
symbol_refs: []
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
candidate_motifs:
- id: motif:1
label: Miraculous protection within fire
taxonomy_refs: []
basis: The infant thrown into flame speaks from within it, says it is uninjured,
and describes the fire as cool and pleasant.
evidence_refs:
- ev:7
- ev:8
confidence: high
cautions: The passage presents the protection as a miracle, but does not provide
a separate narrative source beyond the cited allusion to Abraham.
- id: motif:2
label: Fire transformed into a hospitable realm
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: The infant says the fire is like water, contains wonders, manifests divine
mercy, and is a realm beyond ordinary appearance.
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
- ev:10
confidence: medium
cautions: The taxonomy link to death_rebirth is interpretive, based on the infant’s
own birth-death analogy and the fire as transition.
- id: motif:3
label: Voluntary martyrdom through entry into fire
taxonomy_refs:
- sacrifice
basis: The infant calls others to choose faith’s cup of martyrdom, and crowds enter
the fire without compulsion, moved by love.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
- ev:12
confidence: high
cautions: The term martyrdom is explicit in the passage; broader sacrificial interpretation
should be reviewed.
- id: motif:4
label: Birth and death as passage between worlds
taxonomy_refs:
- death_rebirth
basis: The infant describes birth as leaving a narrow dark prison for a bright world
and says the present world is a second womb with comfort beyond the tomb.
evidence_refs:
- ev:9
confidence: high
cautions: The motif is stated as a speech teaching rather than enacted by multiple
life stages in the narrative.
- id: motif:5
label: Idolatry as inner pride
taxonomy_refs:
- wisdom
basis: The speaker says the mother of all idols is fleshly pride and distinguishes
smashing an external idol from rooting out flesh.
evidence_refs:
- ev:3
- ev:4
confidence: medium
cautions: The link to wisdom is broad; the passage is explicitly didactic but not
a formal wisdom tale.
- id: motif:6
label: Divine banquet in perilous place
taxonomy_refs:
- sacred_exchange
basis: The infant says the Great King has spread a bounteous table within the fire
and invites the faithful to enter.
evidence_refs:
- ev:11
confidence: medium
cautions: The banquet image is brief and metaphorical; no exchange ritual is narrated.
comparison_claims:
- id: claim:1
claim: The passage explicitly compares the infant’s fire miracle to Abraham’s furnace
being changed into gardens, supporting a same-function comparison of divine protection
or transformation of fire.
claim_level: same_function
target: Abraham furnace miracle tradition
evidence_refs:
- ev:8
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: high
limitations: The passage gives only a brief allusion and does not recount Abraham’s
story in detail.
- id: claim:2
claim: The passage invokes Moses, Moses’ God, Pharaoh’s hosts, Ahmed’s faith, and
Abu-Jahl as nearby scriptural or Islamic exempla within its moral teaching.
claim_level: visual_similarity
target: Named scriptural and Islamic exempla in Sufi didactic discourse
evidence_refs:
- ev:13
counter_evidence_refs: []
confidence: medium
limitations: These are allusive references rather than developed comparative narratives;
the claim is limited to their presence and didactic function.
evidence:
- id: ev:1
type: quote
locator: 7142-7147
quote_or_summary: "“God’s Baptism” names what is good, “The curse of God” what is
evil; streamlets return to their source and torrents rush from mountain-tops."
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:2
type: summary
locator: 7148-7153
quote_or_summary: A persecutor makes a hideous idol beside a fire and proclaims
that whoever would save his soul must worship it or be burned.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:3
type: summary
locator: 7154-7161
quote_or_summary: Fleshly pride is called the mother of idols; idols are compared
to dragons, and pride is a hidden spark in the flesh like fire in flint and steel.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:4
type: summary
locator: 7162-7175
quote_or_summary: Water, jug, pitcher, wellspring, sewer, muddy dregs, graven idol,
and inward idol are used in an extended image of inner impurity and its source.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:5
type: quote
locator: 7176-7177
quote_or_summary: The flesh is pictured through “description ... of hell, with seven
yawning mouths.”
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; short excerpt used for evidence.
- id: ev:6
type: summary
locator: 7183-7190
quote_or_summary: A Christian mother carrying an infant is brought to the idol;
she is told to worship so the fire will not harm her, but she refuses because
of firm belief.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:7
type: summary
locator: 7191-7198
quote_or_summary: The infant is taken and thrown into the flame; it cries out that
it is uninjured, calls its mother to come in, and says the fire is cool and pleasant.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:8
type: summary
locator: 7199-7206
quote_or_summary: The infant says God’s mercy is manifest, invites the mother to
witness saints conversing with the Lord, describes water blazing as fire and flame
as water, and recalls Abraham’s furnace changed to gardens.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:9
type: summary
locator: 7207-7214
quote_or_summary: The infant says birth was like death, leaving a narrow dark prison
for a vast bright world; it calls the present world a second womb and says joy
lies beyond the tomb.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:10
type: summary
locator: 7215-7218
quote_or_summary: The infant says the fire contains a realm of wonders, each atom
is a Jesus and balm, and the world it left is vanity.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:11
type: summary
locator: 7219-7232
quote_or_summary: The infant repeatedly urges the mother and others to enter, says
the fire is not devouring, invokes God’s grace and power, mentions the Great King’s
table, and calls saints to select faith’s cup of martyrdom.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:12
type: summary
locator: 7233-7245
quote_or_summary: The infant cries from the bed of flame; the crowds hear, feel
shame and holy impulse, enter without compulsion, and guards and soldiers say
the fire is more than full.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
- id: ev:13
type: summary
locator: 7178-7184
quote_or_summary: Guile is compared to a whirlpool ready to spoil Pharaoh’s hosts;
the speaker urges refuge in Moses and Moses’ God, adoration of the one God, belief
in Ahmed’s faith, and retrieval from Abu-Jahl.
source_text_path: texts/public-domain/sufi/project-gutenberg/mesnevi-book-1-redhouse.md
rights_note: Public domain source; summarized evidence.
confidence:
extraction: high
motif_candidates: medium
comparison_claims: medium
notes: Literal narrative features are clear in the supplied passage. Motif-family
assignments are partly interpretive and should be reviewed, especially broad taxonomy
links.
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. No external taxonomy IDs were added beyond the provided motif-family and symbol lists.
batch_run_id=motif-extraction-2026-04-28-high-priority
custom_id=motif_extract:sufi-rumi-mesnevi-book-1-redhouse-gutenberg__l7142-l7245
passage_sha256=eace53252321c1b3fdadbd76bf9dd9bf3fe2ec864441a5a031e41626ae331ead