Did the FF read the Koran?

[JBeukema]

For most Americans, the Koran remains a deeply foreign book, full of strange invocations. Few non-Muslims read it, and most of us carry assumptions about a work of scripture that we assume to be hostile, though it affirms many of the earlier traditions of Christianity and Judaism. Like all works of scripture, it is complex and sometimes contradictory, full of soothing as well as frightening passages. But for those willing to make a genuine effort, there are important areas of overlap, waiting to be found.

As usual, the Founders were way ahead of us. They thought hard about how to build a country of many different faiths. And to advance that vision to the fullest, they read the Koran, and studied Islam with a calm intelligence that today’s over-hyped Americans can only begin to imagine. They knew something that we do not. To a remarkable degree, the Koran is not alien to American history — but inside it.





No book states the case more plainly than a single volume, tucked away deep within the citadel of Copley Square — the Boston Public Library. The book known as Adams 281.1 is a copy of the Koran, from the personal collection of John Adams. There is nothing particularly ornate about this humble book, one of a collection of 2,400 that belonged to the second president. But it tells an important story, and reminds us how worldly the Founders were, and how impervious to the fanaticisms that spring up like dandelions whenever religion and politics are mixed. They, like we, lived in a complicated and often hostile global environment, dominated by religious strife, terror, and the bloodsport of competing empires. Yet better than we, they saw the world as it is, and refused the temptation to enlarge our enemies into Satanic monsters, or simply pretend they didn’t exist.

The true history of the Koran in America - The Boston Globe

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Is there a Jefferson Koran?

If not, he didn't read it.

 

[Charles_Main]

I have read parts of it in English online. Though I am not sure of the accuracy of the translations.

 

[hjmick]

Is there a Jefferson Koran?

If not, he didn't read it.

Yes, there is a Jefferson Qur'an. In fact, I believe Keith Ellison used Jefferson's Qur'an when he was sworn in to Congress.

There is some debate as to what Jefferson's intentions were for owning and reading the Qur'an. Some say he was a visionary while others believe he was looking for insight into what motivated the Barbary Pirates, with whom the U.S. was engaged in what might be called an 18th Century War on Terror.. Either way, it is my understanding that he did not own a copy until sometime after he was elected President.

 

[Quantum Windbag]

Is there a Jefferson Koran?

If not, he didn't read it.

Yes, there is a Jefferson Qur'an. In fact, I believe Keith Ellison used Jefferson's Qur'an when he was sworn in to Congress.

There is some debate as to what Jefferson's intentions were for owning and reading the Qur'an. Some say he was a visionary while others believe he was looking for insight into what motivated the Barbary Pirates, with whom the U.S. was engaged in what might be called an 18th Century War on Terror.. Either way, it is my understanding that he did not own a copy until sometime after he was elected President.

You do0n't even know what I am talking about, do you?

Jefferson went through the Bible and edited it to suit his personal beliefs, removing what he considered to be obvious errors, and concentrating on the life and teachings of Jesus. He did not do this with the Koran. You are free to consider why this is, but the reason is pretty obvious to most people.

He knew what motivated the pirates.

Thomas Jefferson faced a lingering foreign crisis early in his administration. For more than twenty years, he had been urging military action against Arab corsairs on the Barbary coast. These were fast, cheap warships that preyed upon merchant shipping along the northern shore of Africa. Various Arab rulers there would regularly declare war against European countries and then begin seizing their ships and men. The captured crews would be held for ransom or sold in the market as slaves. “Christians are cheap today!” was the auctioneer’s cry.
This practice had been going on for centuries.As many as a million and a quarter Europeans had been enslaved by Muslims operating out of North Africa. When he served as America’s minister to France in the mid-1780s, Jefferson had once confronted an Arab diplomat, demanding to know by what right his country attacked Americans in the Mediterranean:

The Ambassador answered us that it was founded on the Laws of the Prophet, that it was written in their Koran, that all nations who should not have answered their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon them wherever they could be found, and to make slaves of all they could take as prisoners.​

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Townhall - Jefferson's crisis


Unlike modern politicians, Jefferson had no problem looking at something and seeing it for what it was.