Rashida Tlaib became the first Palestinian-American woman to be sworn in to Congress, and she did so on the Quran and dressed in a traditional Palestinian thobe. #116thCongress pic.twitter.com/MpucQFir5Z
— Newsweek (@Newsweek) January 3, 2019
It’s pretty ironic for a couple of reasons.
1) Jefferson had the Quran not because he believed in it, but because, among other reasons, US shipping was being attacked by radical Islamist Barbary Pirates who justified their actions by the Quran. He wanted to understand their thought to know how to deal with them.
2) George Sale who wrote that translation did it specifically to expose what he thought were problematic aspects of the Quran that not everyone covered, so his point was to expose them to Christians.
Via McClatchy:
When incoming U.S. congresswoman Rashida Tlaib is sworn into office Thursday, she will use Thomas Jefferson’s centuries-old Quran.
Some might be shocked that Jefferson owned an English-translated Quran that dates back to 1734. But Tlaib — one of the two first Muslim women elected to Congress in November — said she’s okay with that reaction, according to CNN.
“I like that,” the Democrat told CNN. “I like that it’s kind of pushing against the stereotype that somehow we’re new to this country.”
Jefferson’s Quran was also used by Democratic U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison in 2007 when the Minnesota congressman took his own oath of office, according to The Washington Post.