Jefferson's Qur'an: the facts and the lessons behind the story

Keith Ellison is the first American Muslim to become a member of the US Congress. A native of Detroit, he was able to land in US Congress with the support of the voters of the fifth district in Minnesota. In spite of scandals and controversy surrounding his candidacy, my information is that Ellison was able to muster the support of traditional Muslim minorities and African-American Christians in his district. (I wonder how the Christians who voted for him feel about their choice now that the whole world has heard about Ellison's demonstrative swearing in ceremony over the Qur'an?)

It made me sick to my stomach when I watched the TV coverage of Ellison's announcement of his victory on the election night and hear his cheering supporters shout "Allahu Akbar!" in the background. This is the same ecstatic religious shouting that was on the lips of the 9/11 hijackers. Watch some of the Islamic propaganda viral videos on the Internet and you'll hear it coming from Islamic insurgents in Iraq, who blow up US Army tanks and sniper shooters who kill unsuspecting soldiers in broad daylight.

We can only hope next time around American Christian voters, whether white or black, will have a bit more discernment when they step up to the voting booth.

From a Christian perspective, there are some bad and some good sides to the Ellison election to Congress.

What's bad is that this is a definite breakthrough for American and world Muslims. It's a victory for Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, with whom Keith Ellison has associated for many years. Farrakhan is known for his radical racist and anti-semitic stances. Undoubtedly, Ellison is a disciple of sort. He has written in defense of Farrakhan and has never retracted from his political affiliations with anti-semitic Nation of Islam. For a detailed report on Ellison's past, visit PowerLine.

In a clever (and I'm sure premeditated) move, Ellison asked the Library of Congress to loan him the historic copy of Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an for the swearing in ceremony. Even though symbolic, the ceremony has a significance. It sends a signal of victory to Muslims in America and around the world. It will encourage a whole new generation of ambitious Islamic functionaries who live in Western democratic countries to consider expanding their campaign for worldwide dominion to the political process as well. In other words, if they can't win by the power of the sword, they'll try to beat the Western world at their own game and exploit the vulnerabilities of the democratic society and system. Hamas in Palestine is another example of a Islamic radicals who have taken their agenda to the political arena, gaining a whole new leverage on the world scene.

On the good side, I sure hope the election of Keith Ellison and his consequent actions will be yet another wake up call for the sleeping giant that the Church is. Leaders and ordinary Christians must realize that unless we get politically informed, educated and involved on a practical level in the political process, we are offering this hard-earned democracy and it's mechanism of governance to those who desire to destroy Western civilization and it's legacy.

Enough talk about separation of church and state. When do we begin to talk about separation of Islam and state?

on the picture: Nancy Pelosi (left), Keith Ellison (right) and his wife Kim (middle) in the swearing in ceremony




ABOUT JEFFERSON'S QUR'AN

As scandalous as Ellison's demand to swear over the Qur'an was, very few people have asked why did the third president of the United States possess the Muslims' religious book. One person who did the asking was Dr. William P. Welty, Ph.D., publisher of the blog The Islam Commentaries.

In his article, he explains that Jefferson decided to study the book of Islam for himself because he wanted to understand better the enemy he was dealing with at that time. That's right, folks, you heard me right - the enemy.

I had a wonderful conversation with Dr. Welty the other day and with his permission I'm reprinting a portion of the excellent article he has put out on his blog. I highly encourage you to go there and read this one and many other resources he has.

"Jefferson needed that copy of the Qur'an because he was desperate to learn something about Islam from that religion's written de facto standard of all things Muslim.

Why? Because the United States was going to war way in the early 1800’s against conservative, Wahhabi-type, radical Muslims.

As only the third president of the United States, Jefferson had no CIA to feed intelligence data to him and to his national security advisor.

Come to think it, Jefferson had no national security officer.

Following the British, the second foreign enemy to come on the scene against nascent America was a bunch of conservative, Wahhabi-type, radical Muslims who were threatening our national security.

They were called the Barbary Pirates. They were from the Barbary Coast of North Africa. Allusion to the affair can be found in the words “to the shores of Tripoli" mentioned in the Marine Hymn.

During the early formative years of the United States, our forefathers fought an international group of terrorists who, like today's conservative, Wahhabi-type, radical Muslims, made no distinction between geopolitical nation states. Like their 21st century counterparts, the Barbary Coast pirates were equal opportunity terrorists.

So Jefferson figured that the best way to learn about the political, military, social, economic, and religious agendas of America’s enemies was to read the best text book on all things Muslim.

So he read the Qur’an. In what for his day was a state-of-the-art translation into English directly from the Arabic. Talk about flash traffic. Jefferson’s copy of the Qur’an equipped him with everything he needed to know how to respond to threats from the caliphates of the early 1800’s.

Thomas Jefferson opposed appeasement.

He opposed compromising.

He opposed supporting their regimes by paying tribute.

So in response to a declaration of war on the nascent United States of America by the Barbary Coast caliphates, Thomas Jefferson sent the USS Constitution to the Mediterranean in 1803...."

It's hard to imagine Ellison doesn't know why Jefferson possessed the book. It's a fact that the president sent the USS Constitution to the Mediterranean in 1803 in a response to a declaration of war on the United States by the Barbary Coast caliphates.

Ellison can't change history. But what he knows is that he can change the way people perceive history. He has attempted to achieve this by asking to swear over Thomas Jefferson's Qur'an. This aims at confusing the masses by giving publicity to the isolated fact that president Jefferson did have indeed a copy of the Qur'an. Taken out of context, this information can be misleading. "Oh, so Jefferson owned a Qur'an?", people will think. "I didn't know that. I wonder why he did. May be he was considering becoming a Muslim?"

Impossible? Hardly.

Most people's lives are too busy and they get the bulk of their information about world events from 15 minutes of the evening news or a local newspaper whose lead story is on obesity among pets. Cheap populism thrives on and benefits from the ignorance of the masses. This is what Keith Ellison counts on.

The best way to combat such sinister actions is to educate and enlighten as many as possible. Joseph Goebbels, Hitler's propaganda minister said this: "Propaganda has only one object - to conquer the masses. Every means that furthers this aim is good; every means that hinders it is bad."

It seems to me that Keith Ellison, shamelessly ignoring the historic context of Jefferson's owning the Qur'an, tried to further the Muslim agenda in the US and possibly try to introduce some revisionist version of US history in which Islam was part of the belief system of the founding fathers.

The truth is that Jefferson had to send USS Constitution to battle radical Muslims on the Barbary Islands of the Mediterranean. Now what you and I can do is send an email to Mr. Ellison, letting him know we are aware of his agenda.

Email Keith Ellison at: info@keithellison.org

Below is the email I sent to Mr. Ellison. You can use it as a template or you can write your own.

Mr. Ellison,

I'm fully aware that the reason president Jefferson possessed a copy of the Qur'an was not because he considered Islam in his pursuit of spirituality. Rather, it was for educational purpose and in relation to Jefferson sending USS Constitution to the Mediterranean to fight with Muslim radicals and pirates known as the Barbary Pirates.

Mr. Ellison, we will be following and covering closely your every political movement, while educating as many as possible of the cheap populist techniques you use in order to advance your Muslim agenda.

In conclusion, I would like to remind you that beyond serving the interests of the electorate of Minnesota's 5th district, you have attained a position in US Congress, which mandates you to seek the interests of all American people, which includes Christian, Jews and people from other religious groups. Any involvement with radical Islamic groups is of direct conflict with the very purpose of your being in Congress.

George P. Bakalov
Apple Valley, MN
Editor
www.middlebeast.org