What Thomas Jefferson learned from the Muslim book of Jihad

U.S. Veteran Dispatch article by Ted Sampley -- Excerpted info: Dem. Keith Ellison is now officially the first Muslim U.S. congressman. True to his pledge, he placed his hand on the Quran, the Muslim book of jihad and pledged his allegiance to the U.S. during his ceremonial swearing-in. The Quran Ellison used was once belonged to Thomas Jefferson, third president of the United States and one of America's founding fathers. Ellison borrowed it from the Rare Book Section of the Library of Congress. There is no doubt Ellison was right about Jefferson believing wisdom could be "gleaned" from the Muslim Quran. At the time Jefferson owned the book, he needed to know everything possible about Muslims because he was about to advocate war against the Islamic "Barbary" states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli.


In 1786, Jefferson, America's ambassador to France, and Adams, America's ambassador to Britain, met in London with Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja, the "Dey of Algiers" ambassador to Britain. The Americans wanted to negotiate a peace treaty based on Congress' vote to appease. During the meeting Jefferson and Adams asked Adja why Muslims held so much hostility towards America, a nation with which they had no previous contacts. In a later meeting with the American Congress, the two future presidents reported that Ambassador Sidi Haji Abdul Rahman Adja had answered that Islam "was founded on the Laws of their Prophet, that it was written in their Quran, that all nations who should not have acknowledged 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, and that every Musselman (Muslim) who should be slain in Battle was sure to go to Paradise."

For the next 15 years, America paid the Muslims millions of dollars for the safe passage of American ships and the return of American hostages. In 1800, the ransom and tribute amounted to 20 percent of U.S. government's annual revenues. Not long after Jefferson's inauguration as president in 1801, he dispatched a group of frigates to defend American interests in the Mediterranean, and informed Congress that America was going to spend "millions for defense but not one cent for tribute," Jefferson deployed the Marines and many of America's best warships to the Muslim Barbary Coast.>

During his administration, the Muslim Barbary States, crumbed as a result of intense American naval bombardment and on shore raids by Marines. Jefferson's victory over the Muslims lives on today in the Marine Hymn, with the line, "From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we will fight our country's battles on the land as on the sea." Jefferson had been right. The "medium of war" was the only way to put and end to the Muslim problem. Mr. Ellison was right about Jefferson. He was a "visionary" wise enough to read and learn about the enemy from their own Muslim book of jihad. Read Full Article

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Tags: Quran, Muslim, Thomas Jefferson