I'm sure most people have heard of Rep. Virgil Goode of Virginia's attack on Rep. Keith Ellison of Minnesota's decision to swear in tomorrow using the Qur'an.
Take this Rep. Goode
But It's Thomas Jefferson's Koran!
Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, found himself under attack last month when he announced he'd take his oath of office on the Koran -- especially from Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode, who called it a threat to American values.
Yet the holy book at tomorrow's ceremony has an unassailably all-American provenance. We've learned that the new congressman -- in a savvy bit of political symbolism -- will hold the personal copy once owned by Thomas Jefferson.
"He wanted to use a Koran that was special," said Mark Dimunation, chief of the rare book and special collections division at the Library of Congress, who was contacted by the Minnesota Dem early in December. Dimunation, who grew up in Ellison's 5th District, was happy to help.
Jefferson's copy is an English translation by George Sale published in the 1750s; it survived the 1851 fire that destroyed most of Jefferson's collection and has his customary initialing on the pages. This isn't the first historic book used for swearing-in ceremonies -- the Library has allowed VIPs to use rare Bibles for inaugurations and other special occasions.
2 comments:
:) when you coming to visit? silly goose
hijabman
Someday I'm sure I'll run into you at a conference, and then we can talk WOT. I think we chatted waaay back before you went to Cairo. I really enjoyed reading your emails from there.
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