Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders

Amazon.com Price: $27.95 (as of 06/05/2019 07:18 PST- Details)

Description

In this original and illuminating book, Denise A. Spellberg reveals somewhat-known but an important dimension of the story of American religious freedom – a drama through which Islam played a surprising role. In 1765, 11 years before composing the Declaration of Independence, Thomas Jefferson bought a Qur’an. This marked only the beginning of his lifelong interest in Islam, and he would go on to acquire a lot of books on Middle Eastern languages, history, and commute, taking extensive notes on Islam as it pertains to English common law. Jefferson sought to bear in mind Islam notwithstanding his personal disdain for the faith, a sentiment prevalent among his Protestant contemporaries in England and The us. But unlike most of them, by 1776 Jefferson could believe Muslims as future citizens of his new country.

Based on groundbreaking research, Spellberg compellingly recounts how a handful of the Founders, Jefferson foremost among them, drew upon Enlightenment ideas in regards to the toleration of Muslims (then deemed the ultimate outsiders in Western society) to fashion out of what had been a purely speculative debate a practical foundation for governance in The us.

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