Mr. Ellison is Dead Wrong!

Recently elected to Congress, Mr. Ellison took his oath of office with his hand on the Quran owned historically by President Jefferson. This black native of Detroit , Michigan who converted to Sunni Islam, and confidant of many radical Black American Muslims said he used the book because Jefferson's realized the importance of the Muslim Faith.
This is not exactly the reason why Jefferson thoroughly read the Quran.
In the 10 centuries that preceded Jefferson becoming a member of the Continental Congress the Mediterranean and North African coastal villages were terrorized my Islamic "Barbary" pirates who raided their cities to pillage, kill the women and men taking what "booty" they found as well as the young girls for slaves and concubines.
In 1784 the Continental Congress met to discuss a solution to the raiding of American merchant ships in these waters by these same pirates. The majority of the delegates decided to pay ransom to the Muslims to allow safe passage thought these waters. Jefferson was one of the members that failed to agree with the concept of paying "tribute" to these Muslim Pirates.
Despite his objections President Adams arranged for payment of millions of dollars to the pirates for a few years.
Jefferson and Benjamin Franklin had been appointed to a Commission instructed to draw up some kind of a treaty with the Islamic "Barbary" states of Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Tripoli to stop the raiding of U.S. Ships, since the fleet no longer had the protection of the British Naval might after the revolutionary war.
However, in 1801 after his inauguration. Jefferson sent the U.S. Naval warships U.S.S. Constitution, Constellation, Philadelphia, Chesapeake, and three other warships to wage war on the Barbary pirates. The war, called the "Barbary Wars" lasted from 1801 -1804. Fortunately we won, or the Muslims would sing--"from the Halls of Montezuma to the shores of America!"
What Mr. Ellison fails to realize or acknowledge is that Jefferson had a copy of the Quran so he would know what the Muslim beliefs, hates and plans were for the future. He studied it well and broke the back of the Barbary pirates. "One must know your enemy to defeat him", a famous tactician once wrote!