Thomas Jefferson's Koran - revisited

(Oh dear, I was working on this when my *&^% ISP went down for a week! Vox, please pardon my tardiness.)

Thanks to gracious commentor vox, for taking the time to stop by and discuss Jefferson's Koran and the Barbary Pirates. You got me thinking Vox, and your point is well taken that Jefferson:

"...was, as always, interested in finding out about the laws of other nations and cultures...."

Just ask Sally Hemmings! (But, I digress.)

You further add:
"He received Muslims in the President's House, and did not equate all Muslims with the Barbary Pirates."

Well, kum ba yah back at ya, bud. Jefferson is just like George Bush! For real! Think about it. George receives Muslims in the White House and he doesn't equate all Muslims with terrorists. Jefferson may have read the Koran but he was no fan of the jizya and he fought the Barbary Pirates because of it.

A victory that lives on in this line of the Marine Hymn.
"From the halls of Montezuma to the shores of Tripoli, we will fight our country's battles on the land as on the sea."

Regarding Jefferson's version of the Koran; it was the George Sale translation and Sale viewed his translation of the Koran into English as being a weapon in the conflict with the "Mohammedans".

Today he would have a fatwa against him for it ala Salman Rushdie and the Satanic Verses. Or Theo Van Gogh. Or Hrant Dink.

A copy of the George Sale translation can be downloaded at Project Gutenberg.

One explanation of the Sale translation can be found at this tripped out site here.

For more than you ever wanted to know about the koran's publication there's this:
"During the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, several translations appeared both in Latin and in French, and one of the latter, by Andre du Ryer, was translated into English by Alexander Ross in 1649. But by far the most important work on the Koran was that of Luigi Marracci which was published in Padua in 1698. George Sale's translation first appeared in November, 1734, in a quarto volume; in 1764 it was first printed in medium octavo, and the reprint of 1825 contained the sketch of Sale's life by Richard Alfred Davenant which has been utilized in the article on Sale in the Dictionary of National Bibliography. The Chandos Classics edition in crown octavo was first issued in 1877."

A copy of the Virginia Statute of Religious Freedom authored by Jefferson can be found here. View it in it's original form here.

Get your Thomas Jefferson action figure here.

Buy your very own copy (rare!) of Sale's Koran here.