What is the Quran of Thomas Jefferson?

Members of the U.S. Congress must swear an oath to defend the Constitution of the United States against foreign and domestic enemies, seeking God's help in this endeavor. Rashida Tlaib, a Muslim woman recently elected as a representative from Michigan, has made headlines not only for her election but also for taking her oath on the Quran. Tlaib is one of the few members of Congress to place her hand on a Quran that belonged to Thomas Jefferson, the third President of the United States, while swearing to uphold the Constitution. Before her, in 2007, Keith Ellison used the same Quran during a private swearing-in ceremony as the first Muslim representative in Congress. Jefferson's Quran is a translated English version from 1734, purchased from his personal library and now housed in the Library of Congress. According to the Smithsonian Institution, Jefferson bought this Quran while he was a young law student to study the influence of Islam on the legal systems of the world or to understand the legal system of the Ottoman Empire. Historians estimate that about 20% of the men and women brought to America as slaves between the 17th and 19th centuries were Muslims, suggesting that the presence of Islam in the early years of America's founding indicated greater diversity in society at that time. One of these Muslims was Omar ibn Said, who was brought from Senegal to Charleston, South Carolina, in 1807 and tried to maintain his faith but converted to Christianity after several years of imprisonment. Omar ibn Said wrote verses from the Quran on the walls of his prison. Jefferson's Quran, translated by the English orientalist George Sale, is referred to as 'Al-Quran Muhammad.' Jefferson wrote in his autobiography that he authored the historical document 'Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom' to protect the right to worship for 'Jews and non-Jews, Christians and Muhammadans, Hindus, and those of any religion, infidels.' The term 'Muhammadans' was used in older English texts to refer to followers of the Prophet Muhammad, while the term 'Muslim' is more commonly used today. The significance of Thomas Jefferson in establishing the foundations of religious freedom in America is such that his gravestone states, 'Here lies Thomas Jefferson, author of the Declaration of Independence, writer of the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, and father of the University of Virginia.' Now, nearly 200 years after Jefferson's death, Rashida Tlaib, a 42-year-old Palestinian-American Muslim, has sworn her oath on Jefferson's Quran to sit alongside U.S. lawmakers. Tlaib has stated that her goal in doing this is to 'show that people in America of diverse backgrounds share a common interest in freedom and justice.'