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Hugh Fitzgerald: Denise Spellberg on Jefferson’s “Marked Interest” In Islam (Part Two)

Jan 26, 2019 10:00 am By Hugh Fitzgerald

Jefferson did not, despite Spellberg’s claim, demonstrate a “marked interest” in the faith. As a 22-year-old law student in Williamsburg, Virginia, he bought a Qur’an, just as he bought many books on many subjects, ultimately leaving a library of 6,487 books.  There is no evidence that Jefferson ever read his Qur’an. There are no notes he left about its contents, no marginalia written by Jefferson, no subsequent reference anywhere to his having read any part of the Qur’an. Spellberg surely knows that. But she is determined to endow that Qur’an purchase with significance. She claims that “the purchase is symbolic of a longer historical connection between American and Islamic worlds, and a more inclusive view of the nation’s early, robust view of religious pluralism.”

What “historical connection” was there between the “American and Islamic worlds” that she so casually alludes to, hoping we will not think too deeply about the claim? The main “connection” in our earliest days as a nation was that of warfare waged against us by the Muslim privateers — the “Barbary Pirates,” as they were known — who attacked Christian shipping in the Mediterranean, including the ships of the young Republic. It was during his negotiations in London in 1786 over these attacks with the envoy from Tripoli, and in subsequent dealings with the Barbary Pirates, that Jefferson received his greatest lesson about Islam.

Although Jefferson did not leave any notes on his immediate reaction to the Qur’an, he did criticize Islam as “stifling free enquiry” in his early political debates in Virginia, a charge he also leveled against Catholicism. He thought both religions fused religion and the state at a time he wished to separate them in his commonwealth.

Note that Spellberg assumes, and wants us to assume, that Jefferson read the Qur’an, but “did not leave any notes on his immediate reaction.” That implies he left some notes later on. But he did not ever leave any notes on the Qur’an. She should have written, to be accurate, that  “although there is no evidence that Jefferson read the Qur’an he bought as a student, he did criticize Islam as ‘stifling free enquiry.’”

Despite his criticism of Islam, Jefferson supported the rights of its adherents. Evidence exists that Jefferson had been thinking privately about Muslim inclusion in his new country since 1776. A few months after penning the Declaration of Independence, he returned to Virginia to draft legislation about religion for his native state, writing in his private notes a paraphrase of the English philosopher John Locke’s 1689 “Letter on Toleration”: “[he] says neither Pagan nor Mahometan [Muslim] nor Jew ought to be excluded from the civil rights of the commonwealth because of his religion.”

This is not “advocacy for” Islam, but advocacy for toleration of all faiths, including Islam. These are different things.

By the Virginia Statute for Religious Freedom, adopted in 1786 (before his fateful encounter with the Tripolitanian envoy in London), Jefferson intended that religious liberty and political equality would not be exclusively Christian. For Jefferson asserted in his autobiography that his original legislative intent in the Virginia Statute had been “to comprehend, within the mantle of its protection, the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan [Muslim], the Hindoo, and Infidel of every denomination.” The final version of the Virginia Statute, as adopted, left out this explicit statement; not everyone was prepared to cast the net of toleration that wide.

By including Muslims as future citizens in the 18th century, Jefferson expanded his “universal” legislative scope to include every one of every faith.

Ideas about the nation’s religiously plural character were tested also in Jefferson’s presidential foreign policy with the Islamic powers of North Africa. President Jefferson welcomed the first Muslim ambassador, who hailed from Tunis, to the White House in 1805. Because it was Ramadan, the president moved the state dinner from 3:30 p.m. to be “precisely at sunset,” a recognition of the Tunisian ambassador’s religious beliefs, if not quite America’s first official celebration of Ramadan.

There is a deliberate attempt here to make us believe  — it is more explicit in some of Spellberg’s other writings — that Jefferson was somehow recognizing Ramadan, and turning a state dinner into the “first Iftar dinner.” Jefferson was neither recognizing Ramadan nor putting on an Iftar dinner. A little history will help: Sidi Soliman Mellimelli came to Washington as the envoy of the Bey of Tunis. The Americans had blockaded the port of Tunis in order to force the Bey to halt his attacks on American shipping. Mellimelli was sent to make an agreement that would end the blockade. Invited by Jefferson to a dinner at the White House set for 3:30 (dinners were earlier in those pre-Edison days of our existence), he requested that it be held after sundown, in accordance with his Muslim practice, and Jefferson, a courteous man, obliged him. There is no hint that the dinner had changed in any way; no one then called it, or thought of it, as an “Iftar dinner.” Mellimelli himself never described it as an “Iftar dinner.” There is no record of it being anything other than the exact same dinner, the same menu, with wine (no removal of alcohol, as would have been necessary had it been a real Iftar dinner), the only change being that of the three-hour delay until sunset.

Muslims once again provide a litmus test for the civil rights of all U.S. believers. Today, Muslims are fellow citizens and members of Congress, and their legal rights represent an American founding ideal still besieged by fear mongering, precedents [sic] at odds with the best of our ideals of universal religious freedom.

Denise Spellberg alludes to islamocritics who she claims are still “besieging American ideals” with “fear mongering.” It is not, pace Spellberg, “fear mongering” to point out the 109 Qur’anic verses that command Muslims to engage in violent Jihad (such as 2:191-194, 4:89, 8:12, 8: 60, 9:5, 9:29, 47:4), that Muslims are told in those verses to “fight them [the Unbelievers] wherever they are,” to “smite at their necks,” and to “strike terror” in their hearts. It is not “fear mongering” to note that Muslims are taught that they are the “best of peoples” and Unbelievers “the most vile of created beings.” It is not “fear mongering,” but perfectly legitimate, to ask what we are to make of such comments by Muhammad in the Hadith as “war is deceit” and, still more significant, his claim that “I have been made victorious through terror.” And if any “American ideals” are being besieged, it is not that of freedom of religion but rather, that of freedom of speech, at the hands of those who wish, like Spellberg, to impugn and drown out those well-informed islamocritics.

Had Jefferson been aware of Locke’s four criteria for “exemptions” from religious toleration, I suspect he would have been in agreement. But even had he continued to believe that Islam was entitled to toleration, that never meant he approved of the faith. He was horrified by the explanation offered by the Tripolitanian envoy in 1786 for the attacks on Christian shipping; he understood that Islam discouraged free inquiry; he was determined to use force against the Barbary Pirates, which he did as soon as he became President in 1801, for he knew from both his experience, and his study of history, that Muslims would respond, and submit, only to such force. If Islam was, as Spellberg disingenuously insists, early on “part of America’s story,” it was, as Jefferson saw for himself, not a very good part.

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Filed Under: Featured, Hugh Fitzgerald, Useful idiots Tagged With: Denise Spellberg, Thomas Jefferson


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Comments

  1. James Hilborn says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 10:23 am

    Well, he did declare war on them. That says something.

  2. Kathleen Wallace says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 10:35 am

    In a sense Islam was at the beginning of our nation’s founding but not in a good way. The conquest of Constantinople by Muslims was the impetus for Columbus’ initial voyage of discovery since that event effectively closed down the Silk Road by which early traders brought goods from the Orient to European markets. Muslims also were often middlemen in the African slave trade to the Americas because for around 10 centuries prior to the discovery of the Americas, they had already been supplying black slaves to Muslim nations in North Africa and the Middle East.

    Further, while Jefferson may have believed in the toleration of all religions, he obviously also believed that Muslims had to respect the rights of others since he was the one that initiated the first Barbary War.

    • Michael Copeland says

      Jan 26, 2019 at 12:34 pm

      Remember that those black slaves obtained supplied to Muslim nations were single-use. They had to be continually replenished.

  3. WPM says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 10:54 am

    He sent our navy and Marines to end the Moslem Pirates raiding our ships. President Jefferson wanted a separation of religion and government to the rule of law in this country ,Islam does not recognize the separation of religion from government as per Sharia law . He said {Jefferson} that America would tolerant other religions {Jewish ,Islam .ect} does not mean he is endorsing or encouraging their practices. I tolerant loud obnoxious people around me on public transportation , I do not encourage people to be loud and obnoxious . It does not make me loud or obnoxious ,if that loud and obnoxious person threats others safety he should be arrested. Islam is loud and obnoxious when not in power and violent when it gets into power .Just because he move a dinner meeting with a Moslem leader to try to come up with a solution short of going to war with Moslem pirates ,does not make him think Islam teaching is the right or good way to follow the American dream or equality of all people.

  4. Walter Sieruk says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 12:07 pm

    Regarding the topics of religion, Thomas Jefferson and mind control. As for the religion part, its good to the specific and clear about the religion of Islam. For one of the many ways to define this religion is “that Islam is a religious /political sharia law based system which has complete and total tyrannical mind control over the idea’s ,thoughts , beliefs and behavior millions of people wrong the world. ”

    Therefore the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson may apply to all this For Mr. Jefferson had declared “I have sworn upon the alter of God eternal hostility over all forms of tyranny overt he mind of man.”

  5. Walter Sieruk says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 12:17 pm

    Concerning one of the fruits of Islam which is ISIS and connecting the violent and murderous Islamic terror entity with the wisdom of Thomas Jefferson regarding the need of Americans being vigilant this this twenty -first century is thus explain by the following.

    We may all be sure of terrible reality that the Muslims who are the jihadist members of that vicious, brutal and murderous jihad entity, ISIS, are still scheming future Islamic t terror/murder attacks in the USA both against the American citizens and this nation as a whole. Nevertheless, we ,as Americans , should not live in fear nor be afraid to go to different places or do different things out of being afraid of an ISIS jihad attack . For to live in fear would make the jihadists of ISIS happy.
    Still, even though we need not live in fear we should be alert and aware of our surrounding as likewise be on the lookout for anything appears wrong or out of place. As in “What’s wrong with this picture?” Then if anything is seen that doesn’t seem right then go and inform and right person about it.
    For example , that tee -shirt vendor in New York City , at times square, who saw some smoke come out of a parked van .So he went a told police officer about it. As it has been said “If you see something, say something.” This may be put in another way, be the words of a former US President, Thomas Jefferson, For his wise words apply, even more now, then they did in his own time. For Mr. Jefferson declared “Let the eye of vigilance never be closed.”

  6. revereridesagain says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 1:25 pm

    I notice this pseudo-scholar lists this among her “awards and honors”

    “I-CAIR Faith in Freedom Award from the Council American-Islamic Relations, Cleveland, Ohio Chapter, “For promoting a better understanding of the history of religious freedom in America and for writing Muslims back into our nation’s founding narrative through the extraordinary and illuminating scholarly work, Thomas Jefferson’s Qur’an: Islam and the Founders,” May 11, 2014.”

    The dissembling thugs at CAIR must indeed be delighted to tout this kafir uncovered meat as a colleague so long as it suits their purpose. And she, of course, is content to travel the left-hand path (sometimes occultist terminology fits so well) with these subjugators of women, since it suits her wider political purposes.

    • gravenimage says

      Jan 26, 2019 at 5:59 pm

      Good points.

  7. observer says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 5:41 pm

    Fur goodness sake…
    By the time I was 30 I had bought both the qur’an and the Bagavad Gita.
    The qur’an arrived when i was about 23.
    I remember being bored by it and bring unable to continue reading it.
    I no longer possess it and can’t remember what became of it.
    The Gita as I recall I acquired from someone standing in the street handing them out. I happened to pass by and was given it.
    By this time I was already Christian.
    I didn’t delve into the Gita much but as I recall, I took from it more than the qur’an.
    I don’t what became of it in the end.
    So I’m not sure what anyone should deduce from an individual’s ‘possession’ of such books.

    Today my interest in the qur’an stems in the main from what Robert Spencer and the likes of David Wood have to say, which, frankly, I find both bizarre and chilling. I’m much more interested in what the scholars and ex-muslims have to say on this book than reading it for myself…. it would put me to sleep. Hearing these scholars discuss the teachings of muhammed (npbuh) and his so-called god has been equivalent to wading into the depths of hell.

    Who needs a straightjacket when you have islam ?

    Very, very life-denying.
    Very dark.
    How does any individual flourish within the confines of such rigidity ?

    • Colin B. says

      Jan 27, 2019 at 3:40 am

      Islam encourages hatred and contempt for non-believers. It commands violence against them. It countenances the rape of their women and the theft of their goods. This is merely following the injunctions of the Qur’an and the example of Mohammad, the ‘perfect man’ for Muslims who is is described in the Qur’an as a ‘beautiful pattern’ of conduct.

      Is it any wonder that a religion which appeals to some of the worst in human nature should be making converts among prison inmates?

  8. gravenimage says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 5:55 pm

    Hugh Fitzgerald: Denise Spellberg on Jefferson’s “Marked Interest” In Islam (Part Two)
    …………………….

    This whole thing is absurd. Spellberg has a history of whitewashing Islam.

  9. ntesdorf says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 6:01 pm

    Thomas Jefferson certainly studied Islam and came to realise that it was not even good in parts. Knowing this, he initiated the first Barbary Pirate War.

  10. Will Caton says

    Jan 26, 2019 at 9:50 pm

    But what about this excerpt about Jefferson’s encounter with Muslims: “But one cannot get around what Jefferson heard when he went with John Adams to wait upon Tripoli’s ambassador to London in March 1785. When they inquired by what right the Barbary states preyed upon American shipping, enslaving both crews and passengers, America’s two foremost envoys were informed that “it was written in the Koran, that all Nations who should not have acknowledged their authority were sinners, that it was their right and duty to make war upon whoever they could find and to make Slaves of all they could take as prisoners, and that every Mussulman who should be slain in battle was sure to go to Paradise.” (It is worth noting that the United States played no part in the Crusades, or in the Catholic reconquista of Andalusia.) (SOURCE: https://www.city-journal.org/html/jefferson-versus-muslim-pirates-13013.html) Moreover, history shows that it was Jefferson that created the U.S. Marines, mainly as a means to fight the Barbary Pirates who were maurading U.S. and other non-muslim country’s ships, confiscating their cargoes and enslaving their crews. The fact that Jefferson bought a Quoran doesn’t imply he wanted to convert; he simply wanted to understand his enemy.

  11. Colin B. says

    Jan 27, 2019 at 3:25 am

    Islam is as much a threat to the `Western way of life as Soviet Communism ever was and arguably more of one.

    All religions are foundational to a way of life. Christianity has been foundational to the West. But because of Christianity’s emphasis on freedom of conscience, freedom of conscience, politics and religion has become a defining characteristic of the West.

    Islam on the other hand denies freedom of conscience. All must submit to Islam, believers or not; and Shariah Law is the ideal which a Muslim must aim for. The penalties decreed by Allah for those who refuse to submit are horrific.

    • gravenimage says

      Jan 28, 2019 at 10:51 pm

      +1

  12. vannboseman says

    Jan 27, 2019 at 6:14 am

    Hugh Fitzgerald said, “There is no evidence that Jefferson ever read his Qur’an. There are no notes he left about its contents, no marginalia written by Jefferson, no subsequent reference anywhere to his having read any part of the Qur’an.”

    I am not sure that this is true. I recall that Jefferson had a crisis of faith. He explored a number of religions and ultimately returned to Christianity. He made notes concerning his exploration. I recall, perhaps erroneously, that at this time he learned some Arabic and explored Islam. If this is true, then he would likely have read some of the Qu’ran. His desire was that his notes were to remain private. However, his wishes were not respected and these notes were published after his death.

    Jefferson was a towering genius. The nature of his mind was that he would, from a base of tradition, explore ideas. He was a natural rights philosopher in his own right adding to the body of knowledge of natural rights begun long ago by Thomas Aquinas. I do not agree with everything he came up with based on his knowledge, but I do recognize him as the country’s greatest advocate of the Constitution and natural rights.

    • gravenimage says

      Jan 28, 2019 at 10:59 pm

      Jefferson read and spoke English, French, Italian and Latin. He also read Greek and Spanish. In addition, he owned dictionaries, vocabularies, and grammars in Arabic, Gaelic, and Welsh.

      There is no indication that he made a special study of Arabic, let alone converted to Islam.

  13. jewdog says

    Jan 27, 2019 at 6:28 am

    Maybe I missed it, but I couldn’t find any references to the Barbary aggression in this student’s writing, at least as quoted. That’s rather significant if one were to discuss Jefferson’s attitudes towards Islam. It just seems like another disingenuous academic fraud.

  14. Kepha says

    Jan 27, 2019 at 9:41 pm

    I would not be surprised if Jefferson actually read the Qur’an in translation. He was a curious and intelligent man who amassed a formidable personal library. Not having either TV or internet in his day, reading was perhaps his chief form of entertainment and source of new information. But reading something doe not necessarily mean that you embrace the message of the work read.

  15. J D S says

    Jan 27, 2019 at 10:03 pm

    It’s good to know of all religions but not good to follow blindly ” those “or I should say “the one religion “(questionable) that promotes hatred and murder among many other atrocious acts. Making Islam The so called religion that should be shunned…no…banned as the most degrading piece of garbage on the face of the earth…..Pray that it’s adherents will see the light before they have to be placed on the left hand of God with the other goats and then face that awful Lake of Fire.

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