Thomas Jefferson: An Unusual Leader
By Dr Ghulam M Haniff
St. Cloud, Minnesota
It is not likely that many people know of Thomas Jefferson, an unusual man who is given the credit for authoring the Declaration of Independence and for setting the stage for political events that subsequently followed. He was also acquainted with Islam which he had studied at college and combined it with law in order to enhance his understanding of the political system.
Thomas Jefferson was one of the few Americans who had lived in Europe prior to the outbreak of hostilities between the colonized and colonial subjects. Indeed, people in general, that is the colonials, had no realization that this individual knew something about Islam, during the time when Turkey was a dominant Islamic power and continued to be so until the outbreak the First World War.
Prior to his sojourn in Europe two of his colleagues, namely Benjamin Franklin and John Adams, had preceded him. John Adams has just preceeded Thomas Jefferson while Benjamin Franklin had made Europe virtually his home for many years. All of these individuals demonstrated their intellect by soaking up whatever knowledge remained to be gained. Most Muslims of this day, and perhaps of their time, did not know that Turkey was a major power at that time and had conquered most of Southern and Eastern Europe. In fact, Jefferson served as an ambassador to France and had the duty to keep an eye on Turkey and carefully follow its north-westerly movements. This was at a time when the revolutionary movement was just breaking out in the colonies.
Of the three, the oldest one was Benjamin Franklin who was the first to come to Europe much before the beginning of the revolutionary times. Even before his sojourn he had had developed a reputation as a printer, a scientist, and as a dabbler in technology activities of all type. In this quest for knowledge he documented the humor of the Anatolian villages and had travelled widely.
The other two were closer in age to one another and served in Europe at about the same time. These were John Adams, the second president of the United States, and Thomas Jefferson, the fourth president. Both these individuals took upon themselves the task of serving their country by gathering information on a variety of topics particularly the movement of theTurkish naval ships in the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.
It is not very well known that Turkey ruled significant portions of Europe until the time of the First World War. This knowledge is significantly well spread among the Muslims than among the people of Europe where it has largely been forgotten. About two hundred years after the Declaration of Independence the knowledge on the Turkish rule is now being resurrected significantly and upgraded.
At the time of Thomas Jefferson in 1776, one year after the Declaration of Independence, the ruler of Morocco gave recognition to the independence of the United States of America. This fact is hardly mentioned though it ought to be played up in the media and political circles.
It has already been mentioned that Thomas Jefferson purchased a copy of the Holy Qur'an to combine it with understand of the Ottoman State. His Qur'an was the second edition, printed in 1764, and was an English translation by George Sale. He apparently used the book well for studying, and had made copious marginal notes in his own handwriting. This volume apparently became a part of his library and ultimately was sold to the Library of Congress.
Jefferson tried to learn Arabic and wrote his Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom to protect “the Jew and the Gentile, the Christian and the Mahometan, the Hindoo and infidel of every denomination.” He was a forward-looking man and tried to open up the area of human rights to everyone. It is very seldom to find individuals of his caliber.
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