Abu Dhabi: A rare translated copy of the Holy Quran owned by third US president Thomas Jefferson is on display at the USA pavilion in the Dubai Expo 2020.
Thomas Jefferson was the American president who ruled the United States from 1801 to 1809.
This is the first time the sacred text has left the United States since its arrival in the 18th century in colonial America and was acquired by the former president. A framed map of the holy city of Makkah was brought along with the Quran from the US Library of Congress.
“It will be on display in the #USAPavilion as an integral part of our theme, ‘Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of the Future,” the US pavilion at Expo 2020 Dubai said on its official social media account.
It is a two-volume second edition English translation by George Sale in 1734 and was printed in London.
Keith Allison, the first Muslim American representative, swore in 2007 to the Jefferson Quran, at his special request, and then Rashida Tlaib, the Palestinian-American representative of Michigan, swore an oath on this Quran in 2019.
Who is Thomas Jefferson?
Jefferson was a political thinker at the beginning of the founding of the American republic, the author of the declaration of independence, and one of the signatories of the declaration on banning the importation of slaves from Africa.
He was also the architect and author of laws and regulations protecting religious freedoms, which have been in force since 1786 throughout the United States.
According to the media reports, Jefferson bought two copies of the Quran—when he was a student at the faculty of law in 1764. The copy was however burnt down in a fire that hit his library, and then he bought a new copy of the Holy Qur’an.
Expo 2020 Dubai
The UAE opened the huge Expo 2020 Dubai exhibition on October 1, which is the largest global event since the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic and the first of its kind in the Middle East, which will continue until March 31, 2022.
Total of 411,768 ticketed visits in the first ten days since the world’s greatest show opened on October 1, organisers revealed on Monday, October 11, 2021.
Three million people watched the opening ceremony live on Expo virtual-the digital platform for the world Expo.
The world’s fair was held for the first time in London in 1851 at the purpose-built Crystal Palace.