Thomas Jefferson's Koran and Muslim Barbary Pirates

Keith Ellison, a Muslim, was sworn in to the United States Congress with a Koran. There is much being made of the fact that it was Thomas Jefferson's Koran, suggesting that he was sympathetic to the Islamic faith.

I suggest the opposite to be true. President Jefferson was a learned man and as such recognized the value of research when confronting a new problem. One such problem he faced during his time in office was how to wage a successful military campaign against the Islamic pirates operating out of the North African Barbary states. Reading the Koran would be instructive in the cultural perspective from which these pirates would be fighting.