RAMADAN … 30 Years After The Declaration of American Independence
On Dec. 9, 1805, Jefferson invited Sidi Soliman Mellimelli to dinner at the White House. Mellimelli, a representative of Tunisia, was a Mulim and could not eat during the fast of Ramadan.
Meal time was usually set at 3:30 p.m., but Jefferson moved it back to “precisely at sunset,” to accommodate the religious beliefs of his guest.
In 1765, Jefferson purchased a two-volume English translation of the Quran for his personal library, a collection that became, in 1815, the basis of the modern Library of Congress.