Menunjukkan toleransi beragama. ----- Original Message ----- From: Dwi W. Soegardi To: wanita-muslimah@yahoogroups.com Sent: Thursday, January 04, 2007 2:50 AM Subject: [wanita-muslimah] Anggota Kongres Keith Ellison bersumpah di atas al-Quran Thomas Jefferson
Keith Ellison, muslim Amerika pertama yang terpilih menjadi anggota Kongres, akan mengambil sumpahnya dengan al-Quran. Beberapa waktu lalu, seorang anggota Kongres lainnya melancarkan protes atas rencana tersebut, berdalih Amerika adalah negara yang didirikan di atas nilai-nilai Judeo-Kristiani, sudah seharusnya hanya Bibel yang dipergunakan. Ellison tetap bersikukuh dengan rencananya, dia menegaskan kitab apapun yang dipakai untuk bersumpah adalah urusan pribadi, sedangkan satu-satunya dokumen yang mempersatukan semua unsur adalah Konstitusi Amerika Serikat. Berita terbaru: mushaf al-Quran yang akan dipakai Ellison nantinya adalah edisi terjemahan bahasa Inggris cetakan tahun 1764, yang pernah dimiliki oleh Thomas Jefferson, penyusun Konstitusi, mantan Presiden dan Bapak pendiri Amerika. Kitab ini sekarang disimpan dengan sangat hati-hati di dalam Perpustakaan Kongres Amerika. Akankah nama Jefferson dan Quran "keramat"nya membungkam para pengritik Ellison? FYI: - tidak semua pejabat pemerintah Amerika bersumpah di atas Bibel ketika dilantik. Beberapa pejabat beragama Yahudi juga menolak. Bahkan Presiden John Quincy Adams bersumpah di atas bundelan undang-undang. - upacara pelantikan anggota Kongres "resminya" hanyalah berupa afirmasi, beramai-ramai, tanpa dokumen agama apapun. Baru setelah itu untuk keperluan dokumentasi, satu persatu "mengulang" sumpah di samping Ketua DPR dengan pilihan kitab sucinya. salam, DWS http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070103/ap_on_go_co/ellison_quran Congressman to be sworn in using Quran By FREDERIC J. FROMMER, Associated Press Writer2 hours, 45 minutes ago Rep.-elect Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, will use a Quran once owned by Thomas Jefferson during his ceremonial swearing-in Thursday. The chief of the Library of Congress' rare book and special collections division, Mark Dimunation, will walk the Quran across the street to the Capitol and then walk it back after the ceremony. Ellison, D-Minn., contacted the library about the book last month, Dimunation said. Some critics have argued that only a Bible should be used for the swearing-in. Last month, Virginia Rep. Virgil Goode (news, bio, voting record), R-Va., warned that unless immigration is tightened, "many more Muslims" will be elected and follow Ellison's lead. Ellison was born in Detroit and converted to Islam in college. Ellison spokesman Rick Jauert said the new congressman "wants this to be a special day, and using Thomas Jefferson's Quran makes it even more special." "Jefferson's Quran dates religious tolerance to the founders of our country," he added. An English translation of the Arabic, it was published in 1764 in London, a later printing of one originally published in 1734. "This is considered the text that shaped Europe's understanding of the Quran," Dimunation said. It was acquired in 1815 as part of a 6,400-volume collection that Jefferson sold for $24,000, to replace the congressional library that had been burned by British troops the year before, in the War of 1812. "It was a real bargain," Dimunation said. ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ No virus found in this incoming message. Checked by AVG Free Edition. Version: 7.1.409 / Virus Database: 268.16.3/614 - Release Date: 1/2/2007 [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
