George Sale's English Translation and Jefferson's Legal Reading of the Quran

Tazeen Ali explained that the Quran Jefferson owned was the 1734 English translation by George Sale and that it included a long introductory discourse portraying Islam as a system of law and governance. Ali noted Sale had studied Arabic and the Hadith, lending a degree of scholarly depth to the translation even as its stated purpose carried missionary aims.

"The stated purpose of his translation was to convert Muslims to Protestant Christianity," Ali said, describing the translation's mixed motives and its funding by an anti-Catholic missionary group. She emphasized that Jefferson used Sale's work as part of his legal and diplomatic reading, drawing on its legalistic content when thinking about divorce law and relations with North African polities.

Ali also pointed out that Sale's portrayal was more nuanced than earlier polemics: while labeling Islam a false religion, Sale at times defended Muhammad and pushed back against crude stereotypes. That nuance, Ali argued, made the translation useful to Enlightenment readers who sought to understand law and government beyond Christian Europe.