Reports of Korans in American libraries go back at least to 1683, when an early settler of Germantown, Pa., brought a German version to these shores. Despite its foreign air, Adams’s Koran had a strong New England pedigree. The first Koran published in the United States, it was printed in Springfield in 1806.

Why would John Adams and a cluster of farmers in the Connecticut valley have bought copies of the Koran in 1806? Surprisingly, there was a long tradition of New Englanders reading in the Islamic scripture. No book states the case more plainly than a single volume, tucked away deep within the citadel of Copley Square — the Boston Public Library. The book known as Adams 281.1 is a copy of the Koran, from the personal collection of John Adams.

Thomas Jefferson, especially, had a familiarity with Islam that borders on the astonishing. Like Adams, he owned a Koran, a 1764 English edition that he bought while studying law as a young man in Williamsburg, Va. Only two years ago, that Koran became the center of a controversy, when the first Muslim ever elected to Congress, Keith Ellison, a Democrat from Minnesota, asked if he could place his hand on it while taking his oath of office — a request that elicited tremendous screeches from the talk radio extremists. Jefferson even tried to learn Arabic.

However, it ain’t over yet because everyone’s favorite idiot church, Westboro Baptist Church, says they’ll do the burning instead. Has everyone gone mad?!?

WARDAK, Afghanistan – Protests are sweeping Afghanistan in the wake of allegations that American forces had burned copies of the Koran during a patrol in a province near Kabul – a charge strongly denied by a United States military spokesperson.

Hundreds of students turned out in two separate demonstrations in the capital, Kabul, on October 25, one staged in front of the parliament building and another began at Kabul University and moved towards the center of town. There were no reports of casualties, although police were forced to fire warning shots in an attempt to control the crowds.

The Kabul disturbances were just the latest in a series of protests that followed rumors of a Koran-burning incident in central-eastern Wardak province. Students and residents in Wardak, Jalalabad, Khost, Logar and Kandahar also held demonstrations after reports began to circulate that US troops had burned Korans in Wardak, which borders Kabul.

The incident that sparked the unrest allegedly occurred on October 15, during a routine patrol by US forces near Khwajagan village. An American tank hit a mine, say villagers, and soldiers began a house-to-house search for insurgents. Not finding anyone, they allegedly burned copies of the Koran they found in one of the houses they had raided.

“The soldiers went to Khwaja Fazlurahman’s house,” said Khwaja Qandol, a resident of the village. “There were only women there at the time. When they did not find anybody, they took six copies of the Koran from the bookcase and burned them in the center of the room.” …