Thomas Jefferson was expecting a dinner guest. It was December 1805 and the nascent republic that Jefferson led was mired in a series of battles with the Barbary States of North Africa, whose pirates were intercepting vessels and imposing medieval punishments on passengers who refused to pay t ribute. Jefferson’s guest this evening was Sidi Soliman Mellimelli, the envoy from Tunisia who had come to America for diplomatic meetings and whose presence had aroused the interest of locals. His robes

Tag-uri: Islam