WASHINGTON, Jan 4: Congressman Keith Ellison triggered a contoversy on Thursday when he said he would take oath of his office on the Holy Quran. Mr Ellison, the first Muslim elected to the US Congress, plans to take the oath on Thomas Jefferson’s personal copy of George Sale’s 1734 translation of the holy book, published in London in 1764.

His decision caused an uproar in conservative circles. Some religious groups interpreted it as the rejection of the Bible and the Judeo-Christian teachings America derived its values from. Others, however, defended Mr Ellison, saying that the US constitution allowed him to take oath on any book he preferred.

In a recent interview to a local television, Mr Ellison said he did not understand why some people were upset over his taking of oath on a book he believed in.

“Whether you're a Jew, Christian, Muslim or of whatever faith, if you're a Congressperson, you’re going to swear to uphold the constitution,” he said.

The two-volume work, upon which Mr Ellison took oath, resides in the Library of Congress’s Rare Book and Special Collections Division. It is one of nearly 6,500 titles sold to Congress by the third US president in 1815 to replace the Congressional Library that had been destroyed when the British burned the Capitol during the War of 1812.

The Library of Congress is one of the largest libraries in the world and acquires books and periodicals on all subjects and in more than 470 languages.

George Sale’s English translation is credited with introducing the West to the Holy Quran. It is the first to have been translated directly from Arabic into English. President Jefferson’s copy was rebound by the Library in 1918.

There have been other translations of the holy book in English dated earlier than Mr Sale’s, but they are translation of other original translations. Library of Congress has one translation dated 1649 from French.

Mr Ellison, a Democrat, also has other serious differences with the Bush administration. He opposes the US occupation of Iraq, favours an immediate withdrawal and wants President Bush impeached.