At 01:54 PM 12/22/98 -0500, you wrote:
>Dear Mr. Coates:
>
>I have been studying Ben Franklin lately.  Concerning the article I sent,
he
>seemed to reference Mohammed (Mahomet) and the Muslims
(Musselmen) often.  It
>appears that he had a great deal of respect for them.  Are there any
references in
>Jefferson's writings to this area of people and/or religion?  I am reading
>Franklin's "Narrative of the late Massacres" about   the attacks on
Indians by our
>"Christian" America .

Jefferson did mention the Muslims as being protected by religious
freedom, as in the following:

"[When] the [Virginia] bill for establishing religious freedom... was
finally passed,... a singular proposition proved that its protection
of opinion was meant to be universal.  Where the preamble
declares that coercion is a departure from the plan of the holy
author of our religion, an amendment was proposed, by inserting
the word "Jesus Christ," so that it should read "a departure from
the plan of Jesus Christ, the holy author of our religion."  The
insertion was rejected by a great majority, in proof that they
meant to comprehend within the mantle of its protection the Jew
and the Gentile, the Christian and Mahometan, the Hindoo and
infidel of every denomination." --Thomas Jefferson:
Autobiography, 1821.  ME 1:67

Other than that, he mentions them when speaking of the various
religions and their expectations for the future,  by saying,

"Some hundreds of millions of Mussulmans expect another prophet more
powerful than Mahomet, who is to spread Islamism over the whole
earth."  --Thomas Jefferson to John Adams, 1821.  ME 15:336

Jefferson was an extremely tolerant man.  He certainly stood up for the
right of every person to worship God according to their own conscience.

Best wishes for the holiday season,

Eyler Coates