Washington ? A jubilant Keith Ellison, the first Muslim elected to Congress, was sworn in to office Thursday holding his left hand on a leather-bound volume of a Quran that Thomas Jefferson once owned.

In a day of firsts, the 43-year-old lawyer and former Minnesota state representative was sworn in by Rep. Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.

“It’s a day of welcoming,” said Ellison, accompanied by his wife, Kim, and their four children. “It’s a day of more people coming into the process.”

“You sure know how to attract a crowd,” Pelosi said to Ellison as they prepared for his ceremonial swearing-in in a wood-paneled chamber of the Capitol before hundreds of journalists from around the world, including the Qatar-based TV channel Al-Jazeera.

Replied Ellison, “Maybe they’re here for you.”

Ellison then held his right hand in the air and placed his left hand on two brown leather-bound volumes of the Quran, which were held aloft by his wife, a teacher in St. Paul, Minn.