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clipped from thecaucus.blogs.nytimes.com

President Obama will soon receive a thank-you gift for his speech to the Muslim world in Cairo. Inspired by the address, in which Mr. Obama quoted the Koran, the Council on American-Islamic Relations plans to distribute 100,000 copies of the Koran to national, state and local leaders.

The council’s national executive director, Nihad Awad, said at a news conference in Washington today that the speech, in which Mr. Obama called for the end to mutual suspicion between Americans and Muslims, was “inspiring” and “historic.”

Over the next 10 years, the council plans to distribute one million copies of the text to the American public through its “Share the Quran”campaign.

“This project is pure education,” said Mr. Awad, who said the council was not attempting to proselytize.

“There must be a sustained effort to listen to each other; to learn from each other; to respect one another; and to seek common ground,” he said in his Cairo address