MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) – The only Muslim member of Congress is offering a unique perspective on an issue that’s led to deadly protests in Afghanistan.

Minnesota Rep. Keith Ellison is condemning the demonstrations that have killed two dozen people since the U.S. military mistakenly burned copies of the Koran. But he says the act itself is not against Islamic law.

“When a Koran gets old and worn out and the spine is breaking on it because it’s just old and people have used it a lot … the way you retire the book is that you burn it, and you bury the ashes,” he told WCCO Radio.

WCCO’s Chad Hartman Interviews Rep. Keith Ellison

While Ellison says he condemns the violence, he thinks it was proper for the Obama Administration to apologize to the government of Afghanistan to calm the situation there.

The Minneapolis democrat does differ with the president on the administration’s overall Afghanistan policy, however. Ellison wants troops to come home now rather than later.