Indonesia Officially Releases World's First Sign Language Quran

Jakarta – The Ministry of Religious Affairs has completed the compilation of the 30 juz sign language Quran. This was conveyed by the Minister of Religious Yaqut Cholil Qoumas. 

"Alhamdulillah, the process of preparing the sign language Quran has been completed and we will print it soon. This will be the first sign language Quran in Indonesia, even the world," Minister Qoumas said in a written statement, in Jakarta, on Monday. 

Minister Qoumas hopes that the presence of this sign language Quran mushaf can facilitate access for people with disabilities to the holy book. 

"This has also been directed by President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) so that government services can be accessed by all levels of society," the Minister said. 

In addition to the sign language Quran copies, the Ministry of Religious Affairs also has a 30 juz standard braille Quran copy. Currently, the process of perfecting the printing of the Quran copies specifically for people with visual disabilities has been carried out.

Head of the Lajnah Pentashihan Mushaf Al-Qur'an (LPMQ) of the Research, Development and Training Agency of the Ministry of Religious Affairs, Abdul Aziz Sidqi, revealed that the sign language Al-Qur'an mushaf is available in digital format and can be accessed through the Ministry's Pusaka Superapps application. 

The ministry is in the process of printing the sign language Quran and plans to publish it by the end of 2023. 

Sidqi claimed to have conducted a study. "After we did some kind of study, this is the first 30 juz sign Quran mushaf in the world."

According to Sidqi, the sign Quran is expected to have thicker pages than the regular Quran. This is because this mishap not only contains the text of the Quran but will also contains sign letters.

The Quran copies will be printed in two volumes. The first volume covers Juz 1-15, while the second volume covers Juz 16-30. It is planned that the first edition will print around 1,000 to 2,000 copies.

There are two methods used in the Quran Sign Mushaf, namely the kitabah method and the recitation method. 

In the drafting process, Sidqi said the Ministry of Religious Affairs synergized with experts, friends of deaf people, and various related organizations.

"They formulated an agreement on letters, harakat, and punctuation. After that, the same team compiled it by involving all stakeholders involved,"

"We check one by one, we arrange the verses starting from Al-Fatihah, to An-Nas, we check and read one by one, the letters, the harakat, because this Quran cannot have less or more than one letter or harakat. We make sure that the Quran we print is valid, there are no more mistakes," he explained. 

Put attention to people with disabilities, Sidqi explained that the process of preparing the Sign Language Quran started in 2021 by compiling a guide to reading the Quran in sign language. 

This Sign Language Quran Mushaf is in line with Law No. 8/2016 on People with Disabilities which affirms the right of persons with disabilities to obtain accessible scriptural services and religious literature.

"By Law No. 8/2016 on Persons with Disabilities where it is mentioned in Article 14 in letter C, it is clearly stated that persons with disabilities also have the right to obtain accessible holy book services and religious literature," he concluded.