- Five experienced sign language translators available at the mosque
- “Among the deaf worshipers there are bachelors, teachers in Special Schools (SLB), and also graphic designer”.
JAKARTA – A local mosque in Mataram, Indonesia is providing sign language translators to assist deaf Muslims who seek taking part in Qur’an recitation activities, Tempo reported on January 21.
“We started this blessed initiative with a sum of five experienced sign language translators who are now available at the mosque. They have plenty of experiences in sign languages,” said Abdullah, a member of the Jamaah Tabligh.
The services, offered at At-Taqwa Grand Mosque, are planned to assist those willing to memorize and recite the Qur’an.
One of the sign language translators, Hariri, said: “the deaf congregation community has been regularly attending religious courses at this mosque since 2013. Among the deaf worshipers, there are bachelors, graphic designers, and teachers at special schools for handicapped children.”
He further informed that “there were 70 deaf and disabled people in Lombok island who had participated in the congregation Da’wah program.”
The events of the program usually take place every Friday night were about
30 people attend regularly. Most of whom are members of the Movement for Deafness Welfare (Gertakin) in Mataram region.
“Alhamdulillah, the Islamic courses can be a means of interacting with the outside world for the deaf community,” he said.
A member of the deaf community named Azmi regularly participates in the activity. He works as a teacher at Praya State Special School (SLBN).
“I regularly take part in this Qur’an recitation program. I even invite my students to take part in these activities,” he said happily.
The Qur’an was revealed to Prophet Muhammad (peace be upon him) through the archangel Gabriel who used to make the Prophet memorize the Qur’an and made him revise it every year in the month of Ramadan, the fasting month.
Memorizing the Holy Qur’an is one of the most important ways to preserve Allah’s message.
The others are to publish and distribute the book, or the text on the Internet and to recite the parts that one knows to other people.
What is Sign Language?
Sign languages, also known as signed languages are languages that use the visual-manual modality to convey meaning. The language is expressed via the manual sign stream in combination with non-manual elements.
This type of languages are full-fledged natural languages with their own grammar and lexicon. This means that sign languages aren’t universal or mutually intelligible, although there are also striking similarities among sign languages.
Linguists consider both spoken and signed communication to be types of natural language, meaning that both emerged through an abstract, protracted aging process and evolved over time without meticulous planning.
In fact, you shouldn’t confuse a sign language with body language, a type of nonverbal communication. The 2013 edition of Ethnologue lists 137 sign languages in the world.