Arabic sign language in Indonesia

A mere three in every 10 children with a disability in Indonesia have access to education, claim UNICEF. Nevertheless, a new religious boarding school is tackling this issue.

Reciting the Qur'an in utter silence, the Islamic boarding school for the deaf is filled with eager students learning Arabic sign language. These religious schools play a crucial role in Indonesian society, schooling over a million students in some 27,000 Islamic madrasas. But even as the world's most populous Muslim majority nation, Indonesia lacks the infrastructure to provide religious education to the hearing impaired.

Founded in 2019, the Islamic school is the brainchild of Abu Kahfi who was moved to establish it, after he found that his deaf acquaintances hadn't received any religious instruction.

Abu Kahfi: "It started 13 years ago, when I found out that some deaf people did not know their God and religion. I was moved to start a Qur'an group at home and now, 13 years later, I was able to build this boarding school for deaf children."

Given their mother-tongue, Bahasa Indonesian and their lack of any prior religious instruction, the 115 students ages 7 to 28 at the new madrasa for the deaf, take on the challenge of painstakingly learning Arabic sign language to become a hafiz - a religious adherent, who recites the Qur'anic verses by heart. For the hearing impaired, this is a 5 year journey.

Muhammad Rafa: "I am Rafa, 13 years old. I am from Tangerang. I chose to study in this boarding school because I aim to recite all parts of Qur'an by heart. I want to be a Qur'an teacher for children."

Islamic schools are Indonesia's poorest families' best bet at an education, but for the country's hearing impaired community, this new madrasa for the deaf is a beacon of hope.

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