TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - The Ministry of Religious Affairs finalized the draft for the sign language Quran, ready to be printed.

"Alhamdulillah (Praise be to God), the drafting process of the sign language Quran is finished and will soon be printed. This will be the first Quran to be printed in sign language in Indonesia and even the world," said Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas on Monday, November 13, 2023, quoted from the official website of the ministry.

Yaqut hoped that the arrival of sign language Quran could facilitate disabled people to the holy book.

The head of LPMQ at the ministry's Research and Development Department Abdul Aziz Sidqi mentioned that the sign language Quran already existed in digital formats and the Pusaka Superapps owned by the Ministry of Religious Affairs.

Meanwhile, the printed version of the sign language Quran will be available at the end of this year.

First in the world

According to Aziz, the printed sign language Quran will be the first-ever globally. "Based on our studies, this would be the world's first sign language Quran for 30 juz," he said.

The printed sign language Quran will be thicker than the usual prints, due to the inclusion of sign language fonts.

The ministry plans to print the sign language Quran in two parts, with one part consisting of juz 1 to 15, and the rest will be included in the second part. The first edition will be printed around 1,000 to 2,000 copies.

During the drafting of this sign language Quran, the ministry cooperated with various experts, hard-of-hearing communities, and other relevant organizations.

"Together we draft the consensus for every letter, harakat, and punctuation," Aziz said.

The team also thoroughly checked everything from the first surah Al Fatihah to the last one, An Nas. "Since it is forbidden for Quran to lack or excess in even one harakat or letter. We ensured that the printed Quran will have no mistakes," he added.

The drafting process of sign language Quran started back in 2021. Meanwhile, the ministry released sign language Juz Amma in 2022.

NINIS CHAIRUNNISA

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