Qur’an
Braille Workshop Oyo, Nigeria - December 2011
All Praise is to Allah (S.W.T.) the Lord
of the worlds and Peace and Salutations be upon our beloved
Prophet Muhammad (S.A.W.)
We thank Allah (S.W.T.) for giving us the opportunity to conduct
our first Qur’an Braille Workshop in Nigeria.
Our hosts were the Muslim Association for the Visually Impaired
in Nigeria (MAVIN) and the Joint National Association of Persons
with Disabilities (JONAPWD).
During our exhibition in Accra, at the 5th Africa Blind Forum
that was held in July 2011, Hajjah Sariat Adelakun, a Nigerian
sister who is currently pursuing her Master’s degree
at the University of Birmingham,expressed her desire for Madrassa
An-Noor for the Blind to come to Nigeria and teach the Blind
there the Holy Qur’an.
She mentioned to us that there are no facilities whatsoever
for the blind in her country who wish to learn about Islam
and that many Muslim blind people were leaving the fold of
Islam due to the scarcity of Islamic literature and the lack
of support for people with disabilities.
Persons who have had the fortune of visiting
the Sacred Mosques in Makkah Mukarramah and Madinah Munawwarah
may have noticed that two types of Qur’aans are placed
on the shelves here. One copy has a green cover and the other
a blue cover. Those who are not fluent in reading Arabic find
that they prefer the ‘Blue Cover’ Qur’aan
because the text herein contains the ‘ Extra Iraabs’,
ie: Zabar, Zer, Pesh etc, which allow for easier and correct
recitation.
We find a similar situation with the Holy
Qur’aan in Arabic Braille.Although Braille Qur’aans
are available from Saudi Arabia, Egypt, Jordan, etc, non-Arab
individuals prefer the Qur’aan that is printed or embossed
in Pakistan because of the extra diacritical signs in the
Arabic text. However, the manual Braille printing press that
was in existence in Karachi since the early 1940’s is
now obsolete. Production has ceased, leading to a crisis in
meeting the overwhelming need for Braille Qur’aans the
world over....
In 1986, in a small garage in Pietermaritzburg
with a carpet on the floor, a Braille (Perkins) typewriter and an
Arabic Braille Qaaida (Primer), a little Madrassa started with one
student and a teacher...
It gives us great pleasure to inform you that
Madressa An-Noor for the Blind, as an affiliate member of the South
African National Blind Council (SANBC)....
This captivating series of well researched books consists
of the following titles. Tell me about the Prophet
Muhammed PBUH, the Prophet Yusuf PBUH, the Prophet
Moosa PBUH, The Creation, Islamic History and Haj."
