Friday prayers at Wyata Guna Mosque in Bandung, West Java, had just ended. However, Hendra Kusnandar remained seated in his spot.

His right hand was holding a book titled Reading Braille Quran module.

“Let’s just wait for the others to come,” said the 23-year-old visually impaired man.

Hendra was among 160 visually impaired participants of the Ramadhan Quran school at the mosque.

He said while he had learned Braille at 9 years old, reading Arabic Braille was a new challenge for him.

“There are differences in reading Braille for the Latin alphabet and Arabic Braille. When reading the Quran, some [Braille characters] have longer pronunciations, there are also combinations of words and letters,” he said.

In past years during Ramadhan, the Bina Netra Wyata Guna caring house, which is affiliated with the mosque, held activities that only focused on learning about Islam.

“In the past, participants only listened to sermons,” said Yayat Rukhiyat who wrote the module.

“We became concerned that many Wyata Guna alumni, even the active members, were still unable to recite the Braille Quran. Therefore, the caring house has collaborated with Ummi Maktum Voice to organize this workshop,” he added.

Assisted by nine instructors, Yayat said the workshop assisted people with any kind of visual impairment. “The module is designed to help those with any visual problem, from low vision to total blindness,” he added.

In the first stage, instructors teach Braille character pronunciation. In the following phase, participants are taught to recite the Braille Quran.

Hendra said he was grateful for having the opportunity to participate in the workshop. “The most difficult part is training your fingers,” he said.

While the regular Quran reads from right to left, the Braille Quran reads from left to right and has 50 distinguished letters, different from regular Braille, which has 63.

Hendra said it had taken only three weeks for him to master Braille. “With the Braille Quran, it takes more time,” he said.

Yayat said motivation was the key behind mastering the Braille Quran. “You will need at least 30 hours of training to be able to read Braille sentences in the Quran. You won’t be fluent yet, but at least you will have the basic skills to understand it,” Yayat said.

Asep, a staffer at Wyata Guna, said the Braille Qurans should not be piled up when stored, because Braille characters are embossed on paper. “If the embossment is flattened out, the pages may become unreadable,” he said.

For the Braille Quran, the 30 juz (sections) of the Quran are separated. “If the 30 Braille Qurans are put together, the length could reach 1.5 meters,” Asep said.

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