Advocating religious education for the differently abled

FOR many Muslims in Malaysia, going to religious classes and learning to read the Quran is part of everyday life. The classes are often well-organised with trained teachers and relevant learning materials that would provide students the basics of ibadah and create religious awareness.

But for those with special needs, this may not be the case.

According to Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s (USIM) Faculty of Quranic and Sunnah Studies (FQSS) senior lecturer Norakyairee Mohd Raus, when it comes to religious education, people with atypical levels of ability are often left out.

“If you look at religious schools and classes, there is no place for people with different abilities — like those with visual or hearing impairments or with learning disabilities. Therefore, there is a lack of understanding and less priority given to issues regarding special needs and no formal knowledge of how to teach those with special needs especially where religious education is concerned,” he said.

Norakyairee said the barriers for people with special needs comes in two domains: the individual domain where the barrier is the impairment or difference in learning ability, and the societal domain where the barrier is attitudinal and environmental.

To look into inclusivity in religious education, USIM established the Ibnu Ummi Maktum (UMMI) cluster at the faculty as a platform for research and services involving the special needs community. UMMI has grown from being a showcase and a special interest group and the next jump would be to morph UMMI from a cluster into a High Impact Centre of Excellence in 2025. Norakyairee currently heads UMMI.

Its philosophy is to continuously deliver education based on the Quran and sunnah by focusing on learning differences among persons with special needs. It also has a mission to be internationally recognised as a research and innovation centre for Quran and sunnah-based education for people with special needs, based on integration of Naqli (revealed) and Aqli (human) knowledge.

The cluster has numerous objectives — among them: to form a network of expertise and establish strategic partnerships with related institutions; and to enculturate the cohesion between theory and practice in teaching and learning to overcome religious challenges among those with special needs.

UMMI also aims to offer training and consultation in this area; to become an international centre of reference and introduce an Islamic integrated social model into the mainstream; and lastly, to produce holistic human resource personnel who firmly embrace Islamic values through voluntary work and services for the special needs community.

“Our areas of research include curriculum, teaching and learning, teaching aids, evaluation and diagnostics, management and administration, life skills management, intervention and therapy — with regards to education based on Quran and sunnah for the special needs persons.

“Our approach is ‘different, not less’ and that it is wrong to associate illiteracy with ignorance or stupidity,” said Norakyairee.

He said USIM kicked off its religious education initiative for people with special needs in 2006 when it embarked on a research on Braille Quran studies. This prompted the faculty to set up the Braille Application in Quran and Sunnah Studies — a compulsory course for students in the faculty — a first to be offered at higher education levels in 2008.

The effort later expanded to create religious education solutions for the hearing impaired and those with learning disabilities through collaboration with organisations like the Foundation of Quranic Education for Special Needs Children (also known as Yayasan Faqeh).

In 2012, students at the faculty were sent to Yayasan Faqeh to do work with special needs children there for their practical. The exposure and collaboration resulted in the establishment of USIM’s Friends of Faqeh group or better

If you look at religious schools and classes, there is no place for people with different abilities — like those with visual or hearing impairments or with learning disabilities.

Universiti Sains Islam Malaysia’s Faculty of Quranic and Sunnah Studies senior lecturer known as “Sahabat Faqeh” in 2015.

Sahabat Faqeh is a volunteer group who organises outreach programme for those with different abilities.

With the knowledge they gained through programmes at the faculty, members of Sahabat Faqeh organised periodic activities like “Kem Huffaz Pekak Remaja”, “Jom Dhuha”, “Dakwah Tanpa Suara” and more.

In terms of research and innovation, USIM has produced a Braille version of Iqra, interactive software for basic Quran studies and ibadah for the hearing impaired called i-Sign Quranis, as well as developed a religious studies audio book for the secondary school level called i-Talk.

“Next up is an inclusive mosque project — to face various issues in the community. Our part is to focus on issues faced by the differently abled but other universities may want to join in and focus on other aspects. We also want to drive mosque volunteerism to help identify and gather data on the demographics of the area.

“There is a gap between the older groups frequenting the mosques and the younger generation and we hope to bridge this and in doing so ensure that the mosque community will be a vibrant and beneficial one to be in,” he said.