At an Islamic boarding school in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the Indonesian city Yogyakarta, the sound of Quranic recitation is nowhere to be heard.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
This is a religious school for deaf children, and here the students gesture rapidly with their hands, learning to recite the Quran in Arabic sign language.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Islamic boarding schools are an integral part of life in Indonesia, with about four million students residing in 27,000 institutions across the country, according to the religious affairs ministry.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
But this Islamic boarding school is one of a handful that offer religious education for deaf students in the world’s largest Muslim-majority country.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
“It all came from my restlessness when I found out deaf children in Indonesia did not know their religion,” school founder Abu Kahfi told AFP.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The 48-year-old set up the school in late 2019 after befriending several deaf people and realising they had no access to Islamic education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
It now hosts 115 deaf boys and girls from across the archipelago who share the dream of becoming a hafiz, a person who can memorise the Koran by heart.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Students also study Islamic law, mathematics, science and foreign languages so they can continue their education at a higher level.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
At an Islamic boarding school in a neighbourhood on the outskirts of the Indonesian city Yogyakarta, the sound of Quranic recitation is nowhere to be heard. This is a religious school for deaf children, and here the students gesture rapidly with their hands, learning to recite the Quran in Arabic sign language. Islamic boarding schools …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":83890,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"rop_custom_images_group":[],"rop_custom_messages_group":[],"rop_publish_now":"initial","rop_publish_now_accounts":{"facebook_108372464460192_245495985553329":""},"rop_publish_now_history":[],"rop_publish_now_status":"pending","footnotes":""},"categories":[17],"tags":[162],"class_list":["post-83889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","tag-indonesia"],"yoast_head":"\n