Ehsan Fazili/Srinagar

In a first such institution, 300 blind children are learning to read and study the holy Quran at Darul Uloom Nomania, Banihal in Jammu division of Jammu and Kashmir. The students include both boys and girls.

Founded in 2008 to promote education, training, and religious learning through Braille, the enrollment in this Islamic institute had doubled in a year.

“There were no facilities for learning the Quran for the visually impaired children in Jammu and Kashmir”, Mufti Mohammad Zulfikar Qasmi, Administrator of Darul Uloom Nomania, Banihal, told Awaz-the Voice. 

Mufti Zulfikar Qasmi was the first to sense the need to introduce Braille for learning the Quran.

The institute is a religious educational institution focused on the weaker sections of society, particularly physically disabled people in Jammu and Kashmir.

For this purpose, the Darul Uloom Nomania has collaborated with Idara-e-Deeniyat, Mumbai, which has advanced Braille Quran learning facilities.

“This institute imparts basic courses for disabled students and has done a lot of work on the Braille system, its teaching, learning, reading, writing, and proofreading”, Mufti said.

The Mumbai institute was the first to develop the Braille Quran. “I had the honour of proofreading it in 2011, during my studies,” says Mufti Mohammad Zulfikar Qasmi 

This has helped the visually-challenged students, who could not otherwise read the Quran and are now able to recite and also use their laptops, computers, and mobiles for such learning, he added.

Renowned Islamic scholar Sajjad Nomani, spokesperson of the All-India Muslim Personal Law Board, founded the Darul Uloom in Banihal town of Ramban district in the Jammu region in 2008.

Mufti Zulfikar Ahmad said that there are about 70,000 to 75,000 blind persons in Jammu and Kashmir. There is a need to involve them in normal activities and enable as many learners to read the Quran in Braille as they want.

Learning Braille requires technical assistance from individuals and institutions outside J&K, which are already equipped with the facilities and modern technological tools.

Darul Uloom Nomania organized its first Braille Quran conference in August last year. “While a small number of learners were being enrolled earlier, there was a sudden increase when 125 fresh students enrolled themselves after the conference last year”, Mufti Zulfikar Ahmad informed.

Another batch of 150 boys and 29 girls was enrolled earlier this year, while the second Braille Quran conference was held for two days on August 16 and 17, at the Darul Uloom in Banihal.

The fresh batch of 150 boys is accommodated at the Darul Uloom in Banihal, while 29 girls live at the Women’s wing at Zangaldan, Qazigund, South Kashmir.

Nayeema Akhtar, who is the wife of Hafiz Mohammad Akhtar Khan and is a visually challenged person, is head of the women’s wing.

Nayeema received training in learning the Braille Quran in Ahmadabad, Gujarat. She is also teaching the Braille Quran at the main institute in Banihal.

The students are taught the Braille Quran and also about modern devices like mobiles, laptops, computers, and other modern technological tools.

The second two-day Braille Quran conference was held on August 16. It focused on empowering over 70,000 visually impaired people in Jammu and Kashmir - promoting education, training, and religious learning through Braille among them.

The conference was jointly organized by J&K Handicapped Association, Srinagar, Madrasa Noorul Quran, Maharashtra, and Darul Uloom Nomania.

The participants were from different parts of the country and abroad. It was presided over by Moulana Haji Mohammad Hussain Abdul Qadir Mirchi, a South African citizen of Indian origin, who runs a special school for the visually impaired in his country.

At the Conference, Mufti Mohammad Zulfikar Qasmi urged the parents to equip their children not only with Quranic knowledge but also with modern subjects like science and mathematics.

Born in Banihal in 1978, Mufti Zulfikar Ahmad did his Hifz-e-Quran (Course for memorizing the Quran) from Madrasa Raheemiya in Bandipore, North Kashmir.

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He also studied Arabic and Mufti course from Deoband and has been associated with teaching and learning of Islamic studies, particularly for the handicapped people in Jammu and Kashmir.