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Qur’an: Surah Al-Fatiha in British Sign Language

Published

June 30, 2009

Presenting a brand new video from SignLabs.org: a translation of the first surah of the Qur’an into British Sign Language:

Please rate, share & comment!

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No Qur’an recitation was added to the soundtrack, as the video was primarily intended for a Deaf audience. A thought: how grateful are we, the hearing, for the ability to listen to the words of Allah? One more reason to recite “Alhamdulillahi rabbil ‘alameen” with increased sincerity.

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Keep supporting MuslimMatters for the sake of Allah

Alhamdulillah, we're at over 850 supporters. Help us get to 900 supporters this month. All it takes is a small gift from a reader like you to keep us going, for just $2 / month.

Related Topics:Deaf Quran Koran BSL British Sign Language

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Dr. Mehzabeen b. Ibrahim (iMuslim)

Dr Mehzabeen b. Ibrahim joined MuslimMatters as a blogger in late 2007 under the handle 'iMuslim', whilst still a struggling grad student. Since then, she has attained a PhD in Molecular Biology and a subsequent Masters in Bioinformatics, and now works as a specialist in this field for a well-known British, medical charity, masha'Allah. Somewhere in between she found the time to get married, alhamdulillah. She likes to dabble in photo and videography, a sample of which can be found on her personal blog: iMuslim.tv.

24 Comments

Amatullah

June 30, 2009 at 12:39 AM

MashaAllah, great work by signlabs! I love how the video is ‘silent’.

Alhamdulillah in all situations. It is easy to forget that these faculties are not our right but rather blessings from Allah..We’re so used to hearing, seeing, walking that we can’t imagine those who live without these abilities. May Allah make us among His grateful servants.

Reply
emirzad

June 30, 2009 at 6:50 AM

assalamualaikum, subahan Allaah. brilliant!
ameen to above duas

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Umm Maryam

June 30, 2009 at 7:19 AM

Mashaallah.Subahanallah.

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Mehedi Islam

June 30, 2009 at 7:43 AM

Masha’Allah, amazing!

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monkeynursemd

June 30, 2009 at 8:56 AM

mashallah. simply amazing! it’s almost as if we can feel the words.

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Ahmed

June 30, 2009 at 9:28 AM

I’m learning American Sign Language (ASL)…looking forward to seeing work done in ASL too!

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- iMuslim
  
  June 30, 2009 at 11:57 AM
  
  Masha’Allah, I hope your studies are going well. If you haven’t already, hook up with the guys at Global Deaf Muslim. They are US-based, and may be able to help you practise your new skills, insha’Allah. :)
  
  Reply
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umA

June 30, 2009 at 10:22 AM

The cool thing about quranic translation into sign language is that (I’m guessing )you don’t have antiquated words like wrath, so it’s probably more accessible to a BSL audience of all ages, compared to our English translations.

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- iMuslim
  
  June 30, 2009 at 11:50 AM
  
  BSL is definitely simpler than English, but for the same reason it can sometimes prove difficult to translate the full meaning of an ayah with a limited vocabulary.
  
  The brothers who worked on this video (Owais & Khalid) have been trained to BSL Level 4, masha’Allah. Very few people (even fewer Muslims) are that proficient in sign language. My work with them has revealed a lot about the translation process.
  
  Reply
LivingHalal

June 30, 2009 at 3:23 PM

A great reminder for the blessing of hearing.

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muhajjirah

July 1, 2009 at 4:38 AM

asalaam alaikum warahmat ALLAH wabarakatu,

my daughter is profoundly deaf using an oral deaf approach- no sign, she has a cochlear implant and is bilingual in english & arabic wa’alhmadulilah. seeing this video humbles me
and makes me grateful for what she has, and it makes me also appreciate the blessings of language with or without sound which is nothing short of endless miracles from As-Sami’..Allah, the All-Hearing.
jazakAllah kheir for posting.
asalaam alaikum,

muhajjirah

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Anonymous

July 1, 2009 at 10:41 AM

My future sister-in-law is hearing impaired. So, I need to learn this.

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Stranger

July 4, 2009 at 11:46 PM

Mashallah, this is wonderful. May Allah increase their work and good for our brothers and sisters.

One question: How much different is BSL from ASL?

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- iMuslim
  
  July 5, 2009 at 7:56 AM
  
  Quite different… though they share some common signs.
  
  Reply
a sister

July 5, 2009 at 3:20 PM

MashaAllah! Ameen to the duas above. May Allah put barakah in their work.

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Gohar

July 5, 2009 at 3:33 PM

This is probably amongst the best islamic work anyone is doing anywhere in the world.

How are sign labs getting the “sign” out. It would be good to see some reactions from some of our deaf brothers and sisters to this.

Reply
- iMuslim
  
  July 5, 2009 at 7:28 PM
  
  Owais Murad, the Deaf brother signing in the video, is one of the head peeps of Muslim Deaf UK. Himself, and a few other brothers, tour the UK on a regular basis, giving Islamic talks in BSL. I passed the video URL onto him, so he could then forward it to the MDUK mailing list, insha’Allah.
  
  Reply
Ayse-Naima

July 7, 2009 at 12:10 AM

Assalaamu Alaikum,

I am searching for a video or database with info on Islamic signing. We have a toddler that has Down Syndrome and we use ASL for her. I am looking for signs such as Assalaamu Alaikum, Jazak-Allahu Khayran, Islam…things of that nature. Can you make a video of these types of phrases or refer me to a place where I can find them? I realize that BSL has a larger database for Islamic signing, so I’d be just as happy to use BSL for this.

Jazak Allahu Khayran.

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- iMuslim
  
  July 7, 2009 at 6:49 PM
  
  Wa ‘alaykum salam wa rahmatullah sis
  
  We will be making such videos in the near future insha’Allah. Please sign up to the various mailing lists/groups we have listed on the SignLabs website to keep informed of when they are released, insha’Allah.
  
  If you want something in ASL, I will be happy to discuss making such a video with the brothers at Global Deaf Muslim. They are already producing a mirror of our Al-Fatiha video in ASL. So I don’t think it will be a problem, insha’Allah. :)
  
  Reply
Islamic Lectures

November 16, 2009 at 12:14 AM

Assalamu alaikum,

Nice blog, the content in this blog is very useful to the people who are looking out for islamic knowledge.

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nurulhassan

April 23, 2010 at 9:42 AM

hi assalamuaikum. please you can help to me. i ve body deaf only. now i went like learn qu’ran signs language. please you help to me come london stay?? our take care prayer. by nurulhassan

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Abdullah

January 22, 2013 at 9:02 AM

As-salamu alaykum
I can’t view the video…it’s private :(

Reply
- Aly Balagamwala | DiscoMaulvi
  
  January 23, 2013 at 11:29 PM
  
  Our editorial staff has been informed and they are looking into it.
  
  Reply