TEACHING AL-QURAN TO DEAF STUDENTS: CHALLENGES FOR ISLAMIC EDUCATION TEACHERS

Abstract

Al Quran as a book of revelation, gives guidance to the muslims through sharing the principles on how life should be led by every muslim in order to achieve everlasting happiness and peace on earth and in the afterlife. It is obligatory for every faithful muslim to learn, appreciate and apply the teachings of Al Quran in their life. This obligation does not exclude people with disabilities such as the deaf, blind and mute. Nevertheless, the method of learning for them is quite different depending on their disability. This articletries to look into the problems encounteredduring the process of teaching and learning Al Quran to the deaf students in Special Education Schools and Special Integration Programs in secondary schools in Malaysia. This qualitative research involves an interview with 4 special education teachers for Islamic Education subject (GPIK) and 2 former students with hearing problems (BPP).). As a result, a few problems and challenges that hindered the teachers from successfully teaching these deaf students to master and appreciate the subject were found. The deaf students found it hard to learn as they have problems with the pronunciation and the reception of sounds. Furthermore, additional problems arise in the form of teaching aids, teachers’ lack of skills in the Fakih method and also the students’ short term memory problem. Henceforth, a few suggestions were made in order to solve these problems, such as creating teaching aids and materials that suit the students’ ability, exposing Fakih skill to the teachers, using Kiu pronunciation training to deaf students who still have a little hearing ability and providing suitable hearing aids materials. As a final point, teachers also need to upgrade their innovation in the teaching and learning of Al Quran to deaf students.