About Yayasan Raudhatul Makfufin

Raudlatul Makfufin is well known in Indonesia as a place to learn about Islam for the visually impaired. This foundation is already quite old and was founded in 1983 by Ustz Halim Soleh (deceased), a blind person himself who was also a religious teacher .

The name of the foundation also began with a vision by Ustaz Halim to provide religious education for the blind.Thus , "Raudlatul Makfufin” in Arabic means, garden for the visually impaired, said Nur Kholiq.

Ustz Nur Kholiq is one of the foundations early board members. In 1983, together with Halim, he also faced and felt the hardship and difficulty in obtaining facilities to assist the visually impaired to get religious books. At that time, Al-Quran braille was very difficult to get and because the amount is very much limited.

Ustz Nur Kholiq - Chairman YRM Board

Finally, Ustz Halim decided to open Quranic classes for the blind in his own home in the region of Pulogadung, East Jakarta. "At that time, blind children who came was quite a lot, until it was full," recalled Nur Kholiq.

The help of Allah finally came in 1992 when Uztz Halim picked up the courage to face the Minister of Religious Affairs, who was held by Munawir Sadjali, asking for help because his place was no longer able to accommodate all the blind children reciting the Quran. His request was eventually approved.

The Ministry of Religious Affairs then gave them a spot area of 700 square meters on Jalan Pisangan, Ciputat. The place and building offered is the location of the foundation until now. "So, the land and buildings belong to the Religious Dept. We're just renting the property" said Nur.

A break through to get the Quran finally came in 1997. At that time, the foundation managed to get Al-Quran in braille from publishers in Bandung. In order to be reproduced later, it was decided to copy the Qur'an braille into a hard copy version of it into a computer file

Efforts copying the Quran into a digital version took two years. "Why that long? , because of operational manpower shortage, " said Zainal Abidin, 32, a trustee who at that time was attached to a team of typists.

Zainal explained that since its establishment, the board of the foundation was never paid. Their service and the various projects in the foundation, helping the blind, was sheer lillahi ta'ala. Al-Quran copying programs was also running slow because the board must also make a living outside.

The practice is still valid till today. Zainal, for example, earns a living by working in an NGO. While Nur, chairman of the foundation, other than as a cleric, is also a  trader of goods .
"In addition, there are technical problems. There is only one computer," Zainal added.

Despite all the shortcomings, efforts to translate the Quran in braille into a digital version was made and finally completed. Not only was it done in Arabic but was also came with the translation.  And in 1999, thanks to the help of sponsors, the foundations was also able to acquire its own Quran braille printing machine.

Thus the Al-Quran braille printing began. In addition to meeting the internal needs of the students, Al-Quran braille version Raudlatul Makfufin - which has been vetted by the Indonesian religious department - was also sold to the public. "It costs about Rp 1.5 million rupiah per set, " Nur said.

The difference between ordinary Quran and the Quran in Braille is in the number of books or volume.  One thick book of the Quran in braille contains only one Juz of the usual Quran. Thus, a total of 30 chapters or juz of the normal Quran, if converted into braille, will be 30 books, whith each book about 5-6 centimeters thick.

That's because braille Quran should be printed large for the hands of the visually handicapped to feel about. The Quran in braille also includes the translation. Therefore, Raudlatul Makfufin was not able to print them braille Quran in large quantities , but in moderation. Production costs are just too expensive for them to cope.

Since the computerized program in 1999, Raudlatul Makfufin has printed over 500 braille Quran and distributed throughout Indonesia. "But the number was still far too less because currently, there are an estimated three million blind people in Indonesia," he added.

Mid last year, they started on a effort to print the Braille Quran in large numbers and named the project "A Million Braille Quran". The program was launched by MPR chairman Hidayat Nur Wahid. "Despite the fact that we printed a lot, the number is exactly far below  one million sets, "said Nur.

 
Wakaf 1 set - $350

 
Wakaf 3 Sets - $1,000

 Wakaf 10 sets
(family package)
- $3,000

Do you know that there is no one in Singapore who can teach
the Quran in braille ? We have to import a trained teacher from
Malaysia. The Quran in braille is also not available in Singapore
and we have to purchase them from Malaysia for our visually
handicapped students and they are very costly too. A major part
of our operations cost goes towards the training of teachers
maintaining them.