JEDDAH, 5 November 2004 — Visually impaired worshippers attending the Grand Mosque in Makkah will now be able to read the Holy Qur’an under a project aimed at providing copies of the holy book using the Braille alphabet.
The Presidency of the Affairs of the Grand Mosque and the Prophet’s Mosque said it has finalized a project that allows for the first time the distribution of copies of the Holy Qur’an printed in Braille. The copies will be made available at various locations inside the Grand Mosque.
Abdul Rahman Al-Aqla, director of publications at the presidency, said the first copies would be posted at King Abdul Aziz and Al-Umrah gates, two of the main gates most used by pilgrims and visitors. The Grand Mosque has a total of 125 gates. Not all of them are open for use.
Al-Aqla said the number of copies would be increased gradually to ensure that the visually impaired, too, are able to read the Holy Qur’an inside the Mosque.
Large numbers of pilgrims have been arriving in Makkah from all over the Muslim world since the start of the holy fasting month of Ramadan three weeks ago. More are expected over the coming days to perform Umrah and visit the Prophet’s Mosque in Madinah, with the season expected to climax during the last week of Ramadan which ends Nov. 13. Some estimates put the figure expected this season to exceed two million visitors, mostly from outside the Kingdom.
The presidency has meanwhile secured more than one million copies of the Holy Qur’an printed in Arabic in addition to thousands of translations of its meanings in 13 different languages including English, French, Urdu, Turkish and others. These have been produced at King Fahd Qur’an Printing Complex in Madinah.
