Application of Braille in Quranic and Sunnah Studies

(QAA4013)

2nd Lecture (6th Jan 2009)

Dr. Muhammad Mustaqim Mohd ZarifDirector,

Centre for General StudiesIslamic Science University of Malaysia

Structure of Presentation

Braille System:- Its History- Its Development- Its Structure (basic)

List of Braille Codes used in Malaysia: - Malay (Romanized) Braille (Grade 1) - Numbers in Braille

Braille System: Its History

Developed by Louis Braille He was born in Coupvray near Paris in 1809 Was born fully sighted At the age of 3, his eye was wounded in an

accident while playing with his father’s tool; an awl (his father was a leatherworker)

As a result, both of his eyes later became blind due to infection

Louis Braille

Scratch Awl

Although blind, he was dedicated to learn but was not able to read & write like other children

In 1819 at the age of 10, he was offered a place to study at the National Institute for Blind Youth in Paris

In this place, he met and studied with Valentin Hauy; the person who invented the Embossed Roman Letters Method for the Blind.

Louis Braille has managed to ”read” all the 14 books written in this method.

At this institute, he also learnt music and all the necessary skills for survival.

In 1821, Charles Barbier has invented a secret code system to be used by the army; Sonography (night writing)

Sonography: a system of code that used symbols of twelve dots arranged as two columns of six dots embossed on a square of cardboard. It can be used to communicate silently and without light at night.

Very complicated & difficult to be learnt by soldiers. Rejected by the army.

Each symbol requires many dots (sometimes even up to 12 dots for a symbol)

Thus a page of paper can only accommodate one or two sentences only.

To represent “t” is as follows:••••••

1 2 3 4 5 6

1 a i o u é è

2 an in on un eu ou

3 b d g j v z

4 p t q ch f s

5 l m n r gn ll

6 oi oin ian ien ion ieu

Example of Sonography:

In 1821, Barbier demonstrated his system for the blind children.

Louis Braille was very much interested with it and discovered its flaws- human finger could not encompass the whole symbol without moving, and so could not move rapidly from one symbol to another.

During school holiday, Louis Braille spent his time in his father’s workshop thinking about sonography and how to improve it.

Using an awl that made him blind, he devised a method to emboss dots on paper.

In 1824, he introduced “Braille”, a system based on 6 dots (simplified version of sonography).

1827: first book in Braille was produced 1834: he produced a manual for Braille

entitled “Method of Writing Words, Music and Plain Songs by Means of Dots, for Use by the Blind and Arranged for Them”

But, his method was not warmly accepted by the society. Some even banned Braille & burned books written in it.

Only after Louis’ death in 1852 that Braille was slowly recognized by the society & state.

Braille System: Its Development After Louis Braille’s death, Braille was nearly extinct. Only 2 years later (1854) that Braille was recognized

to be used officially to teach the blinds in France. In 1868, Dr Thomas Armitage from Britain & his

friends promoted Braille to be used in the UK through the British & Foreign Society for Improving the Embossed Literature of the Blind (later: Royal National Institute of Blind People or RNIB).

Braille’s main competition in the UK: Moon System. Braille took a long time to be finally recognized and

used by many schools for the blind in the UK. Example: 1871- only 1 of 46 institutions for the blind

used Braille!

In the USA, Braille was introduced by Dr. Simon Pollak to be used in the Missouri School for the Blind in 1860.

Braille’s main competition in the USA:- Boston Line Type- New York Point- American Braille

Implication of the existence of various competing systems of tactile writing:

- No uniformity- difficult for the blind. Which system to study? ““If anyone invents a new system of printing for the If anyone invents a new system of printing for the

blind, shoot him on the spot”blind, shoot him on the spot”

- It was costly to produce a book for the blind. One book must be made in different codes, i.e. Braille, Boston Line, New York Point, etc

Thus, the all-importance issue of which system to be adopted has led to the War of the Dots as narrated by Robert B. Irwin.

Efforts to standardize the system to be used in the USA began since 1901

In 1909, New York Education Board endorsed American Braille as standard

Based on the test & research done in Halifax, Nova Scotia- Braille is better & more effective than N.Y. Point & American Braille

25 June 1913: A new system known as Standard Dot was introduced (a combination of existing systems)

1915: Standard Dot was approved by The American Association of Workers for the Blind to be the formal system for USA

However, when presented to Britain for standardization, this system was rejected.

On the contrary, Britain proposed Braille as standard for universal use.

USA revised their decision & accepted Braille as standard provided that its weaknesses were improved and problems solved.

1917: USA improved the existing Grades 1 & 2 and introduced Revised Braille Grade 1½

1918: Revised Braille Grade 1½ was formally endorsed for use in USA.

As a result, between 1917-1932, Braille books in USA were printed using Grade 1½.

However, still no standardization at international level because Britain rejected Grade 1½ and used only Grade 1 & 2.

Late 1920s, American Foundation for the Blind made efforts to find a way to reconcile with Britain & find ways to improve Grade 2 Braille .

19 July 1932: Treaty of London was signed to not only improve Grade 2 Braille but also to adopt it as standard in the US and throughout the world

Why standardize?

One uniformed system that can be used all over the world

Blind people just need to learn one system & will be able to read materials from around the world

Grade 2 Braille uses 12-14% less space and dots than Grade 1½

Significant reading speed is observed with Grade 2 Braille compared to Grade 1½

Standardize can facilitate book exchange program between countries (i.e. UK & USA)

1952: World Braille Council (WBC) was established to promote & develop Braille.

1954: Sir Clutha Mackenzie wrote World Braille Usage published by UNESCO to diffuse & standardize Braille throughout the world. New Braille codes have also been produced including Arabic Braille and other Braille codes in Asia.

Now, Braille is the only formal system recognized to be used by the blind and has been adopted for almost all languages in the world including Malay, Arabic, French, Samoa, Zulu, etc.

Braille in Malaysia- 1st association: Malaysian Association for the

Blind (MAB), est. in 1951 by Major D.R. Bridges.- 1963: efforts were made to develop Malay

Braille. - 1982: Official manual for Malay (Romanized)

Grade 2 Braille was published by DBP.- Other important association is PERTIS

(Persatuan Orang-Orang Cacat Penglihatan Islam Malaysia). It disseminates the use of Quranic Braille in Malaysia.

- Some of the Braille codes used in Malaysia; Malay (romanized & Jawi) Braille, English, Quranic Braille, Mandarin Braille, etc.

Why did many people resist Braille during its early period?

- The idea of teaching the blind to read & write was perceived as unnatural & useless

- People were afraid of something they couldn’t understand. Braille used dots which can only be understood if learnt.

- Existing local systems such as Moon, Boston Line, etc competing with Braille.

Advantages of Braille over other systems:- Economic (use less paper & resources)- More practical (less space used to write)- Easier to be learnt by students- Speed of reading is significant compared with

other systems- Easy & cheap to produce Braille characters- Its structure and system less complicated than

others

Braille System: Its Structure (Basics)

Basically, Braille is made up of cells. A Braille cell is a combination of 6 dots arranged

according to the 3x2 configuration (3 dots arranged vertically and 2 dots horizontally).

If the empty cell is counted, 64 unique dot combinations are possible with 6-dot Braille.

A standard Braille page is 9.8 inch x 11.4 inch and typically has 25 lines, and each line contains a maximum of 40-42 Braille cells.

Each dot in a Braille cell is numbered from 1 to 6 based on its position.

All Braille codes (including Quranic Braille) is read from LEFT to RIGHT.

Position of Dots in a Braille Cell

1 4

2 5

3 6

Romanized Malay Braille Code Grade 1

Beware of the difference between dot 1 and 1 dot.

● ○○ ○○ ○

● ○● ○○ ○

● ●○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ●○ ○

● ○○ ●○ ○

● ●● ○ ○ ○

● ●● ● ○ ○

● ○● ● ○ ○

○ ●● ○ ○ ○

A B C D E F G H I

○ ●● ● ○ ○

● ○○ ○● ○

● ○● ○● ○

● ●○ ○● ○

● ●○ ●● ○

● ○○ ●● ○

● ●● ○● ○

● ●● ●● ○

● ○● ●● ○

J K L M N O P Q R

○ ●● ○● ○

○ ●● ●● ○

● ○○ ○● ●

● ○● ○● ●

○ ● ● ● ○ ●

● ●○ ○● ●

● ●○ ●● ●

● ○○ ● ● ●

S T U V W X Y Z

How to construct a word?

Just arrange the words according to its symbols in Braille.

Example:

i. Malay word “Ayam” ● ○○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ●● ●

● ○○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ○● ○

a y a m

Example 2: “Dia minum air”

● ●○ ●○ ○

○ ●● ○○ ○

● ○○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ○● ○

○ ●● ○ ○ ○

● ●○ ●● ○

● ○○ ○● ●

● ●○ ○● ○

● ○○ ○○ ○

○ ●● ○ ○ ○

● ○● ●● ○

d i a m i n u m a i r

How to make a capital letter?

By adding a capital letter symbol (Dot 6).

Example:

○ ○○ ○○ ●

● ○○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ●● ●

● ○○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ○● ○

A y a m

If all letters in a word need to be made in capital, the word must be preceded by Dot 6 repeated twice. Example:

○ ○○ ○○ ●

○ ○○ ○○ ●

● ○○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ●● ●

● ○○ ○○ ○

● ●○ ○● ○

A Y A M

Other signs used:

○ ○● ○○ ○

○ ○● ●○ ●

○ ○● ●● ●

Comma(,)

Fullstop(.)

Slash (/)

Numbers in Braille

Numbers in Braille is preceded by a “Number Sign”.

Number Sign is made up of

Dots 3 and 4 5 6

○ ● ○ ● ● ●

Example:

1 (3 456) + a ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ○○ ○○ ○

2 (3 456) + b ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ○● ○○ ○

3 (3 456) + c ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ●○ ○○ ○

4 (3 456) + d ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ●○ ●○ ○

5 (3 456) + e ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ○○ ●○ ○

6 (3 456) + f ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ●● ○ ○ ○

7 (3 456) + g ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ●● ● ○ ○

8 (3 456) + h ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

● ○● ● ○ ○

9 (3 456) + i ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

○ ●● ○ ○ ○

0 (3 456) + j ○ ● ○ ● ● ●

○ ●● ● ○ ○

How to memorize Braille codes?

By practice and LOTS of practice By using specific mnemonic methods such

as:A + Dot 3= KF + Dot 3= PI + Dot 3= SJ + Dot 3= T

A + Dot 3 6= UB + Dot 3 6= VC + Dot 3 6= X

J + Dot 6= W

FEEL FREE TO EXPLORE & CREATE YOUR OWN STYLE TO HELP YOU

UNDERSTAND & MEMORIZE THESE CODES

Hands-on practice will be made from this week’s tutorial

onwards using Perkins Brailler

Thank you for your attention