Ministry of Religious Affairs Starts Developing National Islamic Sign Language Standards for Religious Rights of Persons with Disabilities
The Indonesian Ministry of Religious Affairs (Kemenag) has begun developing the Indonesian Islamic Sign Language Standard (KOSMIN) to strengthen religious access for persons with sensory disabilities, particularly deaf and speech-impaired individuals, or Sahabat Tuli. The development of KOSMIN will kick off on June 16, 2026, during the Muharaman Bersama Gen Z event at the Istiqlal Mosque in Jakarta.
Director of Islamic Religious Information at Kemenag, Muchlis Muhammad Hanafi, stated that the program aims to ensure uniformity of moderate religious understanding and to fulfill the basic worship rights of the disability community. So far, there has been no national standard for Islamic sign language, so abstract terms like creed, worship jurisprudence, and social dealings are often translated with varying signs.
The development of KOSMIN is a continuation of the Quran Sign Language Mushaf program, which was initiated from 2020–2022 and formalized by a Minister of Religious Affairs Decree in 2022. As of 2022, only around 130 Islamic sign language terms were recorded, so this standard expansion is expected to cover broader religious aspects.
KOSMIN will focus on four main areas: creed, worship, social dealings, and ethics. Kemenag acts as a facilitator, while the content is formulated together with the deaf Muslim community and disability organizations, including the Indonesian Deaf Muslim Association (ATMI), the Indonesian Deaf Learning Council, and the National Commission on Disability. Through KOSMIN, it is hoped that religious learning access for Sahabat Tuli will become easier and fairer.
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