Deaf Kuwaiti

IMBGRN

Countries

Language

Kuwaiti Sign Language

Religion

Islam (Sunni c. 70%, Shia c. 30%)

Bible status

Not Available

Locations

Kuwait

Identity

Deaf Kuwaitis are the people who use Kuwaiti Sign Language and take part in Deaf life, about 5,000 to 7,000 people, nearly all of them citizens: a close-knit community that cuts across the Sunni-Shia and hadar-badu lines of Kuwaiti society. Kuwaiti Sign Language grew in the country's deaf schools, opened in 1959-60 as the second in the Arab world, and in the Al-Amal schools that followed; it belongs to the Arab sign-language family, shares the Arabic manual alphabet with its neighbours, and has its own grammar distinct from the 'Unified Arabic' signs promoted for media. Deaf people call themselves al-summ (the deaf); the older label al-summ wal-bukm ('deaf and dumb') survives in the name under which former classmates founded their club in 1975, now the Kuwait Sport Club for the Deaf. Hereditary deafness linked to cousin marriage is common in Gulf families. Kuwaitis who lose their hearing later in life and keep using spoken Arabic belong to their own peoples, and deaf migrant workers, who sign Indian, Filipino, Egyptian or other sign languages, are not part of this community.

Culture & traditions

Deaf social life centres on the Kuwait Sport Club for the Deaf (1975), its sports teams and gatherings, on school friendships from Al-Amal, and increasingly on smartphones, video calls and Instagram. Deaf woman Fatma Al Hindal runs Tajamu' Fatma, weekly Saturday meetings where deaf and hearing women sign together and learn Kuwaiti Sign Language. Deaf Kuwaitis live within extended families, take part in diwaniyas, Ramadan gatherings and National Day like other citizens. Kuwait pioneered sign-interpreted television news, and ministries, banks, the airport and Kuwait Airways train staff in basic signing.

Religious practices

Deaf Kuwaitis share their families' Islam, Sunni or Shia. Religious life is oral: Friday sermons, Qur'an teaching and Shia husseiniya gatherings are rarely interpreted into Kuwaiti Sign Language, so many deaf people learn practice by imitation and from relatives and have limited religious instruction. No interpreted Friday sermon programme was found in Kuwait; Islamic content in sign language reaches them mostly from Saudi and other Gulf online channels.

Gospel access

No Scripture, JESUS film or other Christian media exist in Kuwaiti Sign Language, and no deaf ministry or deaf believers are known. Written Arabic Scripture is hard for many deaf readers, and resources in other Arab sign languages are the nearest materials. The group is unengaged.

At a glance

Language: Kuwaiti Sign Language
Language family: None
Affinity bloc: Deaf
People cluster: Deaf
Primary religion: Islam (Sunni c. 70%, Shia c. 30%)
Bible status: Not Available
Jesus Film: Not Available
Audio recordings: Not Available
Gospel recordings: Not Available
Radio broadcasts: Not Available
Religious school: Sunni (Maliki, Hanbali) and Twelver Shia (Ja'fari)

Religious breakdown

Religion	%	Denomination	Notes
Islam	c. 70%	Sunni	Deaf from Sunni citizen families, hadar and tribal
Islam	c. 30%	Twelver Shia	Deaf from Shia citizen families
Christianity	<0.1%		None known

Presence by country

KuwaitNativeVerified presence

Population: ~5,000-7,000
Location: Nationwide, mostly in the Kuwait City conurbation; Kuwait Sport Club for the Deaf and the Al-Amal deaf schools

Deaf Kuwaitis are a close-knit community of about 5,000 to 7,000 people, nearly all citizens, who communicate in Kuwaiti Sign Language, a language with its own grammar that grew up in the country's deaf schools after Kuwait opened the second school for deaf children in the Arab world in 1959. They come from Sunni and Shia, townspeople's and tribal families alike, and their friendships, sports teams and marriages often cross those lines through the Kuwait Sport Club for the Deaf, founded by former classmates in 1975. Fewer than ten people can both sign fluently and teach the language, so most deaf Kuwaitis depend on relatives to deal with offices, hospitals and the mosque, where sermons are almost never interpreted. Weekly signing circles started by a deaf woman, Fatma Al Hindal, now bring deaf and hearing Kuwaitis together to spread the language.